What was Earth like when Willem Wallace was deposed? What happened in between the times of contacts with the N21 Station?
What was Earth like when Willem Wallace was deposed? What happened in between the times of contacts with the N21 Station?
Part one is simultaneous with sections of N21.
Author’s note:
This story takes place in the time of the N21 station, but on Earth at the end of “Caesar’s” reign up until Freeman’s Death? I would recommend that you read N21 first.
Willem Wallace sat, looking over his domain. Not that he could see much, but he ‘owned’ the earth. When he came to power, or rather arranged his own rise to power, he wasn’t sure where he wanted his base of operations to be. London, Paris, Jakarta… He didn’t know. He wanted it to be perfect. He wanted the people to be compliant; willing to be led by someone with his special qualifications. To that end, he had a palace built in Death Valley of southern California, in the United States. He had considered the Sahara Desert, but he didn’t want his domain to be full of sand. Granted, he could program some nanites to make people willing slaves who continually cleaned his palace. By the time he was done, they would love being his personal slaves, but there would still be the sand. Going outside would continually be dirty with sand everywhere.
By contrast, Death Valley had rugged beauty, which he rather fancied. Historically, it had been a national park for thousands of years, which meant it was devoid of things in his way. Certainly, he could have things removed. Cities could simply be demolished to make way for him. The population could be converted to slaves. He didn’t mind, but this way, he would have more people to adore him. He really wanted that; constant adoration.
To build his domicile, he needed slaves however. He was firmly in power now, so he could safely abduct towns and make it look as though they came willingly. He programmed his nanites in a few small towns around the world to make the entire populations ask to be made his unquestioning, completely loyal servants.
The people arrived, and he put many to work building his home. Others became his personal slaves. Many young boys… Well he fancied them, so they were made to look exactly like young women, but they still had their male equipment where it mattered to him.
Those who became workmen were made large brutes. Their intelligence was cut back; they didn’t need it. Those who were going to serve in his house were made beautiful. Many people were going to be guards. They were made powerful. And the wonderful thing was that they were all completely obedient.
Wallace was a reader of ancient books, and had, in his younger years, come across an anthology of writings by a man known as Isaac Asimov, called I, Robot. It was fascinating, and he especially loved the three laws of robotics that the writer had envisioned. He used these laws for his slaves. They were ingrained into their minds, with one small change. They would not, through action or inaction, injure Willem Wallace. They would obey Willem Wallace, as long as it wouldn’t interfere with law one. They would protect their own life, as long as it didn’t interfere with law one or law two.
They became the perfect ‘robots’. The rest of humanity was left alone. Their nanites were designed only to keep them healthy. That would allow them to give him absolute voluntary adoration.
Over the years the palace was expanded. He couldn’t have his workmen doing nothing, although there were intervals where they did just that. They ate, slept, and sat motionless for several months while his architects came up with something new for them to build.
His world, his personal Earth was perfect! He loved it, and was benevolent to his subjects. They were given everything they needed. This did not include freedom from him, however, because he was the one who knew what they needed. He was the only one smart enough to rule with such benevolence. His word was final, and everybody loved him!
As time went on, however, Wallace began to think that he probably should change the minds of the whole population. He wanted voluntary adoration, but he was having to expel people from earth, as examples to those who were more compliant. The number of those he got rid of was expanding, and he felt it needed to stop.
His reign was over ten thousand years old, when it finally fell. He was dumbfounded. How could it end? He had cared for his people for millennia! Didn’t they know that he owned them? Each person on the earth was his! They were his playthings!
The truth of the matter did not sway them. They came in droves!
Somehow, they had dug giant conduits from the Pacific Ocean, and under the Sierras where, when the final openings were made, they would flood the entire valley. Several charges were placed under the foundation of the palace and a conduit built which ended there. It had taken years to set this up. It had to be perfect.
Several people gave their lives while this was done. Wallace did not know they were planning his demise; only that these people were not adoring him properly. They weren’t killed, however. They became servants to Wallace, in his palace. They were outfitted as his personal slave girls, their bodies modified by the nanites to match the young boys he had originally ‘hired’.
There was no way to destroy the nanites Wallace had made. The people had been forced to receive many inoculations, and they were afraid that these might have put reprogrammed nanites into them.
When the explosives were set off, the ones under the palace were fired first. Five women had infiltrated appearing to be slave girls, and set charges near Wallace’ personal chambers. Each one had enough to destroy them, as they feared they might be caught. Each one was also prepared to give her life for the destruction of the madman who ruled the earth. On the day of the fall, they placed the charges; each young lady and stood, guarding them, until they went off.
Those explosives underground were detonated, then the ones on the Pacific side. They flooded the valley quickly. A testimonial to the architects of Wallace was that the vast palace did not fall. It was flooded both from the inside out and from the outside in. The waters met inside with a cataclysmic force. Most of the slaves were killed outright, while the rest drowned. Only Wallace survived as he was in the highest point of the palace, looking out on his possession.
Not long after the waves had subsided, a craft was sent to survey the new inland sea. It was amazing to see what man’s ingenuity had accomplished. The only part of the palace sitting above the water was a spire, and on a balcony sitting approximately five meters above the water was a man. Willem Wallace. He had survived.
The craft hovered beside the balcony, and picked the madman up. He had thought he was being rescued. That was not so. He was forced to sit in the back of the craft, under the watchful eyes, and weapons, of members of his own military. They had free will, however, and no longer wished this man to be in power.
There was no trial. That had been accomplished over ten thousand years. No sane person on earth wished this man his freedom. There was no way he could receive a fair trial. Certainly, there were people who were not convinced that Wallace was as bad as people made him out to be, but they were a minority, and generally considered as insane as him.
He was placed in a maximum security prison that was built explicitly for him. The doors were welded shut, so he could never escape. To prove they were more benevolent than him, he was given reading material and a multimedia system, but nothing that could possibly aid him in escape. He had a courtyard where he could exercise. It was nothing he could escape from however, as the top was made of a transparent steel. It was constantly polished as it tended to rust in bad weather, and the blowing sand of the desert the prison was in constantly wore it down. Each year, a new layer of steel was poured on top of the old, after a serious polishing, and after it cooled, it was as see through as the last layer.
Wallace was secure. He would never bother anyone again.
---
On an Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a new government was built. It had once been a volcano, but it had been extinct for many years. The particular location had been a military installation at one time.
There was a city that had been present for millenia. In fact, it had broadened to where it took up almost seventy five percent of the length of the island and the fill width.
It was well known that there had once been a monument built over a sunken ship in one of the harbors, but the ship had rotted away to nothing.
The location of the new capitol building was in a volcanic crater to the southeast of the city. The ancient name of the crater was Diamond Head. Once the military establishment was no longer needed in the crater, it was removed and the crater turned into a park. Wallace had seen it, and built a retreat there. The entire crater was extended upwards with walls which straddled them. Inside, was still much open area, but it was a two hundred acre courtyard now.
Wallace had decided that only those who were loyal to him would be allowed inside the crater, which meant that when his feelings on the population of the world was becoming suspicious, the structure was vacant.
As much for spite as anything else, Diamond Head was made the conter of government power for the new republic.
---
For ten thousand years, Wallace’ family had hidden from his view. He tried to find them initially, but he finally realized that he just didn’t care where they were.
His brother, Fredrik, had warned the people of Earth that Willem could not be trusted. Fredrik had watched his brother, who was seventy-five years younger, grow up, and he had seen the younger man’s progressing insanity. Willem, however, was able to act completely normal, and Fredrik was eventually considered simply an eccentric.
Now, however, Fredrik was respected. The people had seen that he was absolutely correct regarding his brother. When a government was formed, two people were asked to step up and run for the position of president of the world, however, something strange happened. The two men received a considerable amount of votes, to be sure. However, underneath, on many more ballots, Fredrik’s name was written in.
He was reluctant to take the power of the government into his own hands, as he wanted to distance himself from his brother. He tried to say no, but the people wouldn’t hear of it. He was their choice, and that was that. Eventually, he accepted the position. For a time. He told the people that there must be a set term. The government made that term be a millennium, followed by a possible second term, but that was the limit allowed. No way was someone going to be president for over ten thousand years!
Fredrik Wallace became the first president of the new Earth Republic. He was Willem’s brother, but they looked nothing alike. Their father had divorced and remarried in the time between their births. Also, while Willem’s mother had appeared generally Scandanavian, Fredrik’s had been African. Thus, the people did not consider the brothers to be any bit the same.
Fredrik wanted there to be even more of a separation, so before he took office, he had his name changed. He kept his first name, but his last name came to signify the people of the new republic. Freeman.
Author’s note:
I realize that one thousand years is quite a long time for a president to be in power. The reason I believe these people would set a term this long is because they had just deposed a leader who had been in power ten times that long. As well, they lived an exceptionally long time, and a single millennium is simply a drop in the bucket as far as they are concerned.
Also, N21 WILL be completed. I’m simply giving a bit more information about Earth with this book as well as a bit of time for the remainer of N21 to come together in my head.
The announcer glanced behind him. He received a small smile, and a nod of the head, so he stepped to the podium.
“People of Earth. It brings me pleasure to introduce to you, the first president of the New Earth Republic, Fredrik Freeman!”
The announcer’s voice echoed across the courtyard. They were surrounded by the government buildings, and the day was magnificent. Freeman stepped up to the podium and shook the announcer’s hand. It was an ancient gesture, as old as time itself, it seemed.
The announcer stepped off the platform, and Freeman began to speak.
Elsewhere in the world, a man sat looking at a multimedia screen He made no move to turn off the screen, but his face became stone at the sight of his brother as the new ruler.
“Hello my fellow Terrans. I use that term because in ancient times, the word Terra was used as a name for our planet. I have studied our ancient times, as you all know, and have helped set up our government in a way that seemed to represent many countries in our past.”
Willem Wallace shook his head. The bastard took what was his, and now claimed to be helping it. His face twitched as the irony of his brother becoming the ruler of his; Willem’s domain was pathetic.
"Under this new form of government, you have the privilege, no, the RIGHT to be your own person. You will be able to do whatever you wish as long as you are not infringing upon the rights of others. Each of us has the duty to make sure our world never has something like Willem Wallace happen to it again. We are free of him! We will not have him infringing on our rights… Our very lives, again!”
In his cell, Willem smiled. There was a guard who had been watching, and he noted when the former ruler smiled, but there was nothing odd in that. Was there?
“Thus, I have changed my name to show who we are now! We are not slaves! We are not owned! We are free men, and women! We are free people! May name now signifies that! I am no longer Fredrik Wallace. I am Fredrik Free Man!”
“Nice speech, brother.”
Willem Wallace sat looking at his brother Fredrik. In his time, Fredrik had seen just as many movies from the ancient times as his brother had. He remembered so many that had a character like Willem. Well, perhaps not as bad, but still insane. Willem, however, showed no emotion on his face. He neither smiled nor frowned. He appeared… apathetic. That, however proved wrong from his words.
“You tried to pass of your taking what was mine to others. I owned the Earth, and you took it from me. I had hoped that you were gone forever. You always took what was rightfully mine when I was a child. Now you do the same thing.”
Fredrik cocked his head at his younger brother. “What do you mean?”
“Everytime I had something that I could call my own, you took it.”
It seemed ridiculous to try to argue this point with Willem. They had been over it and over it many times, and Willem had never been able to give any form of example of his accusations. Frankly, Fredrik had no idea where his brother got his ideas. They knew each other, obviously, but when Willem was born, Fredrik had just completed his apprenticeship as an archaeologist. It made no sense.
Fredrik stood and turned to leave. Now, Willem was smiling.
“You think You’re through with me, Freddie?”
The elder turned back. He hated the diminutive name, but he let that pass. “Yes, Willem. I do.”
The younger laughed. “You’ll never be through with my legacy, Brother.” The last word was spat out, like he was trying to get the last taste of vomit out of his mouth.
“That’s where you’re wrong, little brother. You can do no more damage in here. This is where you will stay for eternity. There is nothing that can hurt you in here. There is no danger from you at all, Willy.” Well… you have to get a bit of a dig in there, right? He watched Willem flinch at the name. “You don’t even have anything to relieve you of your life to get rid of your boredom.”
“Does this give you pleasure?”
“Not really. I would have much preferred that you hadn’t done what you did. I would have preferred a brother I could be proud of, rather than one I had to build a prison for.”
“Ah. So you did take what was mine, didn’t you? You took my very life.”
Fredrik shook his head. “You gave it to me.” He turned and walked out.
Things on Earth did get better. The next two hundred years were wonderful. Although Wallace was alive, he caused no problem to anyone. No one had any desire to see him, so he lived his own completely uneventful life. He was able to watch what was happening outside. It seemed as he watched his screen that he was waiting for something. Then one day, it happened.
He was watching something extremely boring. What it was, was not important. Instead, he saw what was on his screen flicker, then disappear.
He found himself looking at his own image from the time of the launch of the N21 space station from Earth’s orbit. “Welcome my pets,” he said. “We are going to join the passengers of N21 as they zoom away from us. We will be entertained. You will enjoy this.” It was more an order than anything else.
A picture of the inside of a space station came into being. “A fancy title flashed across the screen that said, “Live on N21!” He heard his own voice come from around those milling about on the station. “HELLO CHILDREN. I’M BORED. LET’S PLAY!” The people screamed in pain at his voice. It had been so loud they had been deafened.
The screen shifted again, and showed the same scene, and his voice sounded again. “SO COMPLACENT!” The light on the station started strobing. He watched as someone went to reach into the wall for some reason.
“Not a good idea,” he murmured. The man started to smoke as he became pile of charcoal. Wallace laughed hysterically as his voice stated, “THAT IS NOT ALLOWED.”
A moment later, the doors to the different bays slammed shut. The screen showed a woman cut completely in two.
“Wow! This is incredible television!” he exclaimed.
The view shifted to another camera aboard the station, and it zoomed into the panel showing what was happening inside that particular bay. In the center was a readout showing the air pressure. He held his breath as it reached zero, then he could hear the faint sound the the outer doors opening. The view switched to inside the bay, then back to the panel. A few moments later, the doors closed, and the pressure started to rise.
In the president’s office there was no noise at all. Everyone was staring at a screen, absolutely horrified. It had gone dark, but they couldn’t look away. Finally, Freeman asked, “Do we know where this came from?”
“Not yet, Sir, but we will.” A man hurried over to a comm panel and called the company that provided the regular programming. He spoke to them at length, the turned to the president. “They are going to aim their transmitters at the source. We can transmit something to them.”
“They’re still alive,” Freeman said to himself. “Incredible!”
It was some time before things were set for Earth to talk to N21. Freeman had talked with many people in the interim. He wanted to make sure what had happened there.
Astronomers talked about differences in the time frame. N21 had been gone for five hundred years, but the people would have only experienced a short time by comparison. There was no way to know exactly how long had passed for them, but it couldn’t have been long. The signal had been received by an extremely low level frequency. It had been received for almost a year before the computers were able to make sense of it.
Freeman spoke with the security department of Earth. They were what took the place of police, military… even security guards in shopping malls. They were all under the umbrella of the security department. They showed him videos taken of Wallace while he watched the broadcast from N21. It was appalling. At the end of it, he shut off the screen and sat back. He seemed inordinately pleased with himself. “Don’t get to comfortable, children.”
“Why did he say that?” Freeman wondered.
The director of the security department, Paul Robson, looked away from the screen. “I’m guessing, Sir, that there is more to happen.”
“He’s not done with them?”
“I’m sorry, Sir,” Robson said, “but you know him much better than anyone else does.”
Freeman looked at him ruefully. “I suppose you're right; I know him better than anyone, but I don’t understand him.”
Robson gave a small snort. “No one does, Fred.”
Freeman nodded. Very few people called him Fred, but Robson had travelled with him as security when he disappeared from his brother. They had spent ten thousand years working together.
Finally, Freeman turned to his friend. “We need to know what Willem has planned.”
It was not pretty at all. Robson found some archives of recordings made in Willem’s castle. When people arrived to be slaves, they were separated into different classes. The young men were taken to a wing of the palace that looked suspiciously like a harem. As they passed through the entrance to the wing, something happened. It was hard to place, but it was definite. A few moments later, a shift in each man started to happen. Their bodies took on female characteristics. Each one shed himself of whatever clothes they arrived in, and these were gathered up and disposed of.
Then, Freeman saw something he never wished to again. It seemed as though each young man recognized what had happened to him. They all looked shocked. Many started to cry. And then, as one, they stopped. Their faces took on smile, like they were perfectly happy being where they were.
Willem stepped into view. He went up and down the rows of shemales his nanites had made, saying whether they would be his to play with, or domestic help. He picked only the most beautiful to be his personal slaves. The rest were sent somewhere else. One of the personal slaves was dressed better than all the rest, and put in a room of her own.
After Robson and Freeman had seen the recordings, they brought in a man who had been from one of the villages abducted, but had been in a neighboring city when it happened. His son had not been well that day, and had stayed home. The man watched the recording and gasped when he saw it.
“What is it?” Robson asked. He knew what the man had seen. He had seen a picture of the man’s son.
“My son,” the man almost sobbed. “He was one that was changed. He was the one who was given the special place.”
Robson nodded as the man went on. “I want that bastard. I want to kill him.”
“I’m not surprised,” Robson said. “I would too, but it needs done slowly. We need information so the people on N21 are not hurt again.”
“I don’t know how to do it slowly,” the old man said.
Robson held out some ancient books which he carefully handed to the man. “You have trained under my men for some time. This will train you to extract information from Willem Wallace. Study these, practice. Soon, you will get your opportunity.”
The old man left, and Freeman stood, walking up to his friend. “Is that really necessary?” he asked.
“Fred, you know Willem won’t give up that information easily. You told me once that one of the first uses for nanites was to stop shock in an injured person. Anything we do to get information will have to be extreme. You know this.”
“Yes, I do, but it seems that we are stooping to his level.”
“Do you want me to stop,” Paul asked.
Fredrik looked at him for a long time as he considered. Finally, he shook his head in the negative. He didn’t like it in the least, but It had to be done.
This chapter is shorter than usual, but I felt that it needed to stand on its own. It is a very dark chapter, and may be disturbing to some. You have been warned.
It took awhile for the father to study everything needed, but eventually, he was ready. He met with Paul Robson and Fredrik Freeman in Rome, and they took a craft into the Sahara Desert. About at the center of the expanse of sand was the ‘home’ of Willem Wallace, and they set the craft down by the only way in or out.
Even though Wallace had no way to enter or exit his cell, there was a code that allowed people in. Wallace had a life sentence, which would extend for a very long time, if no one was allowed in or out.
Freeman punched in his code, and the three entered. They met with a guard, immediately. “It’s ready, Sir.”
Freeman couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Instead, he gave a curt nod, and they went down the corridor. Nine more guards were encountered at checkpoints on the way in, until they came to the last one. Wallace was there, gloating as he eyed his brother. He started to mock, but Freeman reached over and snapped off the intercom. He was absolutely not going to enjoy what was coming, but he felt he had to be there. No matter what Wallace had done, they were still brothers. Freeman felt he owed something to him.
“Let Paul into the computer,” Freeman said quietly.
The guard moved, and Robson sat down. He entered some commands, then told the guard, “You may hear something, and it may be alarming. No matter what, you are to do nothing.”
“But what if you are hurt?” the guard asked.
“We won’t be.”
The father pulled a sword out of a pack he had carried in. It was a Katana, and had a very dull edge on it. It would cut with sufficient force, but not deeply.
He nodded at Robson, who pressed a single key. The power in the office went out. Wallace saw the sword and knew he was not likely to live long, so he lunged through the door. The man was waiting for him, and swung the sword up and into the former chancellor’s chest. The breastbone stopped it from penetrating too deeply, but some of the ribs on Wallace’ right side were broken. He tried to take a breath, but the wind was knocked out of him. Robson pushed him back into his cell.
Already the nanites in his body were starting to work. The father saw some tissue starting to granulate throughout the cut. This could take a long time, He thought. So much the better.
Wallace was wrong. He lived a considerably long time. It took forty-eight hours before the old man was satisfied.
Wallace was laying on his bed, his body a mass of bruises and cuts. Throughout the time, his nanites were moving slower and slower. They seemed to be low on power. The old man pulled a scimitar out of his pack, which had contained several instruments he had used on Wallace.
It was not that he enjoyed this, but this sick individual had turned his son into some hybrid, and then used him over and over. The recordings from the palace showed that.
Wallace had answered every question put to him. By this time, he just wanted the old man to end it. He watched as the scimitar came out of the bag. We welcomed it.
There are very few ways to kill a man who is full of nanites whose only function is to keep him alive. Even at the low level of power they were at, they would still swarm to a lethal injury to fix it as quickly as possible.
The man used a hunting knife to cut through the tendons in Wallace’ legs and arms. Then he spread the legs as far apart as he could and swung the scimitar. Surprisingly, Wallace was able to scream as both of his legs were removed from his body. The nanites filled the femoral arteries, then his arms were severed. The old man allowed Wallace to enjoy the pain for several minutes before he swung the sword in the fatal blow. Freeman had left some time ago. He couldn’t stomach what was happening. Even Robson turned away at the end, but he heard the gurgling coming through the severed neck as the body’s reflexes tried to draw in another breath. He turned back, and wished he had not. The mouth was trying to draw in air, as if it was the head of a fish. The man spat on the face, then turned, grabbed a cloth and began to clean all of his equipment. He seemed unconcerned at the dying head, still trying to gulp in air. “Good bye, Willem Wallace,” he spat out. It was the last thing Wallace heard. Ever.
Freeman was in his office, outside of Honolulu. He felt very sick, probably because of what he had witnessed in the last few days. He knew that most people on the Earth felt that Willem Wallace, his brother, deserved to die for what he had done to so many people, and if he was honest, he agreed, but there was still a part of him that felt that Willem had deserved more.
There was a knocking at his door. He tried to say come in, but he couldn’t get the words out. He tried again. “Come...” his voice faltered, but he figured he could try a third time and it would probably work if he had to. Thankfully, he didn’t have to try.
The door opened, and his friend Paul Robson opened the door and walked in. One look at his friend, Fredrik, and Paul stopped in his tracks. “If now’s not a good time,” He began.
Freeman shook his head. “It’s okay, Paul. Come on in.”
Robson had been hurrying, but now, he reached out and carefully shut the door behind him. He moved to one of the chairs sitting in front of Freeman’s desk and slowly sat down.
Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
Freeman shook his head. “I know it had to be done, and I understand why Mr. Vetters did what he did, but I don’t think I’ll ever be okay after what I saw done to Willem.”
It’s a complex puzzle,” Paul told him. “What was done to us, without us even realizing it, and what was then done to those people on the station…” He stopped. “Fred, you know I’m your best friend, right?”
Freeman nodded.
You also know I would never have allowed what was done to Willem under any other circumstances, right?”
I know, Paul. And I approve. What is getting to me is he was my brother.” He sighed for about the hundredth time in the last hour. Suddenly, he raised his hand and slammed it down on his desk. “Stupid kid!” he shouted, as his hand smashed a coffee cup from the force he brought it down at. A considerable amount of blood erupted from his wrist as the ceramic cut through the skin and tendons.
You idiot!” Paul yelled as he stood and ran to get a towel from the private restroom. He came back to find Freeman standing with his left hand covering the huge slices. The blood had slowed, and Paul carefully pulled the hand away. There was a bit of seepage, and as he watched, that stopped as well. The nanites were working hard.
Would you watch what you’re doing?” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
Freeman just looked at him. Paul tried a different tack. “That ‘kid’ as you call him, was almost eleven thousand years old! He wasn’t a kid anymore. Hadn’t been for a long time.”
Then I’m eleven thousand seventy-six years old. Regardless of his age, he was my kid brother, Paul.” He glared at Robson. “You knew him almost as long as I did.”
Robson sat down and motioned for his friend to sit as well. “Yeah, I know,” Paul conceded.
Fred finally sat. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of Robson. For his part, Paul’s gaze was lowered. He didn’t want to look up at that accusatory stare. Finally, he murmured, “I’m sorry, Fred. If there had been any other way….” He broke off as he really didn’t know what else to say.
I know, Paul.”
The two of them just sat, their minds in their own private hell, until the sun had set.
Fredrik met with Paul and several scientists the next morning. They discussed at length the information they had received from Wallace. There were several things that had been planned for the people of N21. Before any communication with the people on the station, they wanted to do some research with the programming of the station.
A couple of months later they resumed their meeting. In the palace where Wallace had lived with his slaves, they found a room that had been sealed. With several drills, and explosives, they were able to remove the door, and inside, they found a laboratory where it was obvious Willem had worked on his changes to the station. It was insane, which was no surprise. The people had so many more problems in store for them. The computers were designed to go completely crazy. Stranding people in separate parts of the station, venting other parts. One tidbit of information showed that the command center hub was supposed to seal itself off on each end of the J walkways, and then blow some explosive bolts. This would send the hub away from the rest of the station, effectively dooming those in it to death.
Another spoke about a similar idea, but with different bays.
There were subroutines that controlled the temperature, both overall, and in each bay. By shutting the interior doors, the computer could vent bays, or make them freezing, or hot enough to kill the people caught inside.
Of course when a section was blown off, or a bay vented, the hatches did not have to be shut, and they could also be opened once the bay or command center was blown.
It was paramount that they send this information to the station as soon as possible. The problem Earth’s scientists had was they could not tell how to disable this programming. It seemed as though nothing would stop it at all. Even trying to disable the doors or ejection systems would kill a person, as they had seen on the video scene.
With a heavy heart, Freeman wrote a communique to send to N21.
(Excerpt from N21, Chapter 3)
“Hello, people of N21,” he said.”I am President Freeman of Earth. I know when you were sent away, Willem Wallace, or ‘Caesar’ as you referred to him, was the ‘Chancellor’.
“Approximately three hundred years after you left, Wallace had shown enough of his character to make those of us still on Earth recognize what you had long ago seen. There was an uprising, and we were able to remove him from power. He was in prison until we received a signal from you.
“Every computer around the world came on at the same time, and showed Wallace seated at his desk. He told us that we were all going to join him in a celebration of your exile. We saw what your camera’s recorded, Wallace telling you he wanted to ‘play’; the death of your maintenance worker. Then we saw a bay of the station open, and the people dying on the floor.”
For a moment, Freeman stopped. He looked somber, then rubbed his face with his hands.
“Wallace was questioned at length. That was an experience I never want to have again. He was, quite simply, insane. He wanted to toy with you as a cat toys with it’s prey. Revelling in your suffering was what he wanted most of all.
“He tried to bargain with us with his knowledge. He wanted freedom, but we refused. It took several months to obtain what we wanted. He spent that entire time in and out of consciousness. It wasn’t pretty. What we got from him, we want to pass on to you.
“There are several… surprises, in the computers of the station. They have been left there. There seems to be no way to remove them from the memory. Even a complete shutdown will reload the same information when you start them again.
“Much of what is programmed will be worse that what has already happened. Some not as bad. We will append a file to this message that will tell you what we have found. I hope you can find something on board that we didn’t think of here.”
Freeman sat back and pressed the send button. It was hard to make that call to N21, where his brother had been the one who arranged all these problems to the people aboard the station. He had deliberately not told them that the Wallace was his brother. He figured it would be better if they didn’t know that. He wanted their trust, and admitting that he was brother to their antagonist just didn’t see to be a smart thing to do.
After a bit, he found that he couldn’t sit still. He had to move. He went out and got his craft, then drove out of Diamond Head. He was feeling dejected after sending the message, so he wanted to be away from people. That was hard in Honolulu, but he figured he could head out onto the bay. He really didn’t want to be noticed, so he raised the top until he got a substantial distance onto the bay. He headed west, so he could circle the island and once he was out of sight of Pearl Harbor, he let the top down.
Once he was heading North, he paused and cut his anti-gravity system. The craft gently sat down in the water and he could feel the waves. That was the problem with anti-gravity. No matter what was under him, it was designed to give him a smooth ride. It also didn’t effect what was underneath the craft, so he didn’t have the ability to really take his frustration out by creating wonderful rooster tails. As an archaeologist, he had seen many old films, and he loved the James Bond movies. He wished he had an old style boat, but petroleum was never used anymore, so running an engine like James Bond had wouldn’t work. He would dearly love to run a speedboat and do some daredevil driving. He knew that people used to do the same thing in cars, but you didn’t get the huge spray of water while doing a sharp turn at high speed.
Instead, he reclined his seat and just let the ocean current carry him for awhile. His communication system started beeping. Someone was trying to reach him, but he ignored it. It beeped again, and he picked it up, looked at the name if the person calling him, and threw it as far as he could. He saw no reason to speak to anyone at the moment. Besides, Paul would still be there when he got back to the capitol building.
He leaned back again and closed his eyes. Eventually, sleep claimed him.
Freeman arrived back at the capitol later that evening. He had woke up about fifteen miles from the island, and let the craft drive him back to Diamond Head.
As before, he really didn’t want to see anyone at that moment, especially Paul, so he turned his craft around and headed up into the hills. On his way there, he stopped by his own home and picked up a very old bottle of Scotch Whiskey he had found at a dig several years before. He had kept it as a souvenir. He knew he shouldn’t have, but they had found several of them. The thing was now God knows how many years old. The old date on the bottle had no bearing to the system they now used. A year was still a year, and a day still a day, but the numbers of the years had changed. Was it still good? He didn’t know, but this night was his time to find out.
He stopped at an old lookout on what was still labeled the H1 highway. This was a park in the city, so it was dark here. He let his craft settle to the ground, and got out. He walked to the edge of the lookout and stared down at the city below. The lights were on, as it was about 9:30 at night. He looked up, as if he could see the station. That was a laugh. It was pretty much out of the galaxy now. He walked back to his craft and picked up the bottle. Taking it with him, he sat down on a rock that let him see the city and beyond.
He opened the bottle, and sniffed it. The smell was very strong. He held it up and looked through the liquid. It was an amber color, and the lights below all glowed golden through it.
“Willem, you bastard. I wish I hadn’t have had to authorize what happened to you, but you brought it on yourself. I don’t know how or when you went mad, but it was pretty damned obvious that you were.” He took a swig of the scotch and felt the alcohol rush through his body. If this was what Scotch Whiskey was supposed to taste like, he liked it a lot.
“No one should have to endure what you did. You should have told us what we needed to know, then you wouldn’t have suffered.” he knew that wasn’t true, but it made him feel less responsible to say it. The boy’s father would have made Willem suffer regardless what or when he gave them the information. What had happened to his son was inexcusable, and Freeman knew it. His brother’s perversions had condemned him to hell on Earth. It didn’t make it any easier to watch, though.
He was a quarter of the way through the bottle when he heard another craft settle onto the ground. He was rather insensate now, and didn’t look up, even when he heard someone walking up to him. He didn’t even turn when he heard Paul. “Hello, Fred.”
Freeman held the bottle out abruptly to Paul, his arm completely straight.
Paul took it and read the label. “God, Fred, where’d you get this?”
Freeman didn’t answer that question, but rather told Paul, “Take a drink before I take back the bottle.” His words seemed labored to get out.
Paul took a ginger sip, then a larger one. It was good. “You know your brother wasn’t your fault.” He handed back the bottle.
“So you keep saying.” He took another drink.
Paul sat down beside his friend. “I keep asking myself if we could have gotten that info differently. I keep finding the same answer. ‘No’.”
“I’ve never murdered anyone before,” Fred told him.
“You didn’t murder Willem.”
“Bullshit, I didn’t. I stood there and watched him tortured, and I did nothing. I’m just as guilty as that sick bastard who killed him.”
“You think he was sick? Look at what happened to his kid.” Paul reached out for the bottle. Fred handed it to him.
“And killing Willem that way was sane?” Fred’s voice was louder than he meant for it to be.
Before Paul answered he took a gulp of the amber fluid. He coughed, and when he spoke his voice was a harsh whisper. “How about the way Willem killed his son. Was that sane?”
“He didn’t kill the kid.”
“That’s bullshit. He killed the boy the moment those nanites were activated. We watched those tapes, both of us. That one time when they were made to see what happened to them was the last time that kid ever was in control of himself. You saw what Willem made him do. He was the number one concubine for Willem. He murdered the kid, plain and simple.”
Fred didn’t say anything for a long time, while Paul took another gulp and handed the bottle back. Fred made a point of looking at the level of the liquid. “I’m catching up,” Paul said by way of explanation.
Fred nodded, then said, “You’re right, you know. But I still feel responsible.”
“Let’s say, for a moment, that you are. Was there any other choice?”
Again Fred held his tongue, but rather, shook his head.
“Did Willem bring it on himself?”
Fred nodded.
“Here’s the clincher. Under the same circumstances, would you do it again?”
Freeman didn’t answer. He held up the bottle and took a Paul sized gulp, then handed it to his friend. Finally, he almost whispered, “Damned right, I would.”
It had been several years since Willem’s death, and Freeman had build a wall around himself that insulated him from what he had allowed. What Paul had said that night still haunted him. He would do it again, under the same circumstances. He had never considered himself capable of murder, but that’s what it had felt like. No matter what his brother did, Fred had murdered him in his own eyes.
Now, he was in a courtroom, playing judge to another murderer. He felt like such a hypocrite as he weighed the man’s actions.
The man had killed someone for monetary gain. He had robbed a liquor store. Untold millennia had gone by since the earliest of these establishments, and there were still people robbing them.
The alleged murderer had turned up the power on his stun gun, to lethal levels – basically he had made the power source give up all of it’s power in one burst – shot the proprietor, then put his card into the register, and reversed all funds onto his card.
It was stupid, because planetary security only had to look at what happened and where the funds went. There was very little doubt of the man’s guilt.
How did he end up judging this guy, Freeman wondered. “How did I get talked into this?”
The defendant’s counsel was summing up her client’s innocence. Well trying to. Basically, she was asking Freeman to be lenient to her client who was obviously guilty as hell.
She finished, and Freeman called a recess until the next morning. He didn’t even look back as he walked out of the courtroom.
Defense just stood there, mouth agape. What had just happened?
Freeman, for his part, went into his chambers and sat down. People in this position still wore the robes they had always done. He looked down at himself, then ripped the robe off and threw it against the wall. At the same time, Robson entered the room. He dodged the robe, then look at Fred with a surprised expression. “Care to explain?” he asked.
“Nope,” Freeman told him.
“Why?”
In answer, Freeman told him, “Get the hell out of here, Paul.”
“Not till you explain.”
Fred sat down behind his desk. “I am the president of this planet, Paul, and I’m telling you to get the f**k out of my office.”
Paul said nothing. He moved to right in front of one of the chairs, and very deliberately sat down.
For several minutes, they stared at each other, until Fred broke. “I’m an effing hypocrite, okay? Happy now?”
“This again? I thought you’d put that away.”
“Of course not. I let you think that.”
Paul was furious. He had had it. “How long are you going to mourn that son of a bitch?”
“I’m not mourning him. I’m mourning myself.”
“No, you're not. You’re feeling sorry for yourself because you think you’re the only person in the world who has had to convict a person because they did something absolutely despicable. Wake up call, Fred. Shit like that happens!”
Fred just stared.
“That guy out there in the courtroom. You know he’s guilty as sin, but you feel like you can’t judge him because you’re a murderer too. Right?”
Nod.
“I’ve told you before. You’re not a murderer. You were a judge then, and you’re a judge now. No, we didn’t have a trial for Willem. How could we? No one would have been able to sit on a jury. You know that. Anyway, we all knew what he’d done.
“So now you’re judging someone who has a jury, They’ll convict him, not you. You’ll declare the sentence. Will he be executed? No! We don’t do that. Instead, he’ll be put in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.
“So what do you do? Say that a judge is a murderer? You can look at it as either being a military extraction of information, or a punishment for what he had done, but that’s all it was. Not murder.”
Paul stood up. “Until you realize that, you’re going to be hindered in your leadership.”
Paul left and shut the door, hard. Fred sat behind his desk for several minutes, then wrote something down on a tablet and left for the day.
The next morning, he entered the courtroom and asked the jury their findings. He hardly had to ask. The man was guilty.
For the first time in many years, Fred felt that his conscience was clear. Without a moment’s hesitation, he sentenced the man to the punishment Paul had said the night before.
Freeman had accepted that he was a judge to this murderer, and a judge to his brother. He didn’t like the job, but as the president, it was part of his job description. He was determined to change that, but until it was, he would do the job to the best of his ability.
It had been roughly two hundred years since the call came in from N21 now, showing what Freeman’s brother, Caesar, had done to them. Fredrik could hardly believe what his brother had done to them. The only crime they had committed was not considering that Willem was their leader.
He had not accepted Willem either, but he had not told those on N21 that. Rather, he had hidden. His mother and father had hidden with him. Willem’s mother, on the other hand, had gone along with what her son had done. She had been in the palace when it was flooded. It was suspected that Willem had turned her into a slave as well, which would explain why she had gone along with her deranged son.
Along with Fredrik and his parents, several people who had seen Willem’s growing insanity had hidden as well. Paul Robson was one of them. Freeman was pretty certain that was why he and Paul had been placed in the roles of authority that they had. They had never accepted Willem as their leader.
Archaeologists were now sifting through the ruined Death Valley. It had become an inland sea for many years. Eventually, the palace had degraded to the point it collapsed, and the valley drained back into the Pacific.
Much of the debris had been scattered as the water was pumped back When they opened the sealed room which held Caesar’s private workroom, much had been destroyed in the water. Luckily, much of the computer data storage was not destructible by water; even salt water, so by hooking them up to other computers, they were able to find out much.
Unfortunately, there was a section that without Caesar’s private codes was erased permanently from the storage. It mentioned something called ‘Total Fun’, and then nothing. None of the archaeologists could find anything other than that reference, but the general consensus was that if it was fun for Caesar, it would be misery for those on the station.
Still the search went on. They continued looking for some reference other than the name for another half a century till finally, they figured they should send what they had found.
As the archaeologists were searching the ruins, other people were searching looking at the technology that the people on the station would need. All that could be done, however, was to send information. There was really no way materials could be sent.
Or was there?
Engines were more powerful than had been on the station. N21 had been accelerated to ninety percent the speed of light. It was assumed that a similar size object, with new engines could be accelerated to ninety-five percent. That was with enough fuel to return to Earth.
Sitting in the briefing room, along with several scientists, were Paul and Fred. They were listening intently. What they heard was astounding.
A man with the unlikely name of Rashda Smythe was explaining how they could build another station and mount some of the new engines on it.
“Since we will be picking up the people on N21, we’ll be able to store much more fuel than otherwise. For the trip out, we will be able to use the bay space for fuel, so that we can stop and head the other direction.”
“I want them back as much as anyone,” Paul said, “but we’re talking about a huge investment to do this.”
“Not really,” Smythe disagreed.
Paul stared at him for a couple of moments, the got what he was saying. “No. Absolutely not. We need N22!”
“Why?” Smythe asked. “Are we going to stoop to the level of Wallace and have mutually assured destruction? We have a world government, so who are we going to assure destruction with?”
Fredrik was sitting back, watching and mulling the situation over. After a few minutes of the back and forth argument, he told Smythe, “I want you to draw up plans to do this. I’ll make sure you have a complete schematic on N22. You will not start on the station until I give the go ahead, however. Is that understood?”
“Thank you, Sir.”
Paul glared at his friend.
“I want you to give me an argument as to why we need that station full of warheads above us. That station has sixty bays, each with thirty missiles full of MRV’s aimed at this world. If all of them were set off, there wouldn’t even be a world here. You explain why we need that, Paul. You convince me, and I’ll tell Smythe here, to F off. Okay?”
There was nothing for Paul to do but simply nod.
Next to speak was a communications specialist. He ran the station that had multiple transmitters ready to send a message to N21 at a moment’s notice.
Again, the name of the man was completely strange. Noelle Rodriguez had hundreds of data transmissions ready to be sent. Multiple files of everything from recreational programming to news broadcasts since N21 left Earth orbit, would be compressed into highly crunched files to keep the size of the transmission down. It had to be sent as an ELF, or extremely low frequency to reach that far into space and not lose fidelity.
Next was Barb Johnson, who was the head hydroponics specialist on Earth. It was known that some of her teachers were on N21, but where she had centuries to fine tune the processes, N21 had aged only about a year.
The medical establishment was not nearly as far progressed, but archaeologists had found several millennia worth of medical research hidden away in Wallace’ palace. A copy of that would be sent to the station, as well as a complete course in medical research and practice for one or more people to take. There had to have been a reason for Wallace to space all of the medical scientists. Best to get people trained as soon as possible.
Freeman was back on the cliff overlooking Honolulu. He had a dilemma. He had decided to modify N22 and send it on it’s way. But should he tell those on N21 of the possibility of their rescue? It would be several decades, even in their subjective time, before the second station met up with them. In fact if their figures were slightly off, or if Wallace had not put the correct course down in his records, the stations would never even see each other in the void. Of course, as the station got farther away, their pinpointing of it was finer and finer as the direction the radio dishes had to be adjusted to receive and transmit data.
This time, Fredrik had no scotch with him. Instead, he wanted his mind clear. Should he tell them or not. To get their hopes up? What to do?
Once again, Paul Robson arrived. He knew this was Fred’s favorite place to meditate. He sat down beside his friend, but he didn’t say anything.
Finally, Fred asked, “You gonna try to talk me out of it?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve already given my opinion. You don’t need me to repeat it. We’re going to send N22 after them, none of us can be second guessing ourselves.”
Fred nodded.
“Besides, you’re my friend, and even though we disagree, I’ve got your back. I’m gonna help to make this a success. Not a failure. I want them home too, Fred.”
“Thanks Paul. I want you to know, I really considered your opinion. I almost decided to go with your plan. If I did, however, I was going to have Smythe build a new one. My main concern here was the time factor. Doesn’t make much difference to them, but it does to us.”
Paul nodded. “I get that, and I understand your reasoning. I hope I was wrong in my treatise. I never want to see a need for N22 in it’s original purpose. I’d much rather it be used for this than MAD.”
It took Smythe and his teams more than ten years to modify N22 for it’s new purpose. It was the same basic layout as N21, but it was larger. While N21 had forty bays that had been full of missiles, N22 had sixty. The bays were correspondingly larger as well.
When the station was ready to depart Earth’s orbit, Smythe met with Freeman and Paul again.
“I want to let you know what we are doing. We have a crew of one thousand volunteers who will go on the station. Their purpose will be to build apartments as fuel is used. We have placed bladders of fuel in many of the bays. As bladders empty, they will be ejected and the bay that they are in will be turned into either apartments or other uses.”
“What about the missiles?” asked Paul.
“Well, we’ve had some thoughts about that, but I think our best bet is to mount the MRV’s around a few of the missiles, and then save the remaining empty shells for another purpose.”
“What’s that?” asked Fred.
“The missiles use the same engines as N21 had. It uses less than a gram of fuel to get to supersonic speeds as it enters the atmosphere. We’ve taken one hundred MRV’s out of each missile. With those gone, we can turn the missiles into engines for the station. If we use a third of them for accelerating from Earth, along with the main engines, we’ll get an extra boost, and jettison the used engines. We can then flip the station when it meets with N21 and we should be able to use a third of those engines to slow it to the same speed as N21. Then, we will use the rest of the fuel in those as well as the remaining fuel to bring the station to a relative stop to Earth. We will then jettison the remaining missiles to lower the station’s mass, and use it’s own engines to accelerate back to Earth. We’ll have to take into account the mass of the people from N21 for our return fuel consumption. We will not accelerate too much that we don’t have the fuel to stop relative to Earth when we arrive back.”
Paul nodded. He wasn’t a ‘rocket scientist’ but he understood enough to realize what Smythe was saying. His last question was, “Who’ll command N22?”
“I will,” Smythe responded.
Fred considered for awhile. “Very well. How long until you launch?”
“I figure we can get the missiles taken care of in about six months, and by that time, I believe we’ll be in the correct position for our launch window.”
Fred nodded. “Go to it.”
Author’s note:
Considering my love of Trek, It was so tempting to have Fredrik say, “Make it so” at the end, but the more boring won out. If you’re a fan of Trek, just imagine that Freeman ended with “Make it so”. I think it’s the perfect ending.
The N22 station was fitted out with some of the missiles playing the part of engines, and several carrying the MRV’s into the sun. Freeman sat at his desk, wondering if they would even notice the light of the warheads hitting the sun. Probably not. They weren’t that powerful in comparison to the star they were aimed for.
N22 started accelerating from Earth even before the warheads hit the sun. Smythe called Earth as they were leaving orbit and wished them well. The feelings were reciprocated and the station was on its way.
Freeman flipped a switch and spoke to N21, He knew N22 would be a long way from Earth by the time N21 received the message. It would be several years from now. Perhaps several centuries from now.
Excerpt from N21 Part 1, Chapter 4
Hello again, N21. This is Freeman. We have found something very disturbing. For the last fifty years, our people have been sifting through the damaged palace of Wallace. 250 years after the the broadcast from your ship, the decaying structure collapsed. Our people had to pull the remaining shell down.
Apparently, there is a ‘special surprise’ for you. According to records, it is supposed to make any and all other pale in comparison. The others, we were able to dig to find out what was supposed to happen, but this one is only referred to as the ‘total fun’. What it is, we cannot tell, nor do we know how it is started.
I’m sorry we don’t know. We are going to continue to search.”
He didn’t tell N21 about N22. Not for any reason other than he didn’t want to get their hopes up. Too many things could go wrong, and if N22 missed N21, they didn’t need to be blaming themselves for the possible death of Smythe and his people.
In space, a thruster fired changing the course of the vessel slightly. This would not be noticed by anyone for many years.
It had been fifteen and a half centuries since Earth heard from the N21. Still, the people on Earth knew that just a few minutes had passed on the station, so Freeman headed up an archaeological expedition to find as much information as they could. He was no longer the president of Earth, but a new one, his old friend Paul Robson, had taken over the roll.
Robson had made it clear that unless something happened to Freeman, he would remain the person to talk to N21. They knew him, and they trusted him. He hoped.
A message was received by Earth, and Paul had it saved and sent to Freeman.
Freeman watched it and realized what it could do for N21. Stopping all of the computer’s actions was exactly what they needed. He called his archaeological teams and took them off the project they were on. He had them start researching where the old operating system for N21. They couldn’t find it.
He debated sending the one for N22. That could be found, but when it was looked at, the station obviously had new hardware on board, and the operating system was simply not compatible with N21’s computers.
His people continued looking.
Fredrik decided he needed to think, so he headed to his favorite spot on Oahu, at the overlook. It was getting late in the day, and when he got there, a craft was already parked. He pulled up beside it and was not surprised to see that it was Paul’s
He climbed out of his craft and walked to his favorite rock.
Paul was sitting in his usual spot, and looked over at his friend. “I can see why you always came here,” he told Fred. “This is a great place to think.”
“Especially this time of night. The lights below, the ocean out there. The stars above.”
“Can’t see the stars like you could in Montana,” said Paul.
“No, but it’s cool nonetheless.” Fredrik paused for a bit, then asked. “What’re you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking how much easier it was to be your head of security, then your vice.”
“I hear ya. I’m so much happier being an archaeologist again.”
There was silence for a long time, then Paul asked. “Have you found anything yet?”
“Not yet. I’m not sure where it would be. We’ve checked all of Willem’s spots he might have worked on it. He had to have a copy. Somewhere.”
They were silent again, then “Fred, you know that station was built before Willem took power, right?”
“The Pearl City Science Museum,” Freeman said thoughtfully. “They have some stuff on all the N Stations. Maybe they would have something. They’re right here in town too!”
“It’s worth a look,” Paul responded.
The next day, Freeman went down to Pearl City and looked through the science museum. No luck. He asked the curator where he might find such a thing.
“Right here,” was the response.
“Show me?”
The curator hesitated, then motioned for Freeman to follow. He said, “I’ll show you, but I cannot let you touch the unit. It’s over thirteen thousand years old. Very fragile.”
Damn! thought Freeman. It’s here, or we think it is, but I can’t touch it. How do I get a copy of it?
It was a cylinder about ten inches high, and four inches in diameter. It had a holographic matrix inside that stored the information. It could last for millennia the way it was, but the power source would eventually die, causing the information to be lost. He wondered how to get the information stored in side. It was stored on a shelf in the back room, in a glass box.
“Are you sure this is the OS for N21?”
“Certainly.” He pulled the case down, and turned it. Etched in the side of the brass cylinder was Defense Platform – N17-N21 – SCO Unix 2500.2.12597.
This was it! He needed to get it. How? Fredrik had an idea, but would it work? “You know that the information will be lost eventually, right?”
“Of course. That’s the nature of things. Ebb and flow. Yin and Yang. In and Out. In essence, things are made then lost. There is nothing that can be done about that.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Fred told the curator. “The information on that unit is priceless. The people on N21 need it desperately. It is just as valuable as the canister. More so, actually. There are many canisters like that, but the information is one of a kind!”
The curator’s eyes began to sparkle. He nodded. “I can see what you mean, but I will need some things in exchange for the info.”
“What?” Freeman asked.
“Funds.”
The curator swept a hand to take in the whole museum. “This museum is going downhill. I’m the only person here now. I could hire help to catalog everything in this room if I had the money. Right now, I can’t.”
Freeman decided then and there, that if he had to, he would provide the money himself.
He stepped away from the curator, saying, “Give me a minute.”
He pulled out his comm unit and called Robson. He explained the situation: Robson expressed the same feeling that Freeman had. If he couldn’t get the government to go along with him, he would sponsor the museum himself.
Freeman ended the call and stepped back. “We will transfer the funds to you tomorrow.”
The curator smiled. “That will be fine.”
It took a bit longer, as the government decided to foot the bill for the museum, and as is typical of a bureaucracy it moved very slowly, but the funds were eventually in the hands of the curator. For his part, as soon as the money was confirmed in the museum’s account, he opened the glass case and allowed Freeman to connect a computer to it. The download took less than ten minutes. The canister was placed back in the case. The curator attached a brass tag to the case which had a description of what information was on it, and carried it out to the main part of the museum. It was going to be on display.
Freeman took the OS back to his home. In his personal office, he hooked the computer up to his comm system and attached the OS. He pressed send.
Not long after he sent the communique, he was alerted to a problem. He hurried to Paul’s office and asked what the problem was.
“Follow me, Fred.”
They started down a hall, and Fred stopped. “I’m not authorized anymore.”
“Would you come on? You’re with me.”
Fred started again and they entered the situation room.
“Fill me in,” Paul ordered.
“We’re showing a slight variation in the magnetic field of the Earth,” one of the people said.
“Is it dangerous?”
“Not as far as we know.”
There were three women in the room, and suddenly they jumped up. Two were on the other side of the table from the door, and they both ran to the wall, clearly terrified. The other opened the door and ran as fast as she could. Fred was still standing and he jumped away from the woman who made it through the door before she touched him. Paul was not so lucky.
He fell to the floor as the woman bowled him over. As he lay on the floor, his body started to change. In a few moments, he was a woman. He stood and realized he was in a room full of men. The two women on the other side of the room were screaming for the men to stay away from them. For their part, the men got as far away as they could. Fred jumped away from his friend, terrified, and Paul turned and ran from the room. Part way down the hall, his pants could no longer stay up, and he, or rather she, had to pause to pull them up, then she headed for her office. She slammed the door shut and locked it. With a deadbolt and combination that only she knew.
She let out a sigh of relief, then stopped and wondered what the hell had just happened.
Freeman wasn't sure what had happened either. There were still two women standing on the other side of the room, cowering in fear. He wanted to go to them and see what was wrong, but he felt fear of them as well. It was strange as he had never had a fear of women before.
As he watched several of the men present started slipping out the door to the conference room. They were obviously afraid of the women as well.
Freeman tried to stay so that he could comfort the women, but he found that he couldn't. He left the room as well. He went to the end of the corridor and turned to look if they had left. He saw them running down to the other end of the corridor.
The president was sitting at his, or rather her desk. She was incredibly confused to have suddenly become a woman. How in the world had that happened? She stood and went to her private restroom. There, she saw what she looked like now. She was quite pretty. Her face looked very much the same, but it had become feminine in appearance.
She was wearing makeup, but her clothes had not changed. That was very strange. In fact, she was still wearing the suit and tie that she had been in, but the suit hung off her body. Except up top, where her breasts tried to make their appearance known, and her hips. She turned to where she could see and found that she had an ample behind, but nothing really to write home about.
Curiously, she removed her jacket and shirt. She was rather surprised at the size of her breasts. She saw why her hips didn’t really show in her pants. She had a very narrow waist. Quite petite actually. She felt no shame at suddenly being a woman, which for her was shocking, as she had never been unhappy being a man. She was curious about what she would find when she removed her pants, and so she did. For her petite size, she had a nice derriere, which pleased her.
She looked at the men’s suit on the floor where she had left it and picked it up, folding it neatly. There was a bit of nausea when she looked at it all, and she decided that she would have to get some women’s clothes. Picking up the underwear that she had put on that morning made her even more sick. She used just her thumb and index finger to lift it. It went straight onto the back of the toilet, then she decided a shower would be best, so that she could wash off the last vestiges of her masculinity.
Stepping into the shower, she reflected that she didn’t really know how to wash her hair, but she had seen enough women come out of this very room, their hair in a towel. Then she remembered that under the sink was shampoo and conditioner that would be suitable. She stepped out of the tub and grabbed it. The shampoo directions really didn’t tell her anything she didn’t know, but the conditioner did.
She washed her whole body, finding that she had more sensitive areas on her anatomy, then grabbed a towel and quickly learned why women patted themselves dry rather than rubbed. She grabbed her robe, which was terry cloth, put it on, and looked at herself in the mirror. She needed makeup, but none of the women had left any. Oh well, she remembered her mother telling her sister not to share makeup with her friends. She did anyway, but she was a teenager at the time.
Paul – now Paula she figured, went out to her computer. What to do. She knew that she needed to call someone, but her government workers were mostly males. Finally, she decided to call Fredrik. She knew Fred would scare her; just thinking about him scared her, but he was one person that she trusted, no matter how frightened she was. She started to reach out to her computer to call, but then decided against it.
She walked over to her liquor cabinet and grabbed a bottle. It was Tennessee whiskey, from a company that had been around for several millennia. She poured about a shot’s worth into a glass and drank it in one gulp.
She coughed and couldn’t get her breath for a minute. Wow! She would definitely have to watch her alcohol intake. She decided she needed another bit of courage, so poured another shot, but drank it slow. She started to the desk again, but grabbed her glass and bottle.
At the desk, she sat down and poured one more drink. Her vision was starting to blur, but she reached out and plugged in Fred’s call number. At least she hoped it was his. Her mind was starting to get a bit fuzzy.
Thankfully, Fred answered. When his face came on the screen, even with the alcohol, she had to hold herself back from getting up and running. She poured another shot.
For his part, Fredrik pulled away from his screen. He saw what she was doing with the whiskey, but figured he should keep a clear head, so didn’t get any for himself.
“Yes, Paul?”
“I guess it should be Paula,” she told him.
“Okay Paula. Are you as scared of me as I am of you?”
“I’m terrified,” she responded. “Just seeing you there is hard to take.”
“Agreed. What happened to you?”
“I’m guessing I turned into a woman. What do you think happened?” The question seemed ridiculous, but in retrospect, she realized what he meant. “I’ve no idea how, Fred.”
Just then, her comm panel beeped. “I’m going to merge this call with us.”
“Why?” he asked, but her chief of staff was already on a split screen.
Fred saw her quite afraid now, so he told the other man, “Make this quick, Reg.”
For his part, the other man stuttered as he said, “I’m really sorry S… Ma’am but we’ve had a death. Ronda Briggs was killed.”
“No!” Paula was shocked. “How?”
“It looks like someone used something very sharp to slice her in half from shoulder to hip.”
“Thank you, Reg.” She pushed the button to release the call, then said to Fred. “I need to get over there. Please would you come too? You’re the only male I find I can trust. I still am afraid of you, but I know you won’t hurt me.”
“I’ll be there,” He said. He understood very well. She was the only woman he could trust right now.
She hurried to where Reg called from, but when she got there, there were two women kneeling over the body of her daughter. She looked at them, and didn’t recognize one, but the other was Ronda’s twin sister, Rhoda. The other woman had her arms around Rhoda, hugging her.
A moment later, Fred rushed up. “Oh God!” he exclaimed. “What...” he suddenly saw the two women’s faces. “Reg?” he asked the one holding Rhoda.
Suddenly, he realized that he wasn’t the least bit afraid of Paula, so he pulled her into a hug. She was weeping at the loss of one of her daughters and he felt her tears touch his cheek. He reached up and brushed her hair back over her ear with his hand, allowing his cheek to touch hers.
Finally her crying slowed and she looked at Rhoda and her comforter. She saw what Fred had seen. “Reg? What happened?” Stupid question, she thought. She could see what happened.
“I was kneeling over Ronda, and Rhoda came out of nowhere, bowling me over. She pushed me out of the way, then my vision blurred. When I could see again, I was a woman.”
Reg still had her arm around Rhoda’s shoulder and she sheepishly moved away. “We need to tell Phineas about Ronda,” she said.
“Oh God!” Rhoda cried. Hesitantly, like she expected the president to yell at her, Reg put her arm around Rhoda and pulled her in.
Several people showed up, and they moved the parts of the body onto a gurney, and wheeled it away.
Fred reached for his comm unit, and realized he and Paula were holding hands. He let go, and immediately felt shame for doing it as he had. To cover his action, he said, “I’ll call Phineas.” He dialed the number he knew by heart. He and Paul were like brothers, so they each knew the other’s family, and call numbers.
The comm unit took a long time to connect. “Yeah?”
“Phineas, this is Fred,”
“What do you want?” He sounded strange.
“Rhonda has been killed.”
“No shit! Is that all you had to say? That bitch has been cheating on me for a long time, and with a woman too!”
“Are you saying you killed her?” Fred asked asked.
“I sure as hell am. Got the sword in my hand right now.”
“You’re going to have to be arrested,”
“So what? I’ve got what I needed. She’s gone.”
“You bastard!” Paula screamed into the comm unit. “You killed my daughter!”
“Who the hell is that?”
“I’m the president!”
“Sure you are. And I’m Shakespeare.” There was a small click and the unit went dead.
“That…!” Rhoda couldn’t finish her sentence.
Gently, Fred started to lead the three women out of the corridor, but Paula stopped him. “I need something to wear,” she said. “So does Reg.”
Strangely, Rhoda had perked up without Ronda’s body in front of her. She looked into Reg’s eyes, which were still above her. “I guess it’s Regina instead of Reginald?”
The four eventually got to the situation room after Paula and Reg borrowed some clothes from Rhoda. They didn’t fit Reg properly, but at least they were better than the men’s clothes she had been wearing.
Paula called on her chief of security and the chief doctor of the capitol. The doctor hurried to the situation room, but the security chief would not. He was too afraid.
Once the doctor entered, Fred watched the women. None of the them seemed afraid of him, nor did he seem afraid of them. “What is going on here?” he asked no one in particular. He turned to the doctor. “Jack? Are you afraid of the women?”
“Why should I be?”
“Because every other man in the capitol seems to be. The chief of security won’t even get near the President.”
“So it happened to you too?” he asked Paula. “Me ‘n Sylvia were working on a case, when she suddenly seemed afraid. I reached out to steady her, and she screamed. She backed up, but I grabbed her hand. Her eyes seemed to lose focus, then I was holding the hand of a man!”
“She seemed afraid of you? Were you afraid of her?
“Why should I be, Madam president? She’s my wife!”
“You didn’t have any fear about your wife at all?”
“No. The only feeling I had was what I always have when she’s around. Butterflies in my stomach.”
“Could that have been fear?” asked Rhoda.
“Miss, why would I marry someone that I was afraid of?”
None of us had an answer to that.
“She looked down at her body, and told me she was sorry she wasn’t a woman anymore for my sake. I told her not to sweat it, and we kissed. Wasn’t a problem for me.”
“Have you looked at my daughter’s body?” Paula asked.
“She had just come in when you called me. Sylvia is doing an autopsy now, but it’s pretty apparent what killed her.”
“Yes,” Paula agreed. She looked at Fred. “There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to this. Jack wasn’t afraid of Sylvia, but she was of him, but when she became a man, there was no fear anymore.”
She started to pace, and Fred saw how beautiful she was. Her hair was dark, and came to her shoulders. She was very petite and probably five foot one or two. He had never gone for a woman that small, as he was six foot six. Even when she was a man, and five foot ten, he had still towered over her, or him.
She had a dark complexion as well, as if she was Mediterranean. He glanced at her daughter and saw that they both very beautiful, and could be sisters, although Rhoda’s hair was a slightly lighter shade, almost a deep chocolate brown, sort of like dutch chocolate. Ronda’s was more Paula’s shade.
Paula continued musing. “I was scared of you. Terrified, but I knew I could trust you. When we arrived at Ronda’s body, it was like that fear just washed away.”
“I was afraid of every man too, Dad; uh…. Mom,” Rhoda told her. When I got to Ronda, I wasn’t. I just pushed Reg out of the way.” She turned to Reg, “Sorry if I hurt you, Reg.”
“No problem,” the chief of staff responded, giving Rhoda a smile. Freeman was certain that if they had been side by side they would have kissed.
“Was Ronda fooling around on Phineas? And with another woman?”
“No, Mom! She wasn’t a lesbian. She wasn’t even bi! That’s me!”
Paula nodded, as did Fred.
They discussed things for awhile, then went to their own rooms to ponder things.
Fred was certain that he had missed something. Something vital.
That night, Fredrik had a dream. In it, he had grown up with Paula, and when they went into hiding from Willem, it was as husband and wife, and they had three girls. Ronda, Rhoda, and Regina. He awoke, and realized that he wasn’t alone. He ordered the lights on and Paula was sitting in a chair in his room.
She was wearing some diaphanous lingerie that left little to the imagination, and her face was immaculately made up, but she seemed indecisive.
He was wearing just his boxers and a plain t-shirt, but he got up anyway, and sat down in the chair beside hers at a round table. “I suppose this is a ridiculous question, but were you hoping to do something?”
She did, but she looked at the very short time she’d been a woman, and she wasn’t sure why she felt the way she did. Certainly, she and Fred had been friends for many years. Approximately fifteen hundred, to be precise, but they were only friends. Not lovers! How could their friendship go from simply friends to lovers in a single day? Okay, the real question… How could she become a woman in about a minute?
She looked into his face, and she thought she saw tears in his eyes. She was certain that she had some in hers.
“This is some situation, isn’t it?” he asked her.
“I don’t understand it, Fred. How can I be in love with you in less than a day?”
He smiled. “I think I’m in love with you too.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but then again, I’ve loved you for a long time.”
Her mouth dropped open a bit as she tried to digest that bit of information.
“It’s true, Paula. I’ve been enamored with you for a long time.”
“You’re gay?” her voice broke at the thought that now that she was a woman, he wouldn’t – couldn’t love her the way she loved him.
“No, Paula,” he said as he reached out and took her hand. “I’m bisexual.”
She scanned his face, looking for some sign that he might be telling an untruth, but she saw nothing to indicate that.
“So would I be enough for you?”
“I don’t know what happened, Paula, but I am even more enamored with you now.”
She leaned over and kissed him, then he took her hand and took her to the bed. They made love two times,, and started an even more sensuous third, but something strange happened. In the middle of the orgasm, both of them switched sexes. They both fell asleep and Fred had another dream, but this time Paul had married Frieda, and she had had three daughters.
The next morning, Rhoda and Reg went to Paula’s room, desperate to find out what had happened to them. Both of them were now men. They too had made love the night before, and on the third time, they had switched. How this happened, they didn’t know, but they were still very much in love.
When they didn’t find anyone there, they went to Fred’s room as they had seen the very obvious attraction between the two the day before. They knocked on the door and Rhoda was shocked to hear her dad’s voice say, “Come in.”
They entered and they saw two couples. Her dad, and an ash blonde woman who looked remarkably like…. Fred! Also, there was Sylvia Hurst and again, an unfamiliar woman, but they quickly realized it was Jack!
“I see it happened to you too,” Paul said to them.
“Dad,” Rhoda began.
“Please. Call me Mom. I’m not sure how it happened, but I don’t want to think about being a man. This is disgusting to me.”
“Yes, Mom. Both Regina and I hate being men, but we still love each other.”
“You hate being a man now, Reg?” Jack asked.
“I’m not sure why, Doctor, but I want so very much to change back to a woman.”
“This is so strange,” Paula said, quietly, then she asked them “Did you change while making love?”
“Yes, we did,” answered Reg.
“We did too,” Fred told them. “I’m bisexual, but I’m completely nauseated by being a woman. I’m wanting very much to make love with Paula, however..”
“Sylvia, do you like being a woman?”
“Not a bit,” she said, “which is strange. Before, I always wanted to turn Jack on by being a sexy woman. I am not opposed to wearing women’s clothes, however. I don’t want to be a woman, but I don’t mind looking like one.”
“But you don’t want to be one.” Paula ruminated.
“I know it sounds strange,” Sylvia acknowledged, “but I really don’t.”
“So this just changed?” Fred wanted to make sure.
“Yes. Once I became a man, I didn’t want to go back to being a woman.” She glanced at Jack, and said, “As long as Jack’s okay with it, that’s all that matters.”
Fredrik wasn’t sure what was going on. It seemed like nothing made sense. He had known that Paul was a heterosexual man, and yet last night, they had spent the better part of the night with each other. Reg was also a heterosexual man, and now, he was a homosexual woman. Well, at the moment, he was a homosexual man, but last night, he was a… It was all so confusing.
His own situation was a bit more normal as was Jack’s and Rhoda’s. He and Jack were both bisexual, and Rhoda only liked women.
Later in Paula's office, both Paula and Fred sat discussing the problem. It wasn't easy. There was something weird happening, but damned if they could figure it out.
"I'm trying to piece this together. We've got two bisexual men, a homosexual woman, two straight men, and a straight woman. What's the connection," Fred said to Paula.
Paula pondered. "Perhaps you're looking at it wrong," she commented. "If we looked at it after the fear, it looks different. We then have, two homosexual women, three bisexual men, and a straight woman."
"Okay, I can see that," Fred agreed. "It still doesn't get us any closer to the solution."
"Well, I agree; but I think that when we look at this problem, we have to consider both scenarios, don't you think?"
"Yeah," Freeman said. "I think you're right."
Paula changed the subject. "How are you doing as a woman?" she asked him.
"Well, I hate the longer hair. I hate the breasts. I hate having to sit down to take a leak. I hate being short. Do you want me to continue?"
"No, that's alright. I think I got it. I hate being a guy too."
"You see, that's something I just don't understand. You were straight. How come you now hate being a male?"
She shook her head. "I really don't know, but I'm assuming I know who's responsible for all this."
He gave a disgruntled laugh. "Yeah, my degenerate brother."
Rather than say anything else, she just nodded. “Do you think looking at his character would help?” she asked.
“What character,” he countered.
It was her turn to give a small chuckle. “Willem had character,” she said. “It was just very poor.”
“That’s one way to put it.” Unconsciously, he brushed his long hair behind his ear where it had fallen into his immaculately made up face. Once he had done it, he let out a sigh and shook his head. “I really hate this,” he complained. “I keep doing things that all women do. I’m sitting the way a woman does. I’m walking like one. What’s the deal?”
“Remember the boys that Willem abducted and made into his harem? They were forced to act like sexy girls. I believe this is simply an offshoot of that.”
Fred looked at Paula for a long moment. “That’s a really depressing thought, you know?”
“Yeah, it it.”
“The bad thing, Paula, is I think you’re right.” He gazed at her, or at the current moment, his face, taking in every line, the dimples, the hair. Everything he loved as a woman. But he wasn’t a woman. He hated being one. He wanted to go back to being himself. These feelings he had were being forced into him, and he knew that the feelings Paula had were forced into her. “So that little asshole makes us into a couple, then reverses our sexes where we hate ourselves. Is that it?”
“Not according to the reports I’m getting,” she told him. “We’ve still got fear going on outside these walls. We have several transformations, and they seem to have no real reason...” Her voice trailed off, then she got on the comm to Reg.
“Reg, tell your investigators to check if those people have been touched by someone of the opposite sex.”
Fred held up a hand to get her attention.
“Hang on, Reg. Don’t leave yet. Yeah, Fred?”
“Check for people’s genders as well. Also...” He stopped for a moment, then shook his head. “I doubt it, but see if people have changed their sexual preferences as well. I’ve got another question to run by someone.” He stood, and told her, “I’ll be right back.”
They moved their discussion to the situation room, where they could fit more people. Normally, Rhoda wouldn’t be there, but as she was now almost inseparable from Reg, and one of the major players in this strange drama, she was present. Jack and Sylvia were as well.
“Your hunch was on the money, Fred,” Reg told him. “The reports of transformations is quite high. Most of the people report having been touched by someone else. We can only assume that it has probably happened in each case, but has just gone unnoticed.”
“Okay, but is there any suggestion as to who is going to change?” Jack asked.
“I’ll get to that,” Reg replied. “We’ve had some completely different changes as well. Sometimes, people will be touched by the same sexed person, but will suddenly change their sexual preferences. It always matches the person that they touched, or rather, were touched by.”
Paula nodded, but told her, “I see where you’re going, but I want to point something out. I don’t believe that the sexual preferences is such a different thing.”
“Oh?”
“No, it’s not. Look at Jack and Sylvia. They are both bi-males – at least mentally they are.” She looked Jack in the eye and said, “Sylvia told us that he doesn’t mind cross dressing for you. I’m sorry to ask, but do you feel the same?”
“Why apologize? We need this information. Yeah, I have no problem doing the same for him.”
“Okay, Reg, now look at yourself. Are you interested in men?” She shook her head. “Are you bi?” Again she shook her head, but this time a smile was forming on her face.
“I see. I believe you’re right. You change sex, and gender to the same as the person who touched you!”
Paula nodded. Beside her, Fred’s expression was one of disgust aimed at his damned brother. What a complete bastard!
Author’s note:
I really didn’t think I was going to get this out today. Yesterday was my birthday (don’t even think of asking my age) and I figured as it was a special day, I was going to cheat on carbs. Unfortunately, being a diabetic, that’s not a good idea, so I was not doing very well. I don’t even want to think what my glucose meter said this morning.
I finally convinced myself that I needed to get up a little while ago and post this. Now, I think I’ll drag myself back to bed.
G’night!
It had been quite some time since ‘Total Fun’ had begun on Earth. Of course, they had no idea what was happening on N21, but it was assumed that, while sending the original operating system to the station, it triggered something on Earth. They had found that ‘Total Fun’ ran through cycles that were approximately fifty years each, and the population had suffered through almost six of them now. Each cycle of the ‘stages of Total Fun’ ended with a three year hiatus for the person before a reset occurred, then the fear would start for each person independently. Since the beginning, or ‘fear stage’, was a different length, as it ended by people being affected by ‘death nanites’, the stages that each person was going through could be very different than someone else. It was suspected that, given time, there could be people in the middle, while others at either end.
After three hundred years, anarchy had ruled Earth. The government that had been in place since Willem was removed from power, had broke down. The fear between genders had caused enough damage in society, that people trusted no one. There was a growing unrest that manifested in the question of who were you before this particular incarnation.
In isolated areas, people died by being beheaded by their nanites, but in larger cities like New York, London, and even Honolulu, there were murders which served to further the stages.
Some people developed such a ‘love’ for their bond mates that they were automatically reconnected to them after the ‘death nanites’ took effect.
With the anarchy, something had to be done. In an attempt to preserve the human race, a bold plan had been arrived at. With three periods of normality in the cycle of Total Fun, twenty ships had been built to ferry a load of children to other planets. The first one that would arrive was at Alpha Centauri. It was common knowledge that there was an Earth like planet there, and it was hoped that nothing completely deadly to human beings would be in residence. When everyone boarded the ships, an EMP would be set off before the computers were set up and brought online. Even though this did not work with adults, it was hoped that it could work with the nanites in children. It was a long shot, but all that they had.
Part of ‘Total Fun’ was known as the Pregnancy Stage, where people spent a complete pregnancy on their back, and several kids had been born. So far, none of the children had been affected by the stages, but the adults feared that it was only time.
For each of the ships, adults would command them. There would be enough adults to keep a pair who were in a normal stage at all times, plus some several doctors to keep people cared for. There would also be several backup people, as it was known that, unfortunately, there would be deaths.
One more thing that was prepared for. There would enough fuel in each ship to allow for changing course and, if they went into orbit around a planet that did not pan out, they would have enough fuel to go to another. Five times, if need be.
The ships were built along a similar design to the N22 station, only larger. It was thought that they would need the room to be able to increase their population by several times. Just the ship going to Alpha Centauri would require four hundred years to make that journey. The ship could go faster, but in order to keep enough fuel to make more trips, they needed to restrict their speed. Of course, they were stopping at planets where, if they could find enough natural resources, they could build a mining facility to ‘top off’ their fuel reserves.
Crews for the ships had not been chosen yet, but with the anarchy, Fred and Paula were definitely going. There was no reason for them to stay on Earth. The government had been completely obliterated, and Paula had gone into hiding in order to survive.
It had been many years before the ships were fully stocked and ready to leave Earth’s orbit. So many had to be built that it had been over a hundred years from the inception of the plan to it’s fruition. It had now been four hundred years, and everything was ready to go. Fredrik and Paula were brought aboard the Alpha Centauri ship. They were in the first section of sitting, staring at each other. So their minds would not be overstimulated, they were moved aboard the ship in the middle of the night when even a jackhammer would not have been able to disturb them. They were placed in an apartment on board the ship in a room that was identical to their rooms in Venice. Jack and Sylvia would check on them every day.
The commander of the ship for it’s leaving Earth orbit was Reg, or Gina as she went by now. Rhoda was, of course, present as well. They were in their one year hiatus before they entered the stage that Paula and Fred were in, and they would turn the ship over to another commander at the end of their year. Because Gina was in charge at launch, she was the senior commander of the ship, Centaurus.
Rhoda had been trained to navigate the ship, so she was in the control room with several other people waiting for the order to leave Earth. She had plotted the course to put them on line to Alpha Centauri, and the course continued to update itself for every millimeter they moved in orbit. When Gina gave the order, she pressed the execute button, and nothing happened. Certainly the computers took over, but it would be a few more kilometers before the ship powered up it’s engines.
They waited, then they felt a gentle vibration as the engines started to power up. There was no thrust applied. Just the engines warmed the fuel. Finally, the point in space came, and the engines fired. Slowly the ship moved away from the planet below.
On the surface of the blue and green planet, the fact that twenty immense vehicles were leaving them, was completely missed. The fact that the person who was, just tentatively, the active president, was no longer a part of the population, also went unnoticed.
The people on the surface were embroiled in fear, sex, and fighting. Many people were killed each day, babies were born, and transitions accomplished.
Gina stood on the bridge, watching the screen that looked back on the planet that up until a few hours ago had been their home. She was of mixed emotions as she left. She would not miss the problems that plagued the people on the surface, but she would miss the surface itself. She loved the planet, and the freedom of being under a blue sky. She had no idea if she would ever see one again.
“Gina!” It was a good friend of Gina and Rhoda’s, a man by the name of Vlad.
“Yes?” She was surprised by the excitement in his voice.
“Sylvia just reported that people are coming out of whatever stage they’re in.” He paused for a moment. “Rhoda, your parents are out of theirs. They’re going to have a rest, however. They’re experiencing cramped muscles.”
Rhoda jumped up, and both she and Gina hurried out of the control room. There wasn’t much to do, anyway. The computers would keep things running smoothly.
The next day, they were in the briefing room beside the control room. Fred and Paula were there, but still suffering from cramps after so much time being motionless. “I don’t get it?” Paula said to Jack and Sylvia.
“As near as I can tell,” Jack told her, “Something in the vicinity of Earth was making the nanites work against us.”
“Can you be any more specific?” asked Fred.
Sylvia answered for ‘her’ husband. She had found that during her times of freedom, she enjoyed still dressing the part of the wife, even though she was physically male. “No, we really can’t. We had no idea this would happen.”
“Best guess?” Gina asked.
“Sure,” Jack responded. “I’m guessing that something in the vicinity of Earth was making the nanites work against us.”
“You’re not very helpful,” Gina complained.
“Neither was Caesar.”
There was a beeping, and Fred answered his comm unit. Everyone stared at him as he received a communique from the control room. “N21 is calling.”
He switched the communication to his comm unit, and was astounded to hear his own voice in a conversation with Perl. She was talking about her friend’s cooking skill, and how she had made absolutely gourmet meals from the hydroponically grown vegetables on the ship. “That sound’s delicious,” Fred told her.
He sat at the table, his mouth open. “I never said that. Hell, I never had a conversation like this with her at all!”
He sat, staring dumbfounded at his comm unit as it relayed a conversation that never happened to the briefing room.
A moment later, they were drawn away from the phantom conversation by another call from the control room. “We’re picking up something on a collision course with Earth.”
Gina and Paula both jumped up and sprinted down the corridor, while the others followed after a moment.
“What’s going on?” Gina asked, yelling above the excited voices in the room.
“I’m not sure what they are, but there seems to be multiple objects. I had thought it was just one until the resolution got better.” It was Vlad.
“Gina?” Paula didn’t want to step on her daughter-in-law’s toes.
“Mom, if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.”
Paula nodded. “Vlad, you said the resolution got better? So we’re getting closer to them?”
“They’re getting closer to us, Ma’am. They’re heading toward Earth from the other side, and they’re moving fast!”
“Okay. Can we slow down a bit so they come into higher resolution quicker?”
Gina thought about it, then, “Do it, Rhoda! Now!”
Normally the artificial gravity would compensate for any thrust, but Rhoda hit the retro engines hard. A few people stumbled, and the things on Vlad’s screen seemed to jump close.
“Oh, no!” said Vlad. Gina and Paula hurried over and gave the screen a look. “Check it out, now,” Gina shouted.
Paula sat down at a spare computer and called up historical records. “It’s them.” Her voice was completely devoid of emotion.
“So you’re saying,” Fred asked, looking at his wife, “That these are the missiles that were launched from N22 before it left?”
“The same,” she replied.
“Those were sent into the sun!”
“I’m sorry, Fred, but apparently not.”
He sighed and slowly sat down at one of the unused stations. He kept his eyes on the screen the whole time.
The comm signaled that there was an incoming communications It was Kevin Grayson, the commander of Fomalhaut IV.
“I take it you see those, as you slowed down,” he commented to Gina.
“Yes, we...” Gina broke off as they all saw the missiles break apart as the MRVs split off. “How the...” She turned to her father-in-law. “I thought those were disarmed!”
“They were supposed to be.” He almost couldn’t speak. To compound what they were all feeling, they saw the solid fuel engines fire, putting the MRVs into carefully plotted, decaying orbits.
“Rhoda,” asked Paula quietly, “Is there any point in asking if we could make it back in time to stop any of those?”
“Absolutely no way, Mom.”
“We can help people, though,” Gina announced. “Turn us around, Rhoda. Keep the ship out of the range of the ‘Total Fun” signal.”
“That’s outside the moon’s orbit, Gina.”
“Okay. That will have to do.” She turned to Grayson. “I’m going to rescue as many of those people as I can. The MRVs will hit before I can get there, but I don’t feel comfortable just letting them die.” Her statement was sent to all of the ships, and a signal came back from each of them saying they would do the same.
All twenty of the ships wasted precious fuel, coming to a stop relative to the planet, then put themselves into an orbit around the equator, but beyond the orbit of Earth’s moon. They were barely moving so they could maintain the orbit they were in.
As they were moving into position, the MRVs exploded right above the military installations and major cities on the surface. It was as if an orange cloud swept across the surface. Unfortunately, the warheads did exactly what they were designed to do. They released the orange clouds, which lifted out of range of the primitive explosions, then descended. The explosions were simply to open every nook and cranny of anyplace a human being could hide. Then, the orange clouds, consisting of millions of nanites, converted all organic material into more nanites, and swept over the planet’s surface.
“How...” Rhoda was staring, tears flowing freely down her face.
No one was immune from the tears. Every person who could see the screens in each of the ships, cried that day. Each one had been chosen because they were known to care about other people, no matter the situation. Seeing every person on their planet destroyed was beyond what they could stand.
As soon as they could prepare their landers, they sent them out. The crew of each was all the same gender, so there would be no problems as they got close to the planet. Each returned the same story. No one was alive that they could find. The only ones who might be, would be locked in a bank vault Otherwise…
“We are gathered here today, to pay tribute to our fallen world.” The commanding crews of each ship had joined on Centaurus, as it was the ship of Earth’s president. Those who were not able to attend physically, sat in their own ship’s amphitheater, along with their thousands of neighbors, watching Paula Freeman speak.
“We have seen the outcome of the MAD project, and it was truly that. Mad. Watching as every human on the world was destroyed by the very things that are in our bodies, keeping us from being destroyed, was humbling. To think that one man was able to orchestrate this loss of life over this world, is unthinkable.
“There will never be anymore life on this world, our home, but we can spread our wings and build our lives elsewhere. We can, and we will. Each of us is set to go to a different possibility, with five backup locations each. That makes a hundred worlds that we can check, with even more possible as we look out in the galaxy.
“Where will we end up? We don’t know right now, but we will survive. We have to. This is the only choice for us. We know that there are two more ships out there, but they have left our galaxy, heading toward no galaxy that we know of. We know that N21 had the ‘Total Fun’ on their ship, but perhaps, if N22 finds them, they can move to N22 and be free.
“If N22 finds N21, and I believe they will they will return here. They will see what happened to our world, and then undoubtedly leave.
“Gina and I have discussed this possibility, and we have decided to help them, if we can.
“We are going to place Centaurus into an orbit where we can wait for them to arrive. It may take thousands of years, but we have enough substance on this ship to wait that long. Again, just as we had to check on our people on Earth, we have to save this last vestige of humanity, if we can.
“My charge to you, as your president, is to go out into the galaxy, and make us proud! Find a place to call home again, each of you, and never give up. Don’t surrender to whatever challenges you find out there. We no longer are Caesar’s playthings. We are our own again. Do not be beaten!”
She stepped away from the podium she had stood behind, then told the crowds, “Now, go to it, and be blessed!”
Then she stepped off the platform and walked out of the amphitheater. Just outside the door, she met Fred and just about fell into his arms. “You did great,” he told her.
“Remember all those times I got on your case about Willem and how you felt about watching him die?”
He nodded, not knowing where she was going with this.
“I want to kill him a thousand times over now. No, make that millions of times, billions of times. One for each person destroyed on our planet.”
“We don’t know if he reprogrammed those missiles, Paula. We’ll never know.”
“Whether directly or indirectly, he is responsible for each of them. We wouldn’t have any of the N series weapons platforms if he had stayed out of power.”
Fred hugged her hard. “Paula, I want you to know one thing.” He backed up so he could look in her eyes. “I would be right there helping you with those billions of times killing him. Long ago, I lost any love I had for him. There is no connection to him at all. I have been Freeman so long now, I hardly remember being a Wallace. He is gone from my soul.”
She nodded and pulled herself into him. It was awhile before they went back to their rooms.
Centaurus had sat on a cometary orbit around Sol for many years. Actually, close to fifty thousand. There had been a few upsets with the after effects of ‘Total Fun’, but they had dealt with them and moved on.
Finally the day came where they wanted to settle on a planet. The ship had enough supplies to keep them going for years yet, but being stuck in a ship, even one as vast as Centaurus, came at a price. ‘Cabin Fever’ had been known of for years, but with all the things to do on Earth, the craft that could take you anywhere, without ever fearing sliding off roads, or plowing snow, it simply wasn’t an issue. Now, however the people were wishing for more area to visit.
Finally, Gina had enough. She sat down with her mother-in-law and discussed the problem. “I want to see them as much as you do, Mom, but we’ve got to be realistic.”
“I know, Gina. I just wish they had shown up by now.”
“I have a possibility for you, Mom. I’m really not sure what you’ll think of it, however.”
They met up with a few engineers who had worked on the ships in the briefing room.
“This is really a matter for you and Fred, Ma’am.” one of the engineers told her.
“Why?”
“You haven’t told her?”
Gina shook her head, and Paula was starting to get really worried now. Just what had they come up with?
“On our way through here, Mom, we’ve scouted this area many times. The fact is, it’s mineral rich. There are enough metals out here to build a ship. Another one, even bigger than this one.”
“You think we should build another ship?”
The engineer nodded.
“Transfer our people into that?”
“No,” Gina told her.
“I’m not sure I get it, then.”
“Mom, call Dad in here, please?”
Very reluctantly, Paula called her husband. He came in ten minutes later, and no one had given Paula anymore information.
“What’s up?” Fred asked.
Gina filled Fred in on what was already said, then she went on. “We are thinking of building a ship that can wait here indefinitely for N22 to return. We will put a small crew on it, to contact N22 when they arrive. As such, there will be the possibility… No, make that certainty, that children will be born to these people, thus an indefinite wait is really not possible, but a very long wait is possible.
“Where the ship will be much bigger than this one, and a very small crew placed on it, there will be a vast amount of space for them to enjoy.”
“How big are you talking?” Fred asked.
“To put it in perspective, our Centaurus’ diameter is two miles. We’re talking about the same size command ring, but a diameter five times that of Centaurus.”
“As well,” said the engineer, “Because of the size of this thing, We think there needs to be a few modifications as well.”
“Go on,” Fred was very interested now.
“We will build an outer ring around the upstairs and downstairs, with ‘U’ corridors between them as well We’re also thinking of the same idea in the middle of the bays. Not only will this allow for quicker transport between, but it will help strengthen the entire structure.”
Paula had been listening intently, and now said, “I want to be a part of that crew.”
Gina agreed. “It will be yours to command.”
It had taken a few years to build the massive ship. They had found vast deposits of the raw materials to make fuel, in the Oort cloud, as well as from some of the asteroids. These had been pulled to the dwarf planet, Pluto. They used that as a base for the builders and engineers to work on the ship. Once the superstructure was built and pressurized, they installed the anti gravity, then floors. At that point, Pluto was abandoned except as a storage facility for raw materials. One of the bays was given over to a metal fabrication plant. Once that was done, things began to move along much faster. Raw materials were moved to an open bay. It was estimated that there was enough there to fit out the inside of the entire ship.
Fred and Paula had decided that, while neither had experience in building, they would lend a couple of pairs of hands wherever they could. It was a special time for Paula, knowing that when this was completely built, she would command it.
Another change in the structure was made soon after the basic plans had been made. To increase the capacity, the shape of the bays was changed. The other ships, while much larger than N21, were still built the same. The bays were the basic shape of a rectangle, with thirty of them on the upstairs and downstairs halves. The new ship was completely changed, in effect, more than tripling it’s capacity. Each bay was built into the next one, with multiple ‘U’ corridors joining the sides together. As a result, there was no need for an outside corridor to connect the bays but an interesting idea was made. A corridor was made on the outer edge of the ship. It was over thirty miles long, surrounding the entire ship. The ‘U’ corridors were connected with ‘J’ corridors to this ring. The outside had a metal shell, but the inside was transparent steel. It made a wonderful walkway, where you could see the ship. You could also see the center, command ring. Just for the fun of it, the ‘J’ corridors in the command rings and in the outer ring, went the opposite way. Thus you were standing the opposite directions in the rings.
Now, it was time to start the engines for the first time to make sure that they worked. These were massive compared to the ones that powered Centaurus. When Paula gave the order to start them, there was a vibration in the entire ship that felt like it was hitting the harmonics of a person’s bones. It rose in power until the ship began to move. The ship was placed into an orbit that ran parallel to it’s smaller sister, but several miles away to adjust for it’s much greater mass. Very carefully, it’s roll was started, then Paula took a brass plaque from a pocket, wiped it off and placed it in a receptacle just inside the door of the command center. It stated that the name of this new ship was Neo22.
Once the Neo22 was run through it’s paces, it was time for Centaurus to depart. She watched through a scope as the smaller ship started out of it’s orbit. “Smooth sailing, Centaurus,” she said over the comm.
“They will be safe, Mom,” said a very familiar voice from behind her. She turned and saw Rhoda. Not just her, but Gina as well!
“What are you two doing here?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“Staying with you and Dad,” Gina told her. “You don’t think we’d abandon you, do you?”
“Who’s commanding Centaurus?” Paula asked.
“I transferred command to Rick Johnson,” She told her mother-in-law. “Right before I transferred to here.” She stepped over to Paula and asked the old question of seafarers. “Permission to come aboard?”
Paula stood at one of the few observation ports on the outer ring, gazing out at the stars of the Milkyway. There was no sensation of movement, but the scene continually moved from right to left. It was one of her favorite pastimes, to simply stand by the viewports and look longingly out at stars. She always hoped that one day she would live close to one out there, somewhere.
None of the viewports ever showed Sol. It was hidden by the floor of the thirty mile tube that she stood in. She had been standing there for about an hour, when Fred's reflection appeared in the port beside hers. She saw that he had a couple of folding chairs with him, and he set them up right behind her. He gently guided her to the chair, and she sat down.
The tube was about twenty-five feet wide, and the viewports had been built into a small room in the along the outer wall.. The entire outer wall of the room was transparent steel, which gave the impression of standing in space, especially since the lighting was so dim to be almost nonexistent.
Fred sat down and picked up a pack that he had also carried with him. He reached in and pulled out a bottle. The label was a match to the Scotch Whiskey they had shared so long ago, overlooking Honolulu. He reached into the pack and pulled out two glasses. He poured them each a shot. She didn't down hers immediately. Rather, she held it up and looked at the liquid, which turned the starlight a dim amber color.
"I remember that night you had a bottle of this in Honolulu. I wondered how you had it. It was an artifact from so long ago. This bottle is almost twice as old."
"You told me that night that I hadn't murdered my brother. It took me a long time to believe you, but I finally did. Now I believe you even more."
"There's nothing left on that planet. Do we have the right to colonize other worlds? Maybe we should do as N21 and N22 have done. Just turn Neo22 out of the galaxy and fire our engines until they're out of fuel, to just spend forever between the stars."
He didn't respond for quite some time. He gazed out and finally said, "You don't believe that, Paula. You fought for our survival more than anyone. You were the president when this happened."
"Yeah. I really did well at that," she said dryly. She downed the scotch, and held her glass out for more. Fred almost refused, as he didn't want her to get depressed, but finally poured another shot for each of them.
"You did great, Paula. Nobody could have done a better job than you did."
"You don't believe that, Fred," she said, echoing his sentence back to him.
"In fact, my dear, I do."
"Uh huh. Name one person who couldn't have done better."
"Fredrik Freeman."
She didn't respond to that for several minutes. She just gazed at the stars again. Finally, she said simply, "Bullshit."
He downed his shot, turned to face her, and said, "Not very ladylike, is it?"
She snorted. "I'm not a lady."
"Bullshit," he returned, then they both laughed. When the laughter died down, he took her hand in his, and faced her. Very gently, he turned her face toward his and told her, "You are the most beautiful woman on this ship, and I love you more each day. You are brilliant, self assured, sexy... I can't think of anything you're lacking."
She kissed him, then leaned her head on his shoulder. They stayed there for a long time, holding each other in the light of the stars.
A few days later, the command crew had a meeting.
"We've waited another ten thousand years since Centaurus left," she told them. "I'm not a quitter, but perhaps it's time we admit that N22 isn't returning."
"And do what?" Rhoda asked. "None of the planets have turned out to be what we need to survive. Famolhaut IV is setting out across the galaxy, scanning planets as they go."
Gina backed up her wife. "Mom, we have no place to go."
"We can help look."
"We have twenty sister ships out there, looking for habitable planets," Fred told her. "They are way ahead of us. When N22 gets here…"
"If it gets here,"
"When," he said forcefully. "When... N22 gets here, we'll need to assist them to get up to speed. We'll be their only chance to get to our destination."
"Fred, the people on this shop deserve better than to sit here waiting for something that may never happen."
He knew that she was right, yet there was something she wasn't seeing. "Paula, they chose this, just like you did. Just like I did. The people on N22 deserve us waiting for them. They chose to do what they did. Whether they find N21 or not, they're heroes. That's their nature."
"Mom," Rhoda said, "Think of this. Willem did not think twice about abandoning the people of N21 to flying forever in between galaxies. Gina and I made the decision that we could never be like him. How could we ever face ourselves if we did the same?"
"You told me that I wasn't a murderer, Paula. I am here for that reason. I'm not. I will not do what my brother did. His decision was to abandon them. My decision is to rescue them."
Paula looked at each of her families faces and saw the determination written in each, that made her realize it was permanent. They would not go to a final destination without N22. It simply would not happen.
And so, for another eight hundred years, Neo22 waited
The wait abruptly ended all at once when they tracked N22 heading toward Earth. Gina was in command and called Paula to the command center.
When Paula entered to center she saw that Gina was trying to warn the much smaller ship away from Earth, but they didn't seem to hear. Neo22 watched as they passed the limit of the 'Total Fun' effect.
Suddenly, N22s engines fired, catapulting the ship away from the planet.
At that moment, Neo22 lost sight of Earth, but N22 was heading their way. What was happening on the smaller ship was anyone's guess. They still were now replying to any signal, but were skimming very near the star. Their engines came on for a moment and Paula watched in horror as she realized what they were going to do.
Their course would fling them away from the sun in an ever slowing and widening orbit which would allow Venus' gravity to quickly grab them and fling them into an arc right into Earth's atmosphere, to change course again, heading in a gentle curve back the way they had come.
It was an incredibly complex navigational masterpiece, but they were intending to head directly out of the galaxy!
"Rhoda, please plot us a course to intersect theirs. I know it will take us awhile, but we know where they are now!"
Rhoda was beaming as she started working on her computer. Paula stepped up behind her daughter and nodded her approval as she watched. All of the gravity inside the planetary system made things complex.
The closeness of N22's flightplan to the sun would make any rendezvous there impossible. Frankly, they had no idea if there was enough fuel left for them to change course. Paula knew how close the fuel of that ship had been figured, and she doubted that there was.
Rhoda was setting their courses to intersect well beyond the Oort Cloud. Neo22 would actually come closer to the sun than its counterpart, but would shoot across a very small amount of the corona, to be caught much more by Venus. It would then head toward the rendezvous point.
"Perfect," Paula told her daughter as she saw the course come alive on the screen. It took her a moment to order it, however. While it ended with them intersecting, this would be dangerous. The course was theoretically possible, but it was closer than any sane person would want to get to a star. Hell with it, she thought. "Do it."
Rhoda committed them by pressing a button, and the engines fired. The ship slowed allowing their fall around the star to become stronger. A moment later, the thrusters realigned them, and the engines fired again, making them accelerate their fall while at the same time, angling them to where they would miss the surface and just barely skim the edge of the sun's atmosphere.
N21 Chronicles
This part encompasses the rescue of Rose and her companions from the destroyed N22 to what might be their new home.
The command team of Neo22 were all present in the command center, their attention glued to the screens. They were watching for N22, and for several minutes, no one said a word. Eventually, Gina spotted a bit of reflection on a screen. “Look,” she exclaimed!
She was the only one who had seen it, but she touched the screen and zoomed in where it had shown.
It was very disappointing. What they saw was a piece of a bay, spinning in the darkness. Occasionally, it would catch the light from the distant sun, but it was mostly featureless. Rhoda carefully used the thrusters to bring them into relative position with the piece.
“Can we get over there in suits,” Fred asked?
“We should be able to,” Paula replied. As they watched, however, they noticed something strange. The reflections were getting less defined. Again, the screen was zoomed in, and light shone on the area of interest.
“Is this all that’s left,” Paula wondered? As the bay spun, they could see that it was slowly turning into dust.
“What could cause that?” Rhoda wondered.
“Emergency power, get us away from here!”
They felt the force as the ship backed away from the ruined station. Paula thought furiously. If she was correct, she needed to have something to destroy any nanites as they hit her ship. “Gina, can you make a spark each time a particle hits us?”
Her daughter-in-law looked at her as if she was insane. “I don’t follow you.”
“I want a big enough spark to vaporize any nanites if they touch us.” Gina glanced at the screen again and realized what Paula was saying.
“Oh shit!” Gina hurried to comply. When the charge was established, there was a flash of light as the dust was burned off. Fred also realized what had happened. “Do you think we were in time?”
“I hope so. I just wish we had been in time for them.”
Later that night, Paula wasn’t able to sleep, so she quietly got up. She didn’t want to wake up Fred, but she wanted time to reflect. She quietly grabbed some clothes and got dressed in the bathroom. Then she went to her favorite spot on the ship. The observation port. It was by common consensus that the people of the ship had decided that this particular port was for her and Fred. They had made a rock that very closely matched the one that they had sat on overlooking Honolulu.
She opened the door to the port, and walked in. She was surprised to see Fred sitting on the rock. “What are you doing here?”
“I woke up when you got up, and I knew where you’d be going, so I came up here.”
She sat down beside him. “Do you think the entire station is destroyed?”
He had been enjoying the memories he had of sitting by this port with Paula, but now, his mind was brought back to what they had seen earlier in the day. "I really don't know. I suppose it could very well be, but we have nothing to support that."
"We were so close, Fred! This is so wrong!"
Fredrik nodded. He often thought of what this very person he was so in love with had once told him. Willem deserved his fate. He deserved so much more than what he had received.
He put an arm around her. "Like I said, Paula, we have nothing to support them all being gone."
"We also have nothing to support them being still alive either."
"Look. We know that our course predictions were correct. Let's speed up a bit and see if we catch up with anything else."
She nodded and put her head into Fred's shoulder. She wanted to start now, but there were several people making sure that nothing was dropped into their ship that could hurt them… and if it had, then they needed a fix for it.
For his part, Fred leaned back against the wall behind him, and held her tight.
They stayed there for several hours.
Gina and Rhoda were at work when Paula entered the command center in the morning. Everything had checked out okay regarding contamination by nanites. Finally, something had gone right in that regard. The question was, were they in time.
Fred's idea of speeding up seemed to be the best one but a bit unsure now. The course followed by N22 would be affected by gravity from various objects operating on an item of a certain mass. Now, that mass was unknown. Predicting anything had new variables. All they could do was make estimates.
They had started computing logical search patterns for debris when they got a surprise.
"This is N22 calling the nearby vessel. Do you read?" The voice was female and sounded desperate.
Gina jumped to the computer and answered. "N22, this is Neo22. We read you loud and clear!"
"Oh, thank God! We have been trying to get this radio working for days. Can you rescue us please?"
Such a simple question, but one which required so much discussion. Fred stood at the back of the room and watched as his wife and daughters went to work. After a couple of hours, they were ready to revise their search pattern. After their engines had fired, the command staff met in the briefing room again.
N22 had discovered their predicament about twelve days ago. They hadn't got much past Earth, when much of their ship started disintegrating. It wasn't a huge leap to realize nanites were involved.
They knew that nanites were the main ingredient of the old missiles, and the orange atmosphere confirmed it. What they discovered, with the help of a doomed doctor on one of their bays, was that the nanites were able to change their food source. While they attacked organic matter, when they ran out, they were able to switch to inorganic of almost any type. When organic material became available again, they swarmed onto it. Kent Peterson, a doctor doomed on a disconnected bay observed this dispassionately as his wife was killed, then attacked himself.
Every bay of the N22 had been ejected by the computers before they could even react. Marc Dodson realized what needed to be done quickly, but too late to save any of the bays. The command ring had drifted too far away from the bays by this time. They had charged the outer hull, vaporizing the nanites as they touched it. All that was left was about nine hundred people from the several thousand that had been on N22.
The people in the briefing room were shocked. They had been prepared to take on several thousand. Now, the amount had dropped to less than one thousand. It was a shock that there would be so few to be rescued, but they would happily do what they could.
On the remains of N22, Rashda, Colleen, Marc, Carla, John, and I were in the command center.
John and I had hurried to help people in the command ring as soon as I was considered able to move around by Carla. We still had the upstairs and downstairs rings, but they were not usable. There were several breaches in the hulls where the large bays had made contact.
Carla and Marc worked to plug power into the hull before the nanites made it inside.
Rashda and Colleen were manning the controls, trying to dodge the bays, and clouds of debris.
Soon, we were away from the scattered wreckage, and free of all the nanites not intended to be inside us.
About eight days after the destruction, we heard a voice on our comm system! It was apparently a ship from Earth. Rather than question who they were or how they knew who we were, we tried to answer them. Something was wrong with our transmission system. We could listen, but not talk.
Marc and John worked to get our communications working again, but each time they tried to transmit again, the air got more and more thick with smoke. Finally, it worked! I'm not sure what they did, but it was so wonderful when we heard an answer. I ended up crying into John's shoulder.
Carla had a hard time keeping from crying too as she talked with the woman, Gina, from the other ship.
It was a real shock to hear that the other ship, Neo22, was there specifically to rescue us, and that they'd been there for so long, waiting.
We were waiting as well, as what was left of our ship was pulled against a docking port. We were able to travel through two by two, just as the animals long ago on Noah's Ark.
Slowly, we moved our nine hundred people aboard this new ark, hoping to find an Ararat and rainbow somewhere in the galaxy.
I was a bit embarrassed when John and I came through the airlock. As soon as Doctor Sylvia heard who I was, I found myself being placed on a gurney and taken to a hospital.
There, I was subjected to a whole bunch of tests to make sure I and my baby were alright after the last few days.
I sat back in the bed and sighed. It had been several days since I had felt human. I smelled like acrid electronic smoke. I think I had several patches of vomit (not all mine) on my clothes. I had been promised access to a bath just as soon as I was done here.
I really wanted that before I had to make the acquaintance of anyone. Unfortunately, that was not to be. John opened the door, and I was happy to see him, but then he held it open for Rashda and another man I thought was familiar.
"Rose," said Rashda, "I would like you to meet Fredrik Freeman, a friend of mine, and the former president of Earth."
I could almost have died. I looked like something even too gross for the cat to drag in, and I'm meeting the former president. No wonder he looked familiar! I'd seen this man in our command center.
I decided I had no choice, so I held out my hand. I felt mortified as he took my hand, and rather than shake it, he kissed it. I wondered if he knew where that hand had been. I had run out of gloves as I was helping some of the people.
There were many injuries we had to deal with, and Carla and I ended up as nurses. Most things were from trying to get people safely into the command ring very quickly, but a few people were injured by the bay doors closing on them. That was a nightmare. If it wasn't, it would be, I'm sure.
Now, here was the president kissing my hand.
"I'm very happy to meet you, Rose. I've heard so much about you."
"It's nice to finally meet you face to face, Sir. It was nice to know we had a friend on Earth to talk to."
Rashda looked a bit uncomfortable when I said that.
"What's wrong," I asked?
"I only spoke to your station a couple of times"
"But the long conversation with Perl? You gave us so much help," I supplied. He shook his head.
"Apparently it was another of Willem's tricks," my husband told me.
"We had left Earth before the first of Perls messages even got there. As a matter of fact, we began receiving the whole conversation being sent back from the station, I'm guessing as a mockery from Willem."
I couldn't understand. "Why did he do that? He gave us hope that Earth was there, helping us."
John shook his head. "He gave us information through his AI that he controlled. He could make us believe what he wanted. And it was more play. I can imagine how he would have enjoyed watching this conversation himself. He would have been thrilled."
It was a couple of hours later that I was released to my husband’s custody. In all honesty I was quite happy to be in his custody. Doctor Sylvia had declared that I and my baby were in perfect health, and as N22 had only contributed about a twentieth of its original population, there was no problem with my being pregnant!
I’m afraid that on our journey to our new home, I talked John’s ear off so badly that when we arrived, he picked me up and carried me over the threshold. “You’re one or two years late for that, John,” I told him laughing. But to be honest, I had every intention of breaking in our new bed, floor, whatever. As long as I could get a good, hot bath first.
To that end, I went into the bathroom and to my delight, I found that there was a jet tub, large enough for two people. “Oh, John,” I called in a sing-song voice. “Would you come in here for a moment please?” Right beside the tub was an alcove that contained a shower that was plenty large for two people as well. In fact five or six could fit comfortably, but I was quite happy with just us two. John entered, and I looked at him innocently. “I’m going to need help washing my back.” I gave him ‘doe eyes’ then fluttered my eyelashes as best I could. He looked around at the facilities, then without a word, he left.
Great, I thought. I should have cleaned up before I tried to get him in with me. I started the shower, then prepared to disrobe. A moment later, John entered the bathroom carrying two towels and robes. He helped me finish getting undressed, then I helped him. Together, we enjoyed testing the shower, tub, bed, floor…. You understand, I’m sure.
We took about a week to get to know the ship. It was massive! Carla, Colleen and I took a couple of days to scout the shops, of which there were lots.
As I had done on N22, I wanted to scout out the restaurants to see if one run by me would be worthy, so I contacted Rhoda, the commander’s daughter one evening. She told me that she would join me tomorrow and show me around. My two best friends and Gina, Rhoda’s wife joined us. We visited just about every restaurant that served breakfasts that morning. Most of those were on the downstairs side of the ship, which was where John and my rooms were. I was surprised that most of the chefs wanted me to taste their food. I was glad for nanites as I would have put on a lot of weight that morning.
Then, we made some rounds for lunch. Oh no! I was tasting more food, everything from hamburgers to salads, and escargot to jambalaya! It was all wonderful, but I was stuffed just from the samples! Of course all of us got to taste everything; It seemed that all those who accompanied me received them. I was tired after lunch. All the food was heavenly. We went to the beach. Yes! They had a beach! We hadn’t brought anything to sunbathe in (yes. Don’t even ask. There was a faux sun in the sky. I’m not kidding.) so we borrowed some things there. I put on a short white skirt with a matching top. I also had to borrow a pair of sunglasses and a hat. This was heaven after all we’d been through. I was almost in tears, knowing that this had been made to find us.
I lay down on a chaise lounge and dozed off. I woke up to find John sitting beside. “Glad to see you awake, Rose,” he told me. “I was about ready to wake you up. We’ve been asked to join you and go to the second best restaurant on board, for dinner.”
“Second best?” I asked. Not that I was upset. If the quality food I’d tasted that day was any indication, we were in for a real treat.
“You got me,” he told me. I’m just repeating what I was told.
I sat up, and was again grateful to the nanites for controlling my weight, but I needed to find a restroom and fast! Carla and I hurried off, as the others weren’t present at the moment. When we went in the ladies, the others were there. I didn’t say anything but a hurried, “Hi,” and then was out of sight. I think Carla did as well. A few moments later, I was out, and it was then that I realized I had forgotten my handbag on the beach. I looked in the mirror, and definitely needed some fixing on my face, so went out and grabbed my bag. John got a couple of chuckles in, to which I threatened him with terrible things that night. He intensified his laughs. I promised him a very intense night as payback. For some reason, his laughs didn’t slacken. If anything, they got worse. I’ve really got to work on my definition of horrible.
After I had fixed my makeup, we hurried to our home, and I changed into something for the evening, as did John. We met up at a rather incongruous steakhouse. While I love a good steak (lead in a cow and give me a knife and fork is how I like mine done) I didn’t see one as the second nicest restaurant. I also felt conspicuously overdressed. Once I saw the menu, however, I quickly changed my mind about the food. It was packed with some of the most wonderful sounding meals I had ever seen.
I had no idea what to start with, so rather than make up my mind, I signaled to John to please order. I was overwhelmed. Something I hadn’t had in a long time was that nice rare t-bone, and knowing how much I loved it, John ordered two of them. When it came my eyes widened. It was a ten ounce. Where? I wondered looking down at my stomach.
The first bite of the steak was heaven, and the fried okra was divine. Second best? Really? Thank God for nanites in the blood stream! I was going to need them.
Poor John wanted a taste of my potatoes, and nearly got my fork through his hand. I’m rather possessive with food, but as he knew already, he would get the remainder of my dinner. There was no way I could even begin to eat it all. Then they brought out some homemade chocolate ice cream; on a brownie. I almost died!
When we left, I turned to Paula, who with Fred, had joined us at the steakhouse. “John told me that’s the second best restaurant on the ship. He’s putting me on, right?”
“I’m afraid not, Rose. We have one better.”
“If it’s better, I have to try it!” I exclaimed.
We came around a corner and I stopped. In front of me was a restaurant called, Heaven’s Rose. What? We entered it, and there was no one there. It looked like it was ready to open, although there were no menus. Gina smiled at me, and led me into the kitchen. It had the best equipment I had ever seen! I came out and was shown the dining areas. “You like?” Fred asked me.
“For m-me?” I stammered.
“If you want it,” Paula told me. “This building has been here since the ship was built. I’ve been wanting to see it open for a very long time now.”
I couldn’t get words out and Paula said, “Don’t worry about it yet. You don’t need to answer at the moment.”
I sat down and looked around the establishment. I had always had a restaurant that I ran. I couldn't even conceive of not having one. Of course I wanted to do it! I opened my mouth to say that, but John beat me to it.
"Of course she'll do it."
I wanted to glare at him, but I was too happy. I had lost one just a few weeks ago, and to now have another one ready for me.
I discussed with Gina and her father-in-law, what few things I would need to open the doors. I still had a couple of assistant chefs who would love to help again. That made me think of all the people we wouldn't have. I kept the tears back, but Fred saw my reaction, and was able to guess what I was feeling.
"We all will have so many people to mourn once this is over."
"Our entire planet," I agreed. "How could that bastard do this to a planet?"
I saw Fred's demeanor change for a moment, and I wondered why.
We decided to meet in the briefing room the next day, but for now, we said goodnight and John and I realized that the U from beside the restaurant ended up in our apartment complex.
We were again on the third floor, but the builders of this ship had made some interesting changes in these complexes. There were no stairs to the upstairs levels. Instead, the floor curved up and then leveled, all the while with gravity making you walk on what seemed to be a level surface. It was always strange to the eye, and could make even a well person nauseous until they got the hang of things. John and my walk from the restaurant to our home was about a half mile of a straight walk until we arrived at the landings in our stairwell.
We got home, and joined each other in the shower, then I fulfilled my dire threats to him.
I was so excited, I couldn't sleep, though. I kept thinking about the restaurant.
I got up, so I wouldn't wake up my man. He had done very well, that evening, so I let him sleep without bothering him.
I sat down in one of our bedroom overstuffed chairs, after I put on my robe. I watched John for awhile, marvelling once again, how our relationship had come about. I had now been a woman several times the length of time I had been a man, and I had loved every minute of it. I often wondered if I had really been a transwoman beforehand, but that didn't seem possible. I hadn't been afraid of John in stage one before I had become a woman.
I wanted to resent that part of Willem's actions, but I couldn't. I loved John way to much to be upset.
I'm not sure how long I watched him, but I eventually got up. I didn't have any instruments yet, except a twelve string. I started playing an upbeat Spanish song from years gone past. I finished it, and put the guitar down.
I went to the computer, and started looking through some recipes. Many that were stored were ones that Perl had got from me before we left Earth. In that moment, my love and mourning for her came back, which naturally led to the same feelings for Kari. Oh, the drawbacks for having a perfect memory thanks to the nanites.
I wanted to forget them, so I looked up some information on our hosts.
What I saw chilled me. I had not known that Fredrik Freeman and Willem Wallace were brothers. I didn't know what to think.
I dug deeper, and found that Freeman had authorized the torture of his brother. How could he do that? Could I have done that? I didn't know. I knew I couldn't now, but could who I had been do it? It had been so long ago that I had been a man, I couldn't place myself in that situation.
I remembered Fred's momentary change when I called Willem a bastard earlier. I wondered what that meant. Did they share some of the same predilections? Did Fred authorize Willem's death to take power for himself?
The records said that Fred demanded no more than a two millennia term for a president, but then he married the next president after she became Paula. She had been the commander of this ship for over a hundred millennia. In essence, he had power as well.
I didn't know what to think. I sat up, feeling the sleepless night, but absolutely unable to rest at all. I wasn't sure I would be able for awhile.
It was a few hours later that John got up and found me sitting in the living area. He gave me a strange look, but went into the kitchen and started fixing something which smelled wonderful. I say that because I know that his cooking is always that way. I love it.
I couldn't get into it today, though. My mind kept going over the fact of Fred being the brother of a monster. The monster who had taken my friends away. Had taken me away.
I was a woman. Had been a woman for hundreds of years, and I couldn't not like it. I was deeply in love with a man who would do anything to show how much he loved me! I had a baby growing inside me that I loved. Was I complaining? No! At least… I don't think I was.
Did I have any reason to complain? Well, yes. I hadn't asked for this. I hadn't wanted this! This wasn't who I was supposed to be!
But I loved it! Why was I complaining?
My head was spinning. I knew that a lot of this was lack of sleep.
John cena out of the kitchen carrying two plates of breakfast. He set them down on the table and I saw what they were. Even though I was too depressed to enjoy mine I knew that it was divine. An omelette packed with bacon, blue cheese, an assortment of vegetables, and spices that John would never tell me, although I knew what they were; coriander, cilantro, oregano. He said he wanted to keep it a secret as it was his recipe for me.
As I thought about all the loving things he did for me, I had mixed feelings. I knew that this was who I was now. The nanites were affecting my brain, pumping up my feminine feelings, but the fact was, they weren't making me love him. That was something I chose to do.
What galled me was that I was pushed into womanhood by Willem, without a second thought. Not even a second thought on my part either. When I became a woman, I was immediately afraid of men. I was revolted by the thought of who I had been just a few moments before. I hated Willem for doing this to me!
But would I go back? Oh God, no! Never! I loved John, the baby, all the wonderful things about being a woman!
This back and forth was starting to get to me. I decided to try to put it out of my mind. I got up and went to the table. John had covered my breakfast to keep it warm. He got up and went into the kitchen. A moment later, he came out with some toast and coffee, and set it in front of me. He bent down and gave me a kiss on the forehead, then sat down. I took a bite of the omelet, and I had been right. It was divine! I drank my coffee, got some more, and sat down.
I looked at him and realized he had finished his food and was just looking at me. I had a second piece of omelet halfway to my mouth, but I stopped and put it down. He had a question written on his face that I couldn't ignore.
His concern was like a warmed blanket on a cold night wrapped lovingly around me.
How could I ever complain about this? I felt the tears start. Thankfully, he had been there through it all. He had been by my side… had forced himself to be there when I became a woman, even though the nanites made him fear me. How could I complain?
Because it hadn't been my choice, and the beauty of it was wrapped up in horror.
That afternoon we went to the briefing room. John and I had been talking about the restaurant since we for up, and though he was chatting animatedly, I knew he wasn't fooled. I would have to tell him what was bothering me that evening. The concern was there. He had it hidden behind his smile and jovial spirit, but I knew him too well to miss it.
When we walked in and I saw Fred and Paula sitting there I tried to keep the smile on my face. I'm not sure Fred noticed my problem, but I know Paula did. While she had been born a man, just like me, she was a woman now and I know she saw through it instantly.
Our topic that afternoon was an interesting one. We were sitting in an orbit even beyond the Oort Cloud, but still around our home sun.
“Could we go back to Earth?” I asked, although I was sure we couldn’t.
“No,” Fred answered. “The nanites destroyed that idea permanently. We could never get rid of them all, and even if we could, we’d have to find Willem’s computer that controls the nanites. We have no idea where it is.”
“Your brother’s computer, you mean,” I said. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but I did. I regretted it as soon as I did.
Paula sighed. I guess she realized why I was upset that morning. “You did some research, this morning,” she commented.
“Last night actually. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the restaurant. How come you didn’t tell us?” I asked her. I pointedly ignored Fred.
“We were afraid of a reaction like this,” she said. We were going to after a bit. You needed to see that Fred was trustworthy.”
“That’s why I changed my last name to Freeman,” he explained. “It means I was...”
I cut him off. “Yes, free from Wallace. I get it. I saw the video of your speech.” I knew my anger was showing on my face. John put his hand on mine, but I pulled it away. “I’m not ready to give this up, John. We were lied to – by omission, to be sure, but it was still lying!”
I turned to Freeman. “I wasn’t going to say anything, and I apologize for the mistake, but I really want to know why. Why did you not tell us at first?”
He sighed. “As Paula explained, I knew some of you would react like this.”
“Well, what do you expect us to do?” I almost shouted. I could see that he was almost ready to get up and walk out.
“May I say something, Rose?” Paula asked.
“It’s Mrs. Carlson,” I told them, wanting to distance myself.
“May I say something, Mrs. Carlson?” Paula asked again.
“Go ahead.”
“You know of course, that the history books say that Fred authorized the extraction of data from Wallace.
“Yes.”
“What you don’t know, is that Fred agonized over it for months afterward. Years, in fact.”
“You’re not making me trust either of you by telling me this.”
“I realize that. What I’m trying to get you to see is how much different than his brother, Fred is. Where Willem didn’t care how much he hurt others, Fred didn’t even want to kill his brother who was a monster.”
“None of this is relevant,” I said. “The fact is, Fred now has the power that Willem no longer has. Is this something genetic?”
“I don’t have any power,” he argued.
“Sure you do. Your wife is the commander of this vessel.”
“She’s the commander, not me.”
“Doesn’t she listen to you?”
Paula replied. “Not really. I argued with Fred the entire time that he agonized over torturing Willem that the bastard had gotten exactly what he deserved.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
“You don’t,” Paula admitted. “You’ve just got to trust us.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “I have no choice. My life is in your hands.”
“We have no wish to take your life. We want you to spend the rest of your lives in happiness. That’s why I had this ship built.”
“Mom fought for this,” said Rhoda. “Gina was the commander of the Centaurus. She wanted to stay, waiting for you, and so did Mom, but we had been waiting for fifty thousand years. Actually, no one really wanted to give up waiting. We were all willing to stay, but Gina decided that someone else would take her ship on to Alpha Centauri. We came over on the last transport from Centaurus.”
John took my hand. This time I didn’t refuse. “Honey, you know me. I don’t want you to live in depression. I want you to be happy. You have the restaurant. I’m told that your new instruments are being made. Please, forgive them for not telling us from the outset, and trust them.”
“I can forgive, John,” I told him, “ and I have, but it will take awhile to trust.”
“Thank you for forgiving us,” Fred told me. “I will do everything in my power to show you that you can trust me.”
I nodded. I wanted very much to trust, but I couldn’t at the moment. It was something that stayed out of my grasp.
“Thank you, Mrs. Carlson,” Paula told me.
“I’m sorry for losing it,” I told them, “and please call me Rose.”
Paula smiled. “Thank you, Rose.”
We got back to the business at hand, but we really didn’t know what to do. I think my outburst sidetracked everyone, so Paula suggested that we sleep on it, and come back tomorrow afternoon.
After the meeting, Paula asked if I wanted to do some work on Heaven’s Rose. I thought about it, and whether I should trust her. As I said before, I really wanted to. Finally, I accepted. We made our way there, as did the rest of the women who were at the meeting. There wasn’t very much to do. I checked everything out, and told them that I usually made a single dish every night, so I had time to work on my music as well as other things.
I was surprised after John and my two years sitting and doing nothing else, we still had muscle tone. I guess so we would be able to enter the next stage. Or perhaps it was the normal programming of the nanites. If someone entered a coma, they kept muscle tone so the person would be able to resume life afterwards.
I hadn’t played music for a long while, so when Gina asked if I would be willing to do a concert, I balked at it at first. I explained to her, and said I would have to see how comfortable I was playing, and work at it for awhile. “I might be able to after I practice for awhile, but please let me get the restaurant going first.”
“I understand,” she replied. “I do expect that people will want to hear you play. Perl raved about your food and your musical ability.”
I smiled sadly. “Perl was a good friend of both John and I.” I could feel the tears welling up again. When Gina hugged me, I was tense. She refused to let go, however, and I eventually relaxed. I’m sure it had to do with my distrust of Paul and Fred. Gina was Rhoda’s wife, and Rhoda was Paula’s daughter. I guess anyone in their family was subject to my distrust. I hated that, but it was what it was.
I knew that there were counselors on board Neo22 and I wondered. Of they might be able to help me. I figured I probably had PTSD. After years and years of being subject to the pain and horrors of Wallace’s demented play, I would be surprised if I didn’t.
The next day, after a busy night with John, I contacted one of the local counselors. She seemed to be a very nice person, but when I tried to schedule an appointment, she almost declined.
“I’ve already agreed to be John Carlson’s counselor. If he agrees, would you like to come in for family counseling?”
“Uh...” I had no idea John was going to go to counseling. “Certainly.”
I was planning a small dinner, similar to what I had done for N22 for that night centuries ago for the command staff. I had planned on my own take on some Chinese food. I had found the recipes in an archaeology dig, on some hard drives that supplied information to, what was once called, the internet. I wasn’t sure what they were supposed to taste like; in fact, no one was, thus it was my own take, but I felt that they were excellent. I steamed the vegetables, and made the sauce and meats as written. I thought that it must be close to what they originally were. I doubted that the recipes had survived over the years. Especially as China was now gone. I had acquired several recipes like that. Several were from Italy, Japan and even Hawaii. I wasn’t sure how they had been lost, but there it was.
I was shocked when Paula and Fred showed up and respectfully asked, “May we join you?”
“Of course!” I told them.
“Thank you,” Fred told me, “but if you’d rather we don’t we will respect that. This is your restaurant, and we won’t violate that.”
I hugged Paula, and after a minute, I hugged Fred, telling both of them “Thank you. You’re always welcome.”
They started to enter, but Fred stopped for a moment. “I understand you’re feeling the way you do, and I appreciate the gesture.”
I nodded, and we entered the back room where the rest of the command crews were seated. John had helped me all day, and we brought out the entrees together. I did not believe in hiring someone to bring out the food when I could easily do it myself. Everything was buffet style, and I explained what was in each dish. It certainly seemed to be enjoyed. Later, we discussed what to do with the ship. We knew that to get to Alpha Centauri would take a hundred years, but Neo22 had never heard from Centaurus. We were not sure why.
I was silent through most of the meeting. I was still embarrassed at my behavior the previous day. Finally, Paula asked what I thought. I looked down, and answered carefully. “I think we should go to Alpha Centauri and see what is there. We have no idea if they made it or not, but if something happened, we might be able to help them.”
“If we find them,” Rhoda said. She had voted to go to the next planet Centaurus was supposed to visit.
“I know it’s a little ship in a huge galaxy, but if we don’t try, we’ll always wonder if we could have found them.” I took a deep breath and hoped no one took my next words wrong. “I don’t want that on my conscience.” John had been holding my hand the entire meeting, and he squeezed it now. I knew he supported me, even though we disagreed on this.
Rhoda turned to her parents. “What do you think?”
“We discussed this earlier,” Fred told us. “We both think we should go to Alpha. This ship was made for recusing people. If Centaurus had problems, we need to find out. Your mother and I also have six kids on that ship. I’d be lying if I said we weren’t concerned about that.”
Paula nodded, and I thought about what Fred had said. I could not fault either for their desire to find out about their children. Even though my first was still inside me, the love I felt was indescribable.
Paula looked around at everyone. Her daughter and daughter-in-law had disagreed with her. “Do I have everyone’s assurance, that even if you disagree with going to Centaurus, you will back us in every possible way?”
Everyone said they would certainly, but I think Carla said it best. “I can understand how Rose feels; I have considered her my sister for over four hundred years. When she spoke about your relation to Willem, I was as mad as her, but I had a chance to think about it last night, and I’ve decided that you didn’t have to rescue us. You could have left a hundred thousand years ago, and left us to die. You are giving us the opportunity to pay our rescue forward. Even if I didn’t want to go to Alpha, I want to rescue that ship. I’ll stand behind you in this until I die.”
She nodded, accepting our answers.
When everyone else had left, Paula and Fred remained at the table. John and I had been taking the remaining food back to the kitchen. There was very little. I came out to clean the table and was surprised to see them there. Paula was crying this time, and I turned around to give them their privacy.
A few minutes later, I came back out. I didn’t bother them. Instead, I sat down by the kitchen doors. I could see them, if I stood and walked to the door and looked in. Rather than do that, I decided to just wait until they came out. I wasn’t sure why Paula was crying, but I knew the feeling, or rather, I thought I did.
I supposed that Fred’s statement about their kids probably got to her as a mother. John and I talked about the success of the dinner while we were waiting, and I didn’t begrudge them the time at all. Maybe I was healing.
Everyone had agreed that Heaven’s Rose was going to be unanimously chosen the best restaurant in town. I guess I should tell what it was like in this part of the ship. Heaven’s Rose was it’s own building, which was strange. In the other ships my restaurant was always on the ground floor of a multi-story apartment complex. Her, however, there was a town at the outer edge. The steakhouse that we had been to was here as well. It was a little ways away from mine, and I personally felt that I would have to work hard to maintain an edge. Granted, there was no money used, so it was all a friendly competition. In a way, the one who was known as the best lost. They had to work hardest for no real gain except popularity. I had my pride, though. That was one thing that Willem had never been able to take away from me.
After about half an hour, Paula and Fred came out of the private room and looked around. They saw us and walked over.
“Thank you, Rose,” Paula told me. “That was one of the best meals I’ve had.”
“Thank you, Paula.”
“I’m sorry for losing it there after the meal. It had nothing to do with you or the meal.”
“If I’m out of line, please tell me,” I said to her. I put my hand on my abdomen. “I have not had the experience as a mother as you have, but if my feelings for this little one are any indication, it has to be horrendous for you, not knowing what has happened to yours.”
She sat down across the table from me. “Rose, I know you don’t trust us very much, but I hope we can eventually be friends.”
I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I just nodded. I reached across the table and took her hands in mine. “I th-think we w-will.” I stammered to get the sentence out.
She stood and asked, “Can we help you here in any way?”
I smiled and shook my head. John spoke for me. “We’re done.”
Fred nodded, then Paula came around the table and as she put her arms around me. “You’re going to be a wonderful mother.”
That did it. It was my turn to cry now. While we were in the embrace, she whispered into my ear, “I’m pregnant too, but don’t tell anyone. Fred doesn’t know yet.” I pulled back from her, unsure whether to continue crying or giggle. Paula glanced over to where John and Fred had moved to, and I did too. Since they were away, I made my decision and started giggling. I pulled back into the embrace and in an excited whisper told her, “Congratulations!”
“Well you’ve sure been in a good mood since we started home,” John commented when we arrived at our rooms. “What’s up?”
“Does a girl need a reason to be happy?”
“Not always,” he told me.
“Are you wanting to sleep on the couch tonight?” I asked with an eyebrow raised.
“That depends,” he answered. “Will you join me?”
I tried to keep a straight face. I really did, however I couldn't. I laughed and hugged him. “I’m willing to give it a try.”
So we did.
The next day, Paula got on the ship wide intercom. She had two announcements.
The first was that we were done in our solar system, and would be leaving now to head toward Alpha.
Her second was that Heaven’s Rose would now be open for business. I blushed a deep red when the cheers went up for that.
John and I were sitting in a counselor’s office, waiting to be called back. I was nervous as could be. I knew I needed to talk to someone, but I really didn’t want to. I was gripping John’s left hand with both of mine.
A woman walked out of the office, and a few minutes later, we were called back. I really didn’t want to go and tried to drag my feet. John squeezed my hand and urged me to continue. We entered the inner sanctum and a woman stood up to shake our hands.
“I’m Mara Bitters,” she told us. “An ironic name for a counselor, don’t you think? I became intersex on Earth, and I decided to take the name Mara to go along with my last name.”
“Why is it ironic?” John asked.
“Mara means bitterness in Ancient Hebrew,” I told him.
“Interesting name,” he commented.
“Isn’t it,” she said. “So, Mr. and Mrs. Carlson. Tell me about yourselves.”
I nudged John to start. He told her about our each being about seven hundred, and that we had been friends all our lives, along with Perl who died on N21. He told her how I had become a woman on the station, and of our being bond mates.
Once he finished, Mara turned to me. “Mrs. Carlson, when we talked on the comm, you indicated that you suspected that you might have post-traumatic stress."
"I suspect I might."
"I wouldn't be surprised. There have been lots of people who have dealt with 'Total Fun' that way." She asked me to verify John's story from my point of view. I had very few gripes about it. More often than not, I simply added something that I felt differently than John.
To give me a break, she asked John to tell her how he felt now.
He took his time and made sure he was understood. He told her that when I changed, he had not wanted to fall in love with me. He just wanted to keep our friendship alive. Then, we became bond mates, and it immediately seemed that we were in love.
Mara asked me if I concurred and I told her that I did.
She asked me to continue, and I told her that I found it almost impossible to avoid thinking about John. No matter what I was doing, my mind would relate it to him. John nodded his agreement, and I continued. I told her how we touched the first time with a kiss. I told her that up till then, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced. It quickly fell down the list a substantial distance, later that night.
I hated becoming a man again. I decided that if we ever got out of that mess, I would never go back to being a man.
She switched us back to John, and I listened intently as he described his feelings for me during stage four, and when we got out from under 'Total Fun'.
During, he wondered how he would feel afterward if we ever got to that point. It was very similar to how I felt. He wondered if our feelings were real or if they were created by the nanites. He wondered if he would be enough for me afterward. He hoped so, but he really wasn't sure. What if his ability to make me orgasm was only because of the nanites?
I then related almost exactly the same story.
John said that when we were not in the stages, he felt like his feelings were now real! He said there had been something artificial about them before. It was as if they were set at a lower level as though to cause the doubts. On N22, those doubts disappeared. At least from his own perspective. Once I showed my love for him, he felt complete.
From my perspective, I found something similar. While under the influence of the nanites, I had felt like I was in love, but afterward, my feelings exploded way beyond where they had been. I enjoyed being sexy for John. I enjoyed sex so much more. It was so hard to be away from him. If he went anywhere, I needed to be with him.
"I've seen this in everyone I've talked to who has been through 'Total Fun'. Although I can't prove it, I believe the feelings were turned down during the stages. Making someone doubt their own feelings can push them into depression," she told us. "It looks like the emotions try to 'catch up' in proportion with the couple's natural affection and length of time in the stages." She waited for a few moments, then started to continue, but John stopped her.
"Okay, I'll bite. How do we rate in affection?"
I can't put it into numbers, but I believe you're the highest I've seen from N21 or N22.
I reached out and felt John's hand take mine. I couldn’t help it; I put my head on his shoulder.
“So is that why we find ourselves displaying our affection in public as much as we do?” John asked her.
“Very likely.” She seemed to think for a moment, then continued. "Many of the people I've dealt with who have been through the stages are dealing with post-traumatic stress. There are two ways to deal with this. One is to tune your nanites to do it."
"No!" John and I said it at the same time, and I'm not sure who was more forceful between us.
Mara nodded, and there was a hint of a smile on her face. "I figured you wouldn't want to do that. The other is the old way. We talk about it and work through your feelings."
We both agreed with that.
"What I would like to do is meet in a few days, separately, then together. I want to do the sessions one after the other."
We set up some sessions for three days later, then we left together.
I opened Heaven's Rose two days before, and I was supposed to have a wedding party that night in the restaurant, and into the outside dining area as well. It was a huge affair, and I was looking forward to it. John was planning to help me with it, and I was happy to have his assistance. We had worked together on N22 and he had learned how I preferred to do things. We worked together very well now.
It was a great experience and once again, we worked together like a well-oiled machine. It was amazing to me that John enjoyed helping me with my restaurants.
That night after a very delightful time enjoying each other, I lay awake. I was wondering why I had never taken a real interest in the things John found enjoyable. I was an artist in music and food, but I was sure I could learn his 'art'. Would I enjoy it? That wasn't really the point. I would enjoy helping him. As long as I wasn't a hindrance. I could see how I might be. I think John was afraid of being the same for me.
Suddenly I realized that I should have been more attentive to his feelings. He had given up his own time to be there for me. I didn't even recognize I should do the same for him.
I wasn't sure if he was awake, but I wanted to talk to him. "John?"
"Yes?"
I suddenly didn't know what to say. I decided to go for it. "Do you like helping me in the kitchen?"
"Sure."
"Why?"
"I get to be with you."
Great. Just what I needed to hear. He was helping me so he could spend time with me and I never helped him, even though I loved him to pieces. I hated to admit that I never thought of it that way, but I had to. "I'm so sorry, John. I never realized that was why."
"Wait a minute, Rose. That is not the only reason. Don't think that, okay? I enjoy helping you. You are a wizard in the kitchen, and I have the privilege to see you work all the time. That's a treat that only I get. Yes, some assistants get to observe your talents, but I am the only one who knows your recipes. Not to mention, I am married to the best chef in the universe. I eat very well all the time." I looked at him, and he had a 'gotcha grin on his face. I could barely see it in the dark, but I knew him so well I only had to catch a glimpse to know it was there.
"All right for you," I told him. "If you keep teasing me, there will be dire consequences for you in the morning."
"Hmmm. How can I get those without teasing you anymore?"
"Kiss me?"
"I can do that."
He did, and when we came up for breath, I told him, "Delicious. You, kind Sir, have earned my terrible wrath in the morning."
"Twas my intention, dear Lady."
We engaged in another, even deeper kiss, and then I curled up in his embrace. I felt so loved, but I had to ask. "Would you like me to help you with your hobbies?"
"Ahh. That explains your asking about me helping you.e
"I want to spend time with you too, John."
He thought for a bit and I was afraid he didn't want me to help.
"Unless you think I'd be a burden to teach."
"Rose, you are a woman of many talents. I don't think you'd be a burden at all. You wouldn't be in my way at all. My concern is that you wouldn't enjoy it like I do."
I propped my head upon my arm and looked him in the eyes. "Do you enjoy cooking as I do?"
"I enjoy it," he said, evasively.
"Uh-huh. As much as I do?"
"Not as much, but that's not the point."
"What is?"
He lay there looking at the ceiling for a long moment, then he said, "I don't know."
"Well?" I asked.
"If you want to help me, I'd love for you to."
He sounded like he wasn't sure, but I was determined to try. "I want to, John."
"Then I'll teach you."
I nodded, then curled up in his embrace again and we eventually fell asleep.
I had told Gina that I would do a concert. I had tried playing piano and found I was still able. It was a nice feeling to sit down and find that I still had talent. What I needed to work on was my mind. My fingers still had the required muscle memory, but my mind had to remember what it had done in the past.
I spent several evenings playing several of my favorite compositions and found they were still in my mind; just needed a bit of polishing. I also worked up a few pieces on my twelve-string.
One problem with both instruments was the fact that my hands were different than before, but I had practiced on the N22 and had learned to compensate. My fingers being narrower was a bonus on both, but I needed to develop calluses on my fingers to play the guitar.
Finally, the night came and I was nervous. I had always been fine walking on stage to play, but I had not done a concert in five hundred years. It was daunting!
Paula introduced me, although by that time, everyone knew me. I suppose it was a formality.
I came on stage to thunderous applause. I was wearing a fabulous gown and had fixed my hair and makeup to the point I almost didn't recognize myself. While I often wore dresses, probably because of wanting to capture my husband's eye, I thought that maybe I did need to be introduced.
I sat down at the piano and began.
Author’s note:
Okay, I know I use a very old action movie cliche in this chapter, and you have my apologies in advance.
Chapter
2.6
The four seasons on piano sounds a bit different than with a full orchestra. I played it that way, however. It took me more than forty minutes to go through all the movements. I was really having fun by the end. When I was finished, I liked up my twelve-string and did a Spanish flamenco, then I went back to the piano and played some light jazz.
I received an encore but I hadn't practiced anything else. In my previous life as a male, I had learned to play by ear, and I always considered the little dots on the page to be mere suggestions. I had heard some popular songs on the comm system, so I went to the piano and played one of them. It seemed to go over quite well, so I played another. Then I stood up and left the stage. While I received a standing ovation, I went to where John was standing in the wings. He hugged me and lifted me off the floor, and spun around. He set me down and gave me a delicious kiss and said, "That was wonderful!"
"The music or the kiss?"
"Both!" He exclaimed.
The next morning Paula invited John and me to the command center. When we arrived, Marc and Carla were already there along with Rashda and Colleen. Paula and Fred asked us to join them in the briefing room. After they sat down, Paula told us, "You have all been on the command crews of your own ships. I think it would be prudent to ask you to study this ship and be placed in the command line here."
"I've already got my hands full with my music and Heaven's Rose, " I told her. "Plus, I've decided to learn more about engineering from John.
"As it is, I'm going to have to put music on the back burner for a while to learn from him."
Marc gave me a strange look but didn't say anything.
Fred however did. "I never knew you were interested in engineering."
"I want to learn about what my husband enjoys, " I explained.
"I see."
While I wasn't sure he did, I wasn't going to press the issue.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea for one of us to be in the chain of command," Marc said. "All of us who have just come out of 'Total Fun' and the death of so many friends and family have post-traumatic stress disorder."
Fred nodded. "I understand. Do you think you can work in other areas of the ship and eventually move to the chain of command?"
"I think that is a possibility," John told him.
“As soon as I’m cleared for command, I’ll have the counselor talk to you,” Rashda told them.
We were on our way to our respective homes when we felt a peculiar vibration in the superstructure. A moment later, there was a incredible lurch that we felt in our bones. John turned around and started running back to the command center. A moment later, I followed him.
When I entered the command center, it was in turmoil. I noticed that there were lots of red lights flashing all over. I noticed that everything felt still as well. The vibration from the engines had ceased. I didn’t say anything, just looked around at the bustle of people who, though they were concerned, were still acting professional. John was beside Fred at a console that showed the status of the engines.
It looked like the starboard side had a burnout that affected all six engines on that side. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I just watched. I understood most of what the displays were saying. In the first engine was a pump which sent the fuel for the other engines on to them.
The engines were mounted on the central hub, not far from where we were. The engines were huge. It looked like they were fifty feet or thereabouts from top to bottom, and several hundred feet long.
Marc ran into the center right then. He looked at the board, and seemed to take it in all at once. “That’s going to blow if we don’t adjust it, now!”
Fred and Marc ran out, and John took my hands. “Honey, I’m going to help them, but I don’t want you out there. There is serious radiation in there, and you have to take care of that little one.”
I threw my arms around hims and kissed him. “Make sure all of you are careful, John!”
“We will be.” Then he ran out after the others.
This was later related to me from John.
The engines are set up three on the right, and three on the left. When you walked out the docking tube, you came to another tube that went right and left Apparently, I was wrong when I thought that one engine supplied the fuel for all six. It supplies just the three right hand ones. The one that was the number one for the right, which was the first one. In between them was the docking port.
When they got into the engine, the problem was near the exhaust vent, so they had to hurry to the other end. There was a incredible wind in the engine tube. The walkway had gravity that allowed them to walk along the ‘bottom’ of the tube and there was another gravity field that was pulling the air down to the front of the engine for just such a problem as this.
A field that I really didn’t understand, even though John explained it to me held held the radiation away from the walkway, and thus held it away from the rest of the ship. That had failed. Because of that, the gravity fields were weaker, to keep radioactive particles from settling down to the walkway as quickly as they might. The other gravitational field pulled anything that might get out of the walkway field to the forward part of the engine tub. Thus any air would stay in the engine, rather that leave through the exhaust port. This would start as soon as someone entered the tube because the walkway was not usually pressurized. With the mysterious field broken, the electronics behind the walls of the walkway were fried. What they had to do was fix the generators for this field.
What was causing the wind was that the gravitational field that held the air to the front of the tube was on full power. This field also pulled the air ‘down’ to the depressurization vents, but they were closed and wouldn’t open until no one was in the tube. The field would also stop air from going back to the walkway, but with it broken, air was in a cyclonic circle. The three men were fighting a tailwind to keep from being pushed to the end of the tube. When they reached the end, they had to be careful because the wind was being sucked ‘up’ at high velocity.
Marc opened an access panel and started to set it to his right. Apparently the wind caught the panel and it pulled it upwards. The edge of the panel sliced three of his fingers off! Fred grabbed at the panel, and he was pulled up. Before he could be flung ‘down’ to the other end, John grabbed his hand and started to be lifted. Marc grabbed his ankle, and threw his left arm, with the severed fingers over a rail on the walkway.
Not only was Fred being pulled by gravity, but he was being forced ‘downward’ by hurricane force winds. Marc could not hold onto John’s ankle for long. There was no good handhold, and he was losing blood fast. He was trying to pull them ‘down’ but it was no use. John tried to hold onto Fred’s wrist and pull as well.
Fred saw what was happening, and he somehow got his right hand up to his left wrist, although how against the wind, I had no idea. He started pulling John’s fingers away from his wrist. John could barely hold on with all his fingers. He shouted at Fred to stop, but Fred wouldn’t. He finally got a couple of John’s fingers loose. He fell. Hard. The gravity near the front was close to three G. He normally weighed eighty one Kg. At the end of the fall, he weighed two hundred forty Kg. He was dead. The power of the fall broke almost every bone in his body, including his neck and several vertebrae.
Much of what happened, we saw on monitors. I was beside Paula when she watched in horror, her husband fall. It was terrible! All of my distrust of Fred evaporated in that moment. He had saved my husband’s life by giving his. Fifteen seconds after Fred fell, Marc passed out from the loss of blood. If John had kept hold of Fred, he would have fallen too.
Any one of Fred’s injuries, or even a few of them, could have been repaired by his nanites, but so many spread them too thin. They couldn’t repair him fast enough to hold off death.
Paula fell apart. After that, Gina took over command of the ship. Some other engineers fixed the engine and we resumed our acceleration, but none of us felt like doing much of anything. We wept. Paula because of her husband dying, me because I never trusted him until I saw what he was willing to do for someone else.
I felt that I hadn’t given him what he deserved. John had trusted him, but he saw how it affected me, and he knew why. I spent a lot of time depressed. Feeling sorry for myself, I suppose. I couldn’t imagine that I could treat someone so unfairly. That seemed so foreign to me.
I had been spending a fair amount of time with Paula before this catastrophe, and after she blamed no one as she had seen what happened. I hated to see her so hurt because we had been developing a wonderful relationship.
A statue was made of Fred, and put over his grave. On N21 and N22, we had recycled bodies. We had to. Here, we had few enough people that we didn’t need to do such a thing. Fred was buried in the town square where Heaven’s Rose was located. My restaurant didn’t look out on it, for which I was grateful. The steakhouse did, however.
We had a memorial service for Fred as well. I did my best to play piano for it, but I was so broken up I had trouble. I was asked to sing as well, but my voice broke so many times, I think I butchered the song. John told me it was okay to display that type of emotion. I knew it was, but it still bothered me.
It took a long time for us to get life back to normal. Paula and I both had our babies. Paula named her little boy Fred. I had a girl, and she was named Frieda, in honor of the man who saved her fathers life.
To be continued...
Thank you very much to Jamie Lee for help in creating Willem's backstory.
It was thirteen years after Fred died. An investigation was done to see why the problems occurred that led to his death. It was found that a part of the computer controlling everything had failed.
It had taken several years for us to all get over what happened to Fred. Paula had let her daughter-in-law take command of the ship. Gina had been in command of Centaurus before and while Neo22 had been built.
Paula had a little boy, and he was now twelve. My little girl had been born about a month later. I think Paula and I both hoped that the two would expand their friendship to something more.
Paula was also getting to know Winston Reese. They were often seen together in Heaven’s Rose or Maverick, the steakhouse around the corner from my restaurant. I hoped that they got together as well. Winston was an old friend, and I thought they made a nice couple. I had been scheming different ways to urge them to spend more time together. Carla was a confidant in this, to which John and Marc just shook their heads. I’m sure I heard John mutter under his breath at least once, “Women!” to which we snickered.
In the last few years, I started going through the vast computer system aboard the ship, and I was shocked when I found some of my own files. I asked Paula about it, and she told me she had no idea how they were there, but as much as could be retrieved from Willem’s computers was.
I began searching in earnest, and incredibly, I found almost all of my files. They had been locked, and unreadable, but I typed in my password, and they opened. I was thrilled. I showed it to John, and he wondered if some of his had been collected as well.
We started a search and found an incredible hoard of scientific and artistic files from our friends. Some of it was undoubtedly from those who had died on N21 and N22, but there were files from almost all scientists who had been sent away.
Granted, much of the work was far behind what had been accomplished now, but it was so exciting to find our own work. Our artists now had a record of their works. What was interesting, much of their physical work was found in Willem’s palace, usually in places of prominence.
Since it had been assumed that N22 would return to a safe Earth, the art, when retrieved, was entrusted to museums with the arrangement that, when the rightful owners returned, the loan would expire.
What was in my files was music that I had written, and some I had found. I had gone through ancient media to revive it. I found music, food recipes, and even what had once been called television. I had stored as much in my files as I could, which was a remarkably large amount. I had found lots of books as well, and laboriously had copied them into computer files before I sent the originals to museums to carefully preserve. Earth had gone through many changes in the past, and even the major cities had been all but destroyed, so artifacts from ancient times were rare.
There had been several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions long ago which had left much of the world devastated. Several eruptions and tsunamis had left much of the Pacific Coast destroyed. A massive volcano in the mountains of the western United States had destroyed much of the center of North America, and earthquakes had destroyed much of the Atlantic Coast.
With all of the earthquakes around the Atlantic Ocean, Greenland decided to join in and wiped its own fair share of Northern Europe out.
The repercussions for the rest of the world were disastrous. The area left was so hurt from all the eruptions. Volcanic ash choked everywhere that hadn't been buried. Airplanes weren't able to fly for several years, and cars were unable to run because of the ash deteriorating the pistons and cylinders.
Interestingly one of the least damaged places was Honolulu, even though it had been built on an extinct volcano. Tsunamis destroyed much of the old city, however.
It took a huge amount of time to rebuild all of the earth. A universal government helped to unify the people and the surviving population rebuilt the cities. People slowly refilled all of the cities, and in time, the people numbered in the billions again.
A few thousand years later, when old cities we're being excavated, I was given the charge of researching the media. It was fun, but before I had finished, Willem Wallace rounded us up and exiled us from Earth.
I sat down one day and spoke to Paula regarding Wallace. She had grown up with Fredrik and had known his little brother as well.
"Have you any idea what made him the way he was?"
"Willem was a boy who was plagued by an inferiority complex. We believe he viewed his brother as someone to try to be like.
“He was still young, when he started constantly accusing Fred of taking what was rightfully his. We didn't realize for a long time what Fred supposedly took, but we finally had an idea.
"Willem seemed to withdraw from everyone after one particular visit from Fred. Fred's mother was still alive, but she and her husband had different goals in life, so she divorced him. Their father married Willem's mother some time later, and he wanted to show Fred that he still loved him.
"Both of his boys were very important to their father, and he went all out to be Fred's friend at the time. His wife, Willem’s mother also became a friend to Fred.
"This seemed to devastate Willem. He couldn't understand why, as he was the important child now, not Fred. His older brother didn't live at home, and his father wasn't even married to Fred's mother. They weren't even the same race. Fred's mother was a dark-skinned woman, while Willem's was the opposite. She was a very light-skinned Nordic woman.
"As odd as it seems, all of these things caused Willem to withdraw from everyone, and his parents especially. He never spoke to his parents about the incident as far as we know. He just built up hate for them and his brother.
"We suspect that as he got older, he heard about love for, and of helping, others and he began to resent everyone else. Fred told me that it would be very much in Willem's character to figure if humans wanted his help, he'd give it to them, but they would pay for it."
I had a hard time understanding this explanation, but with Paula's permission, I took it to my counselor. She said it sounded likely as Willem was a sociopath. He had no compassion for other people, so how they hurt in response to his actions didn't bother him at all.
It made no sense to me but I accepted it. John also seemed to have problems with the explanation. Neither of us understood something like that. We had never experienced anyone like him, thus what made him tick was beyond us.
Many of the artists started putting their art on the public network on the ship so it could be enjoyed by everyone. I saw so many pictures and three-dimensional renditions of sculptures that were long gone. Interestingly, I had seen some of the originals before being exiled, but now they raised different emotions in me.
I found videos of me playing and singing in my restaurant back on earth. I found it interesting and considered posting them on the network as well, but I really wasn't comfortable with videos of me as a man out in public.
John didn't mind the thought but told me that it was my choice. I didn't know what to do. I didn't ever want to go back, and even thinking about that time bothered me. I had an incredible husband and such a sweet daughter. I was so happy with my family and my life.
I got to thinking about what I had left behind. It wasn't bad, but I didn't enjoy it as I did now. I know I hadn’t been even partially trans, because I would have… suddenly I realized something.
The woman who touched me. I became what she was. I could have been a trans woman without even realizing it. I had no way of knowing. I just knew I wasn't as happy with my life. I remembered that.
I decided to talk to Mara about it.
I had no secrets from John, so when we next went to Mara, I told her first and then I talked about it with John present.
"I remember how I felt while I was male. I was not happy like I am now. Whether that was Willem or my situation, I don't know."
"How did you feel around women?" Mara asked.
"I'm honestly not sure."
"How about men?"
I hesitated. "I…"
John took my hand.
I sighed. "If you're asking about sex, there was one person I was interested in."
"And who was that?"
I looked at John and smiled.
"John?" Mara asked.
I nodded. John was looking at me with his mouth hanging open.
"Were you a homosexual?"
"I don't think so."
"Were you not happy because you didn't see a way to have John?"
"That was so long ago." I tried to hold back what I considered extremely embarrassing memories.
"I was a man before 'Total Fun'," Mara told me. "I was changed into a transwoman when I was touched. Like you, I was made to love what I became, but the person I became hated being a man! All I wanted was to transition into a woman."
"That sounds paradoxical," I responded.
She nodded. "I understand you were friends with Perl, and you went on dates with her. Can you remember how that felt?"
"We were friends, " I said. "Just friends."
"John told me something in our one on one talk just a little while ago. Would you like to know what it was?"
"Okay?" I looked at him, wondering where this was going.
"I always told you I just wanted to be friends with Perl because I thought you had fallen for her," he explained to me.
"I told you…"
"I know, Rose. But I thought you were just saying that for my benefit."
I was flabbergasted. John was in love with Perl? How should I take that? Was he not in love with me? Wait… I always knew he was straight, so of course he didn't. There was nothing to be upset about.
If he was straight, what was I? I thought about others. "Reese and Marc. I didn't love them, but I thought they were cute," I admitted.
"When you thought about John, did you want to make love to him?" I nodded and I knew what she was going to ask next.
"I wanted to be his wife," I almost whispered. I looked at John and more memories started to flood back. "Perl… when I went out with her, it was really just friends. It was like the relationship I have with Carla or Paula."
"Do you remember what you felt when you saw a woman?" It wasn't Mara who asked, but John.
I nodded sure of what I was. "I found them attractive, but it wasn't sexually attractive. I wondered how to be like them. I admired them so much. Perl was such a beautiful woman, and I wondered, if I looked like her could you be interested? If I became like her, would you like me?" I paused again and gathered my courage. "Even if you couldn't love me wanted your friendship. I wanted that beauty too. To be like her. I wanted so much to be a woman."
It was like a dam broke free, and the tears came. I was crying so hard. I wanted to lean against him, but however irrational it was, I was afraid again. It made such a huge difference in our friendship.
Maybe that's why I couldn't remember how I felt then. I was afraid of what he'd think of me. I was always in love with him, all through our childhood. Wait? Was I?
I thought again, and my mind went back. The floodgates were open now, and I could remember it all. Yes. I always saw myself as the smaller, more dainty one, and I really was.
He was bigger and more muscular. I went into music and he went into engineering. I wanted to cook meals for him for the rest of my life. After all, there was an ancient saying I had heard. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If that was true I was all for it!
I was just a child, but I started learning and found it didn't matter if cooking attracted John or not. I loved it anyway. Cooking became a way to please him, and I loved it. I loved the creativity the same as with music.
All of these realizations hit me hard. I had been trans. I knew it then but had hidden it where it couldn't hurt me. Not having the love of my life hurt so bad that I had to! Doing anything else was too hard.
I think when we were exiled I put it away even more. I had to because I was with him all the time. When 'Total Fun' hit, I was so afraid to tell John I had become a woman, but I think I would have been anyway, without Willem's help.
I wanted to become a woman no matter what, and it would have been so easy, but how would John have reacted? I was too scared back then, but now I had no choice. I had attributed it to the nanites, but was it just them? I would probably never know.
I couldn't look at him. I felt ashamed that I had not remembered this until now. I was crying softer now, although my body kept shaking as the sobs came. I felt his hand on my left cheek gently turn my face toward him. I kept my eyes down. I couldn't look. I was so afraid!
He leaned toward me and kissed me so tenderly. I didn't know what to do. We were on separate chairs but what I wanted most was to be held. For these fears to just go away and never come back.
I leaned in and although it was uncomfortable, I put my head on his shoulder. I heard a door shut, and realized it was just the two of us in the room now. "Come here, " John told me. I wasn't sure what he wanted but I stood and stepped to the front of his chair. He turned me so I was standing the opposite way and pulled me down to his lap. He wrapped his arms around me, and I snuggled in.
I loved him so much!
It was afternoon, and we had just got back to our apartment after spending what I found to be an exhausting time with our counselor. I wanted to relax, so John put on an old television show that we had found in my archives. It was a British show, called Doctor Who.
This particular episode had a handsome man playing the Doctor and a beautiful, dark-skinned woman who reminded me of Kari. Every time I watched one of the episodes with Martha, (the woman’s name) I felt tears bubbling up. This particular episode had another effect on me, however.
It was about time-locked beings that were the origin of the statues of angels that covered their eyes, from that time period. They couldn’t move if you were looking at them. When they got an evil expression, I always jumped and buried my face in John’s shoulder. It was one of his favorite episodes. I always had a sneaking hunch that it wasn’t the episode itself, but my reaction to it.
This time, however, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep against John’s shoulder, and woke up with my head on his lap. I looked at our screen and saw the closing credits of the show.
“Sorry I fell asleep,” I murmured.
“I can rewind if you’d like,” he told me.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Me curling up, begging for protection.”
“I’d be lying if I said no.”
“Uh-huh.” I sat up. “Listen, buster. Scaring me for your own gratification isn’t very nice.”
“For you or me?”
“Oh, what I will do to you tonight… You are going to regret that, my dear,” I threatened.
“I certainly hope so.”
Well, I didn’t regret it. I don’t think he did either.
I sat down with several friends to play some music. I felt I had no ability to teach, but these were people who had read some of my books and had applied the ideas in them to their own instrument of choice.
We were practicing music for a concert. Much of what we were getting ready was ancient band music. I was handling keyboards, Vernon Wang was playing drums, Carla had taken up lead guitar, and had gotten quite good. We also had a bass guitar player named Phillip Troy.
I was singing lead and the others were singing backup.
We did okay but not as good as we could have been. Practices had gone better, which scared me. I knew that a bad dress rehearsal means a good performance and vice versa. The best part of the concert, as far as I was concerned, was when I dedicated a song to John. It was an old song called You Belong to Me, that was covered by many people, but my favorite version of the song was by a woman named Patsy Cline.
It was a few nights later that John and I went to the outer ring. I had mentioned to him that I was sorry we really had no way to view the stars. We viewed them from the ship-side of the rings, but there was too much light. We went to the other side, where Fred and Paula had sat on the rock, viewing so much. It was nice to view things there, but we felt like we were taking advantage of Fred’s absence.
It was a friend who came up with an interesting idea. He had been one of the pioneers of the holographic technology with which we had made our parks on N21, so when John asked him to produce a birthday gift for, he was glad to show it off. Amazingly, Neo22 had nothing like it.
Trent Carr had been working on his holographic technology for a long time, and he had come up with some interesting applications for using it. He had an idea of mixing the ability to make a hologram with the fields used in various aspects of the ship’s systems to make a hologram seem solid.
Of course, I knew nothing of this at the time. I knew what Trent had done on John and my ship, but I had no idea what he was going to do on this one.
On my birthday, I went up to Heaven’s Rose as I usually did. I always found the building nice, but it had always bugged me that it appeared to be in a giant hanger, even though the ‘town’ around looked nice. The ceiling overhead just seemed out of place, as did the walls around. Granted, the ceiling was nearly a quarter-mile above, but it looked like a ceiling.
I was very busy making about a thousand different things in my kitchen (a slight exaggeration, but only slight) when I realized John wasn’t by my side as he always was. He was always there, but that time, I turned to speak to him, and no John! I turned around to see him walk into the kitchen with a huge smile on his face.
"Where were you, and what are you so chipper about?" I couldn't stay mad at him for long, but he was going to feel this for as long as I could make him. I didn't have him to help me when I needed it, and I had lost a dessert in an oven. Happy, I was not!
"Come here, Rose. I want to show you something."
"Now?!!?"
He looked around and seemed to realize that I had been very busy. His smile was replaced by a look of concern. "You needed my help, didn't you? I'm sorry, Honey."
I looked around the kitchen. A few things would require starting again, but I could see what he wanted to show me right quick. "What do you want me to see?" I asked with a sigh.
"It can wait. Let's get this fixed first."
We got going, and I didn't have time to think about it until we were finished cleaning up after dinner. "I'm sorry I was upset earlier, John." I turned as I was taking off an apron.
He had specified that he wanted me dressed up for the evening. I needed to change, so I went into my office and took a shower, then put on the dress I had brought and fixed my makeup. I went out into the kitchen again and saw John closing what looked like a picnic basket. I looked down at my dress and again felt rather overdressed, however, he went into my office and a few minutes later, came out in a suit.
"A picnic?" I asked. "It's dark out there, and look how we're dressed."
"Do you trust me?" He asked.
"I did until I had to make a second cake this afternoon, " I told him.
He was looking at something but glanced up when I said that. He saw my smile, however, so he said with his own grin and a pretend sigh, "I suppose I deserve dire consequences tonight."
I raised an eyebrow as I told him, "That remains to be seen."
He touched a button on what he had been looking at before, then picked up the basket and held out his other arm for me to take. Even in heels, I was still a bit shorter, but he knew what I wanted when I tipped my head back. He kissed me and I pulled his head closer afterward so I could whisper, "I trust you completely."
I took his arm and we walked out of the building.
I gasped at the sight! In front of me was the town, but instead of a steel ceiling, it was a night sky! There were stars everywhere! I looked around, and I couldn't even see the walls. It was as if we were standing in a small town with just the occasional streetlight shining in the night.
"Happy birthday, Rose," he told me.
"Birthday? This isn't just for me, John."
"No, but I helped Trent get it ready so we could turn it on tonight."
"What were you going to show me this afternoon?"
"It will show a blue sky during the day, and you still won't see the walls."
I felt like giving him another kiss, and I wasn't one to go against feelings like that, so I did. "Thank you, John! It's beautiful!"
We walked out into the park where the memorial for Fred was. From there, the stars looked incredible. I was absolutely thrilled. I hadn't seen a sky like that in so long. Sure, we could see it out the viewports, but it was not the same as seeing the town around us.
I leaned into his side, and he obligingly put his arm around me. I know the temperature was as it always was, but I imagined I could feel a breeze, and his arm felt all the more wonderful wrapped around me.
He led me to a table on the other side of the park and we sat down. He pulled some champagne out along with two glasses. Next, he pulled out two dinners as well as the cutlery to eat with. The dinner was from the steakhouse, and I gave him a curious eye.
"Well I didn't think you should have to cook your own dinner," he told me with a smile.
I had to admit that it made sense and the steak was excellent.
He had one more thing to show me, so I picked up the basket. He took it from me, and when I started to object because I was perfectly able to carry it, he just held out his arm for me to take. Damn it! He knows I love chivalry! Okay. It was my birthday.
We walked through the town and onto a dirt path. I was very glad for his arm which I now clutched with both hands as I was wearing heels. We came into a clearing, and I could see the outline of a building in front of us. None of the lights from the town showed through the trees here, so it was hard to see what the building was. John stopped and he switched the basket to the arm I was holding, then reached into his pocket. Suddenly, lights came on both in the building and outside.
It was a house! An honest to goodness house! We walked up to the door and inside.
We entered a living room that was decorated with our things. My instruments we're hanging on one wall and my grand piano was in a corner. Another wall had a bookcase full of books that had been in both of our old collections. We had replaced them as soon as we could.
He led me to the kitchen, and I found everything that had been in my kitchen in our apartment.
Down a hall, he showed me a bedroom door. There was the sound of music I didn't like coming from within. I opened the door and saw my twelve year old daughter laying on the bed, her comm playing the horrendous music at high volume, and she was playing some kind of game.
Apparently, she had good hearing, because she rolled to where she could see us and removed the VR helmet from her head. "Hi, Mom! Dad! Isn't this place great? Our own house! I guess everyone who has a shop in Fredriksburg gets their own house!"
I turned to stare at my husband. He had known and not told me! He defused my anger in a way only he could. He hugged me hard and told me, "Happy birthday!"
I didn't tell him he had said that before. I just looked around in awe. He teased me by pushing up on my chin, closing my mouth. We turned and walked down the hallway the other direction. We passed three closed doors, one on the side that Frieda's room was on, and two on the other side.
When we entered the living room, John led me toward a hall on the other side. In that hall, we found a music studio for me and a workshop for John. We started for the last door and Frieda ran around us, opening the door.
It was our bedroom, and it was wonderful. There was a large bed in the center. I had a vanity on one wall. There were windows on two sides and a door that looked as if it led to an ensuite. There was another door on the same wall as the restroom, and I opened it to find a huge closet with my clothes taking up most of the space. I turned to John and asked, "What were the other rooms by Frieda's room? I'm assuming one was a restroom?"
"There's a restroom at the end of the hall for guests. Frieda has her own restroom too."
"So what are the other rooms?"
"Unoccupied."
"Any ideas for occupying them?"
"One or two," he told me.
I didn't look away from his face as I said, "Frieda, would you leave us? Your father and I need to discuss something."
"Uh-huh," she said in a way only a pre-teen can and walked out. She paused at the door and turned back. "You want this door shut?"
"Yes please," I said, still looking at John.
"Locked?"
"Sure."
"Want me to put on some loud music so I can't hear your 'discussion'?"
This time I turned and gave her my mother glare. "Would you just go?!!?"
She snickered as she shut the door. I could hear her running down the hall toward her own room. A moment later, her awful music came on, very loud.
I turned back to John. "Couldn't you have soundproofed our door?"
He laughed. "Have I earned your dire consequences?"
I cocked my head at him. "With that music playing?"
"She won't hear us."
"But I'll hear it!"
"I've got some earplugs in my shop."
I started to laugh. "What am I going to do with you?" I asked.
"Well… We could always fill those extra rooms."
"Oh. Is that why you built this? So we can populate the ship?"
"I didn't build it. As Frieda said, everyone who has a shop in town gets a house."
"They followed your specs. This is what we talked about for when and if we ever get to a planet. By the way, you didn't answer me."
"Uh, no. This isn't just to populate the ship." He paused for a moment for effect. "I'd like to populate those three rooms, however."
"Do you really think you've earned my wrath?" I tried to sound fierce, but I couldn't carry it off. Not while I was so happy with him.
"I'm hoping I have."
I grabbed his lapels and pulled him to me. I gave him a kiss and told him, "For several days."
I turned and went into the bathroom kicking off my shoes on the way. When I saw the interior, I called out sweetly, "I'm gonna need someone to wash my back".
He was beside me in a heartbeat.
A few days later, I had a couple of days off from running Heaven's Rose. I got dressed in some casual clothes and went outside. I wanted to see what had been done for decorating the house outside.
I stopped just outside the door. I felt a breeze! I turned and looked in the glass of the front door. I could see my hair blowing gently.
I hurried back in and saw John getting up. "There's a breeze outside." I was concerned as wind is not something you want in a spaceship. It usually has dire consequences, and I don't mean the kind I give when when he makes me happy.
"That was my doing, dear," he told me while he was pulling on his pants. "I placed some gravity plates at the narrow end of the bay. They are at the top of the bay, and will only create a breeze at ground level."
"They can be turned up, though?"
"They can, but I won't allow it."
"Do you control it?" I asked him. I remembered what happened to Fred. I turned to face the wall because I didn't want him to see my fear at his idea.
He must have known what was going through my mind. He came up behind me and enveloped me with his arms. "The default on these plates is off. Not full power like the ones in the engines."
I nodded. I recognized that he knew what he was doing, but it scared me. We had been through so much that I suspected most new things.
I had been told by Mara to face the things that scared me. John had been there at the time.
I sat on the bed for a while, crying but building up courage. It was frustrating. I would work out tears only to have to cry again, just a little while later. What the hell had that bastard done to me?
Finally, I looked up into John's face and put on a shaky smile. "Do we have a kite?"
He looked at me shocked, then he slowly got a big grin. "I'll make one."
I smiled back, then went to the closet. He changed into some shorts and a tank top, then headed to his workshop.
I pulled off the shorts and tank top I was wearing. John could wear his, but if I was going to fly a kite, I was going to do it right! I put on a sundress and some flats, then I washed my face and put on some eye makeup and a little blush. I put my hair in a ponytail then went to Frieda's room. I knocked on the door and heard her say, "Come in."
"Your dad is making a kite. Do you want to help us fly it?"
She stared like I'd lost my mind. "You're kidding, right?"
We had a great relationship, but I doubt she could see the joy of getting a kite flying. John had built one when we were kids, and I loved flying it with him.
"I just figured I'd ask."
She gave me a strange look, then said, "Mom, go enjoy your time with Dad, okay?"
Somewhere, she had learned to read me like a book. Obviously, she had gotten that ability from her dad. Thinking about it, much of her personality seemed to come from him, as did her dark brown hair and hazel eyes. The rest of her looked like me, but I was a honey blonde and had blue eyes. Well, mostly. I could see elements of him in her face, although it seemed to be the general consensus that she was a dead ringer for me.
I heard John come out of his shop and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Last chance," I said to Frieda.
She smiled, motioned for me to leave, and picked up her virtual helmet, put it on and lay down. "Have fun," she said.
"Be good, " I retorted, then went out to the living room.
John took one look at me and said, "This is a really nice day."
I took a look at his muscular arms and legs. I knew that his chest matched very nicely. "If you lose the shirt, " I countered.
"Gonna lose the dress?"
"When we get back home."
"I can lose my shirt then as well."
"And shorts?"
He laughed as we went outside. "That can be arranged," he said as he started toward town.
I was still standing on our porch and he stopped and turned around to look at me. "Aren't we going out back?" I asked as we had a pretty good-sized back yard.
"Now why would I hide you here?"
"Do you remember the last time we flew a kite together?" I asked.
He came back and we sat down on the swing hanging from the porch roof. It wasn't likely to rain in Fredriksburg, but this was something I had fallen in love with when I was a little girl. Okay… I was in my fifties and was physically a man, but… oh hell with it; I was a girl back then too. Anyway, I loved a scene in a movie where a girl and her boyfriend watched a thunderstorm from just such a swing.
"I remember it, yes."
"How did you feel about it?"
He processed my suggestion, how I was dressed, and my question then he became serious, which was not his normal personality. He looked down at the kite he was holding, then back at me. "I'm sorry Rose. I don't think it meant as much to me as it did you. I did have a lot of fun that day, but to me, we were just two boys…"
"I know, John. It was something completely different to me. In my mind, you were my handsome boyfriend, I was your girl and we were enjoying a nice spring day. I was dressed something like this, and…" I stopped. I could get past much of the pain by thinking of myself as female back then, but I was having to explain it to him, and it was a painful reminder that I was a boy, maybe not just like him, but male physically.
"You want today to be the way it should have been back then?"
I nodded, feeling again those tears that always seemed so near the surface.
"You know, don't you, that if… oh hell. How to say this so and not hurt you." He paused. "Nevermind."
I wanted to know, however. I didn't like secrets between us. Well, at least not the painful kind. Birthdays were a wonderful time for the nice kind.
"Please tell me?"
"I don't want to hurt you."
"So how can you stand me? I'm dealing with so much hurt now. I had forgotten what I was as a child. Probably drove that…" I struggled for a bit. "You know, there are really no words to describe my contempt for Willem." I looked away to hide my tears. "Probably drove his computers crazy trying to figure out what the hell I was."
"You were my girl," he told me. "I was the one too blind to see it.
I laughed at that and some of the pain slid away.
He took my hands and looked into my eyes. "I want to tell you something, Rose, and this is the honest to God truth. If you had transitioned before Willem's interference, I would have been happy to spend time with you; get to know that side of you; love you."
I was surprised that he would make such a joke. That wasn't normal for him. I looked in his eyes and saw that he was quite serious.
What? He was serious? Oh great… more hurt. I thought about what this meant. It would have been another two hundred years together. Maybe have some kids. No. That wouldn't be good. Then our kids would have gone through 'Total Fun'. I wouldn't have wanted that.
I finally got myself under control and told him, "Let's fly that thing."
Again, he took in the way I looked. "It's up to you, Rose, but I'd love to show you off."
"People have seen a lot of me."
"People have seen you dressed up and they've seen you dressed for work, but right now, you are showing yourself completely casual. I don't think there's a more beautiful woman on the ship."
"Shall I count them off for you?"
"If someone thinks there is any woman more beautiful, they need to know that they are wrong."
I shook my head at him in exasperation. "Okay. I'll go to the park, but you'd better let me lead you. You're obviously blind, John."
"I believe you have that backward, Rose. Anyone who disagrees with me is the one who is blind." He took my hands and spoke in earnest. "You have felt this probably more than other people. You had shoved these feelings into a box where you didn't think they could hurt you, but you were wrong."
He looked down for a moment, thinking. "You asked me how I can stand you? Because I have a love for you that I never thought possible. You're hurt, I know, but you've got to stop living in the past. You have got me, and I will never leave you. Whatever happened back then, whether it was Willem or something before, it's over, never to come back."
"I'll tell you what. Come to town with me, let's start a kite fad, then let's go home and talk about the hurt, okay?"
I sighed deeply, then nodded. This wasn't the way I wanted to have a new kite memory, but it was probably my own fault.
We arrived at the park and John held the kite while I ran with it. Several people stopped walking and watched as it caught the wind and started to fly. John hurried over to me and put an arm around my waist. We had fun! Some people wondered how it was constructed. I guess they had never seen one. I brought it in and John caught it, then showed what he had done to make it. We got it airborne again, only this time I held it for him. I ran back to him and watched as he made the kite do tricks. It spun, did figure eights and soared higher and higher.
He finally reached the end of the string, and I was curious how much of a pull the wind was producing. He gave me the spool, and it was very impressive. I asked how he made it spin, and he showed me. Very soon, we were laughing at my attempts.
I finally got it to do it, but my arms were getting sore. The wind really was hard up there. I started bringing it down and John pointed across the park. I looked and giggled when I saw two kites flying and then a third one start to rise.
"You were right about starting a fad," I remarked.
He laughed and gave me a kiss.
We started home, and although I wasn't looking forward to our coming talk, I had really enjoyed myself. It was a memory I would treasure. Just enjoying being out and playing together. It's not something a girl close to a thousand years old gets to do with her husband often.
We arrived back at our home after our fun in the park. I had been right when I asked for it. At first, my sundress swirling around my legs reminded me how the wind was made, and that bothered me, but I soon got over it and had more fun. I started to realize that this was a day like that one so long ago, the difference being, it was the way I had wanted it to be.
As we got closer, we could hear a hard rock beat and bass coming from Frieda's end of the house. It was a song that we both agreed on from the ancient archives. The group had a lead singer with an incredible voice and a stage presence that was hard to imagine.
I listened to the music and tried to remember the group's name. I knew the lead singer had a name I would never forget. 'Freddy' and then the name of a planet. Oh yeah… Mercury. I hadn't heard the song for so many years. It had a throbbing bassline and electric guitar, but not much else. Somehow, Freddy Mercury pulled it off with just that.
We sat down and started talking. I wasn't sure what to say, but John remained open and just listened for the majority of the conversation.
He started it off, though. "Do you remember when you started to feel love for me?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "I was nine years old. You were ten. We were heading to that creek near my house to go fishing. There was a girl just down the street from you, a couple of houses, who had been crushing on you, and you were telling me how she didn't want to fish because it was gross. I looked at you and figured it was her loss."
He chuckled. "And that's when you fell in love with me?"
I laughed as well. "Just remember, John. You asked."
"Yes, I did." He pulled me close and I leaned on his shoulder.
"What really got me was the fact that even though I couldn't touch the worms, you didn't hold that against me. I had made the effort and went. You baited my hooks and we had a good time."
"You caught us lunch that day too Rose."
"I learned from the best."
"Suck up," he told me.
"Just giving praise where praise is due," I countered. "Besides, I only ever went fishing with you. I have a rather limited pool to choose good fishermen from."
"That makes me feel so much better," he laughed.
I looked at him with an impish expression. I'm sure he felt like sticking his tongue out at me, but he would never do that. I, on the other hand, had no such inhibitions.
I put my head down again, and he asked, "Did you ever think about telling me?"
"John, I rehearsed that particular talk so many times, I could almost quote it now. The long and the short of it is the ending was almost always the same." I paused and chose my words very carefully. "You told me earlier that you would have been happy to spend time with me if I had transitioned to a woman. I didn't think I could take that chance. I never had a rehearsal where we ended up together. The best I could think of was that we might have been friends afterward.
"I believe you, though. I was looking at it through the eyes of a young girl. By the time we were adults, I had decided that I wanted to be your friend for the rest of my life, and if that meant I had to remain a male, I would rather do that."
"Look at the harm it caused, Rose."
I hated to admit that my strategy didn't work but looking back at things I had to say it hadn't.
"John, I didn't want us to part company."
"Didn't you trust me to know I would never have given up your friendship because you wanted to transition?"
"If I had only wanted that, of course, but I wanted you as well. I couldn't help but think that it would be awkward. Remember Connie?"
"She wouldn't even try fishing!"
I couldn't help but giggle. He was doing a masterful job of keeping me on an even keel as we talked. His humor was one of the things I loved about him. I missed it terribly when we were under Willem's influence.
"You sent her packing," I told him.
"I loved fishing!"
"So did I! I wish we had a place to fish here. Would you still bait my hooks?"
He laughed at that. I got to thinking about the cruelty of children and was glad John and I never fished with anyone else. I would have been a sissy for not baiting my own hooks. Little would they know they were right. Or maybe I'm fooling myself. Maybe they would. John knew me better than anyone and he never suspected. Maybe they wouldn't. I was getting confused now.
"Do you think anyone knew what I was?"
He sighed. "Remember when I came over to pick you up when we were teenagers? We were going hiking and I had a black eye and that sore on my arm?"
I nodded, almost afraid of what he was going to say, but also elated at the suspected chivalry.
"Brad Gibson and Gene Osborne were giving me shit about hanging around with you. About hanging around a sissy. That's not to say they knew you were trans. Just that you acted a bit more girly than other guys."
"I see." My thoughts went back to that time. I saw the two boys in my mind. They were always giving me guff. I was someone who was different. A ready-made target.
"You know what bothers me most about that time?" John asked. "I was so pissed at them for calling you names, I fought them both… lost miserably, by the way, but I would fight them again if they continued. The problem was, I wanted to protect your honor, and I never bothered to think about your position. I thought I was defending you when if I had done a bit of thinking, I might have seen you for who you were."
I stretched up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for defending my honor."
We continued going through our lives until N21. There were lots to cover in those two hundred years, and we spent the rest of the day talking. I lay with my head on his lap most of the time. I was opening so many doors that had been closed.
Finally, I said, "I wonder how the nanites didn't know?"
"I think Willem wasn't the god he wanted everyone to believe he was. He needed us to react to his shit. He needed to have us be afraid, but how to do that? By that time you had forgotten your gender. All you remembered was your sex. We were made to fear anyone different than us. I believe that the mental state in regards to gender was passed on to the one touched, along with the biological sex."
"So if I had touched someone, they would be a person as messed up as me?" I thought about that for a bit, then something occurred to me. "Where is all this coming from, by the way?"
He would have hung his head, but that put him looking at my curious face. He seemed to struggle with that for a bit, then looked me in the eye. "I discussed it with Mara. I wondered about it myself. I wondered if it could be false memories."
I was shocked he would think that, but then I realized it was a valid question. It hurt, but I knew it had to be asked. "What did she say?"
"She has noticed this type of thing in the past where people were confused for one reason or another. She's also found other people where the nanites made mistakes. All of them were where people were confused."
"So she doesn't think it's false memories?"
"No she doesn't, and honestly, neither do I."
We spent about a year talking to Mara, and it was helping. What really raised my spirits was when Paula and Winston decided to tie the knot. We had known that he had proposed and she had said yes, so a few weeks later, we met in Paula’s house. She and Winston were already living together, most of the time. Winston didn’t have a house around Fredriksburg, but I had found out awhile back that Paula owned the steakhouse around the corner from Heaven’s Rose. She, Carla, and I had become very good friends, and many people referred to us as the three sisters. We had no problem with it, because that’s how we felt about each other.
When we sat down, Paula started going through who she wanted to take part in the wedding. Gina and Rhoda were also there. It was a forgone conclusion that Gina would officiate, but she had a serious problem deciding who was going to be her maid of honor. She looked at her ‘sisters’ and her daughter and told us that she was going to have Rhoda be her maid of honor, and have Carla and me be her bridesmaids. Both of us were absolutely fine with that arrangement.
We had the wedding two weeks later. Paula decided to wear white, even though, this was her second wedding. She looked radiant. Thankfully Rhoda, Carla, and I didn’t have matching dresses. They were pastel colors, but the style was the same. Mine was in peach, which was my favorite color, so I was rather happy with it.
We had a large dinner afterward, and it was at Heaven’s Rose. Of course, John was one of Winston’s groomsmen, so he couldn’t be the chef, and I couldn’t either. We had my best assistant chef cook the meal, and he did rather well. I was happy to taste the meal. It was really up to my standards. Perhaps not quite as good as what John or I could do, but I figured I would get Rik’s training up and eventually let him do more of the cooking. I honestly thought he might be able to take over from me at some point to let me cook just for my family and concentrate on my music more, he was that good!
We arrived at Alpha Centauri eventually and started scanning the surface. There was no sign of a civilization on the surface, and no sign of Centaurus either.
We scanned the atmosphere and found that there was a gas in it that was not really conducive to human life. It wouldn’t kill us, because of the nanites in our bodies. They would do something with the gas and keep us alive.
The problem was, any children before they had their first infusion of nanites. Nanites did not cross the placental barrier, because the were tuned to the mother’s DNA. It was very tough to decide that your children have nanites after what we’d been through. All we had for making nanites were the specifications for the same model that we had. Neo22 had developed a new model, and even when a child was born, and they had been infused with these, it was shown that they responded to the same signals that the old ones had. It was so hard to build a complicated receiver inside something that small.
A few days after we arrived, we were asked to come to the command center. Gina looked very solemn, and explained that they had been slowly altering our orbit to where we had a straight shot to the Kepler planet we were going to go to next. When it had been changed, we ran across some debris in orbit. It was supposed that it had started out at a much higher orbit because it hadn’t burned up yet.
Very quietly, John asked what it was.
“It is pieces of, if not Centaurus, a ship just like her,” Gina answered.
“No other ship was scheduled to be here,” Paula said.
“I know.”
“What would have destroyed her?” I asked.
“The only reason I can think of,” Rhoda explained, “is a miscalculation in their course. A planet this far away would be hard to pinpoint exactly. Just a fraction of an inch off at Sol’s system could end up being hundreds of miles difference here.”
“Do you think that’s likely?” asked Marc.
“No.”
“Why,” I asked.
“Because I entered the course.”
“No offense, Rhoda,” Paula said gently, “but you just said a fraction of an inch at home could yield hundreds of miles here. Even if they realized it, it would take just a tiny thrust to fix it. It would only take a millisecond to long, or short a burn to mess up.”
“This would have to be a too close flyby,” Rhoda explained. “I checked those figures about fifty times. One time a day, so I wasn’t too tired to go over them.”
“Could it have been anything else?” Gina asked.
“I really don’t know, Gina. It really doesn’t seem like much else would yield these results.”
“Are we sure there’s no life on the planet?” Carla asked.
“We’re as sure as we can be,” answered Winston. “We’ve scanned the surface many, many times. Nothing has come up.”
“What about underwater?” my ever imaginative husband asked.
“That’s a possibility,” answered Gina. “We can stay in orbit a little longer, and send some ships down to check it out.”
“That sounds good,” said Marc. “That makes a lot of sense. Thy could filter the air before it was used to pressurize their habitat.”
“Let’s check it out,” Gina told us. “Marc, and John. Can you set up some teams to go down in landing craft?”
“Yes, we can,” John answered. “We’ll bet on it right away.”
We left the command center wondering what we would find below.
When we last saw our protagonist:
Something strange has happened to Centaurus. What would cause a ship to break up in orbit of a planet, and did they do anything to colonize the planet?
Chapter 3.1
The first trip to the surface of the planet was interesting. In the lander was Rhoda at the controls, John, Marc, and me.
Marc was an expert in engineering and scanners. So was John, and I was an apprentice at both. I was sitting at the scanners for this trip, and John and Marc were watching to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
We weren’t using our radios because the gas that wasn’t palatable to human life also scattered the signals. At ten feet away, it would be as if you were thousands of miles away. It just wasn’t effective.
Line of sight was about the only way we could search, so we weren’t expecting much. We were shocked when we came through the cloud cover to see some kind of vehicle moving on the ground.
I pointed it out to Marc, who was babysitting me at the scanners at that moment. John came over and stared at the screen. It wasn’t like any earthbound vehicle, but a moment later, we received a call on our radio. What kind of power they were using to boost their signal was beyond any of us.
“Rover 15 to Neo22 lander. Are you receiving us?”
They were one of us! John quickly keyed the mic. “We’re receiving you, Rover 15.”
Again we heard, “Rover 15 to Neo22 lander. Are you receiving us?” I guess our transmitter just didn’t have the power for this environment.
Rhoda got us done to within a hundred feet and used an old, universal signal and waggled our wings.
“Once more if you are receiving us?”
As John attempted to answer, She did it again.
“We definitely heard you key your mic that time, but your voice was too faint. Come into half your distance and try again?”
We did and they heard! “Are we able to dock at your facilities?”
“Yes, we have provisions for it. If you follow us, we’ll be glad to meet with you.”
“We were just on a scouting trip. We’ll return to our ship and get our commander and a few other people and return.”
“That’s not a problem.”
They gave us redezvouz coordinates then Rhoda spun us around and we hurried back out of the atmosphere. John signaled our ship, and we prepared to pick up a few more people, including Carla and Paula.
A little while later, we were seated in a conference room. Paula and Gina were wondering if the governor of this city would be someone they knew.
The city was quite interesting. It was underwater, and their vehicles were designed to be able to drive straight in. There was a snorkel that broke the surface not far from the airlock.
The door to the room opened and a man walked in. Paula saw him and exclaimed, “Rick!”
Gina quietly explained that Rick Johnson had been the man she appointed commander of Centaurus when she left on Neo22.
“Hello, Paula.” He smiled and looked around the room. Is Fredrik on the ship?”
She sadly nodded. “Yes. He’s buried there.”
Rick frowned. “I’m so sorry to hear that. He was a great man.”
“Thank you.”
Rick and his entourage sat down across from us and introduced his people. He was accompanied by his wife Marcy, his chief engineer Doug Hillman, and Boris Ho, his finest doctor.
"As you probably guessed, I'm the mayor of this city, Atlantis."
"Atlantis," I asked?
Paula had not introduced us yet, so the mayor of this city gave me a curious look.
"I should probably introduce my people." She indicated me; "This is Rose Carlson."
Rick's mouth dropped open for a moment. "So you found them!" He looked at the rest of us, as Paula finished introducing them.
"John Carlson, Marc and Carla Dodson, Jack and Sylvia Hurst, our doctors, my husband, Winston Reese, and of course you know my daughters, Gina and Rhoda.
"Carla is an engineer, and Winston a jack of all trades."
"It's a pleasure," he told us. "I'm guessing that you are wondering what happened to our ship." I know Paula and I both nodded. "It was so stupid." He sighed and took a deep breath. "You remember that we used some older computers to be a spare if something happened to our main one?"
"Yes," Paula told him.
"Well, when we backed up our information to it one day, it must have written some kind of virus into our mainframe. Our nanites started messing with us again."
"'Total Fun'," I said quietly.
"No, Mrs. Carlson. Much worse. It was fear, yes, but rather than selectively fearing other genders, we were afraid of everyone else. We all entered into a murderous frenzy. Most of us killed people outright during that time.
"I locked myself into the command center for safety. Finally, I was able to realize that I shouldn't be afraid of all these people. It was so hard. I knew it, and I knew this was all Wallace's doing, but it was a fight the whole way.
"I eventually realized what had happened and prepared to turn off the computers. We were already close to the planet, so I waited until we were close enough to the planet to make it with the air we had left. Of course, gravity and heat went off as well.
"When I turned them off, all of us passed out. When I awoke, I was still afraid, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. It slowly dissipated, and we were finally able to think rationally. I opened the door to the command center and allowed others in. We decided that we had to risk the landers. Hopefully, their computers weren't affected.
"We shuttled the people down and realized that to raise kids, we would have to build some kind of sealed habitat. We originally built one on land, but we found that the gas was generated by radiation entering the atmosphere. It was good that we had nanites as they kept us safe as we worked.
"The only animal life is in the water, so we moved our habitat underwater. We've been here ever since."
"Why didn't you reprogram… oh, yeah," Winston cut off his question when he remembered our problem years ago" When we reprogrammed our computers was when the ‘fun’ began.
Rick nodded. "We looked at the ROMs. There was nothing on them anymore. Somehow, they had been wiped. We had no way of turning our computers back on."
"How many were killed?" Gina asked.
"Almost half of us."
"Oh no!" I had gotten much better since my sessions with Mara, but my feelings were still near the surface at all times. John put an arm around me and I fought to keep the tears from welling up.
"How long have you been here?" Marc asked. “On the planet, I mean.”
"About seventy-five thousand years."
A few weeks later, John and I were sitting on our porch swing, relaxing. We had discussed things we could give Atlantis and they had things to give us in exchange.
One of our best contributions was Trent Carr's wonderful holographic illusions. The people of Atlantis had nothing like it. One of their engineers had been working on shaped fields, however. It was something that Trent had been trying to incorporate into his illusions, to allow them to feel solid. He had limited success, but the two spent a few weeks together and came up with a working, if somewhat crude version.
While I loved the idea, I was a bit disconcerted about grass that crackled as you walked through it. Although they were trying, they hadn’t been able to make the field react to physical objects. They could make a shirt, for example, but it would be a cage rather than a garment. Any skirt would become a hobble skirt simply because it wouldn’t move as you walked. The grass was a bed of nails if the field was too powerful. A building could be made, and very effectively. The only concern with that was a power fluctuation allowing someone to slip partially through a wall. If the field came on with someone where the wall was supposed to be... Well, you get the idea.
It was a step in the right direction, but couldn't be used practically for the moment.
We were able to give extremely powerful computers that should be impervious to Wallace's interference. The Centaurans helped us increase the power of our radios very efficiently and effectively.
We offered a place on our ship for all those in Atlantis, but few accepted. They had been there for a long time, and most had no wish to go on. It was a successful colony, no matter what happened to us.
In the end, about a hundred people added to our population. We would eventually come back here if we didn't find any other place to settle. Our primary motive for going on was the question of what had happened to the nineteen other ships. Were they afflicted by the same problems? Did their people start killing each other as the Centaurans had done?
In reality though, we had spent so much time aboard our ship that it was strange to leave it. We had become travellers. Explorers who wanted to discover what had become of the rest of humanity, although some of our people decided to stay and become Centaurans. Not many, however. It was pretty much an equal exchange.
If we found them, and they needed or desired it, we could offer sanctuary. While our ship’s space was not infinite, we had enough to take on more passengers. We could conceivably take on another ten ships worth of people without modifying our interior beyond building new homes.
John, Rik, Frieda, and I were working feverishly to make a banquet for the leaders of Atlantis. Once things were going smoothly, John and I hurried and changed so we could sit down along with the higher-ups in both communities. I was sorry that I couldn’t sit with my sisters, but each of us had our own table of people to keep entertained.
After the dinner, which I was pleased to note, everyone seemed to enjoy, I had a light jazz band play for dancing and background music. I had worked with them from their inception as a group, and they performed flawlessly.
Somewhere during the evening, I found myself dancing with Rick Carr. I must say, he was an excellent dancer, but I was looking forward to getting back to John. While we were dancing, I said to Rick, “I really wanted to know why you chose the name Atlantis for your city.”
He chuckled as he told me, “It was really somewhat of a joke. You see, I’m from the eastern seaboard of North America. The area where Atlanta Georgia used to sit. As such, our land-based habitat was called Atlanta.” He looked a bit embarrassed as he said, “I guess the people wanted to honor me, their commander, and now governor. When we moved underwater, someone joked that Atlanta was becoming Atlantis. It had a dual meaning. One, that the city had sunk under the water, and two, they sounded so much alike. The name simply stuck.”
I laughed as well. “That is wonderful!” I said. “Who came up with that joke?"
He looked somewhat sheepish before answering, "Umm… I did."
I couldn’t help it. I lost it. I laughed like I hadn’t in a long time. I'm certain that people were staring at me, but it was as if something had broken loose and I couldn’t stop it.
Finally, I was able to calm down, and I sat down with my husband. Rick sat across the table from me, and he explained to John what I was laughing at. John laughed as well, but I don't think he found it nearly as funny as I did.
I had found a release, though. Somehow, I felt so much better after laughing that hard. I know I probably looked quite silly to all those people, but to me, it felt like something I had needed for a long time.
Eventually, things wound down, and John and I found Frieda and went home.
On the way home, Frieda kept looking at me strangely. Finally, I asked her what was wrong.
"You embarrassed me tonight."
"Oh?"
"You were out on the dance floor and burst out laughing."
"In the first place, it wasn't a dance floor; it was a street. How can it be a floor when you're outside? In the second place, why should I, being happy, embarrass you?"
"You were dancing with a strange man, whom you aren't married to, and you seem happier than you've ever been!" With that, she took off running to the house.
I didn't know how to react. There was nothing between Rick Carr and me. For goodness sake, John had danced with Marcy, Rick's wife. What did I do wrong?
We stepped into the house and I started to go toward Frieda's room. John stopped me. "Let me talk to her, Rose. Okay?"
I was shocked. My mouth dropped open and I couldn't seem to get any sound out.
John kissed me on the forehead. "Please?"
I stared at him dumbly for a moment. I couldn't decide if I should scream at him, or acquiesce. Finally I just nodded and walked back out to the porch and almost fell into it.
I felt guilty because I wasn't crying. I still felt like something had released, and even though my daughter and I were apparently having a fight, I felt better than I had in years – For centuries!
My mind kept searching for what had happened to me. Why did that laugh break something free? I backed up for a moment. Broke free! That's what it felt like. Like I had finally broken free of the depression.
I wasn't naive enough to think I was free of the depression permanently, but I felt like I had passed a milestone.
"Mom?" It was my daughter's voice, sounding unusually timid.
"Yes, Sweetheart?"
"I'm sorry."
I held out my arm and she sat down beside me. I put my arm around her and told her it was alright. I was still unsure of what I had done, but I figured I could get the details from John.
It was strange holding my little girl as we sat in the swing. She was in her fifties now, and I was around eleven hundred. To anyone who saw us, we would like two siblings, maybe even twins. We looked very much like me. She had my build, honey blonde hair, and my face, but John's eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes of his! If anyone were to compare their eyes, there would be no doubt they were related.
The swing slowly moved back and forth, and she softly cried. I wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or shame making her cry, but rather than hurt her trying to figure it out, I just held her.
We left Centaurus not long after my embarrassing laughing fit. To be honest, no one except our daughter mentioned it, I did tell Paula and Carla about the release I felt now, as well as Mara, but beyond that, it seemed to have sparked no real attention. Not that I was aware of, anyway.
We were quite aware of the the limited room we had on board Neo22. I know I said earlier that we could support ten ships worth of people, but that is assuming that we didn’t have a population explosion on board. We couldn’t do that with the possibility of rescuing other people
Thus, we were extremely careful. John and I had three more rooms available in our house, but we hadn’t had anymore kids other than Frieda. It came as a complete surprise when I found I was pregnant again.
I found that I wasn’t as introverted as I had been. I felt like taking notice in my surroundings more. I had started letting Rik take more and more of the responsibilities in the restaurant, as it can take up most of a chef’s time.
It wasn’t long before I found that Frieda was spending more and more time around the restaurant when Rik was there. When I talked to John about it after we had a bit of pleasurable, nocturnal physical training, he gave me a strange look. “You’re just noticing this now?”
I ordered my reading light to turn on and I sat up. I looked at his face, and saw he was completely serious. “How long?” I asked him.
For a moment, he didn’t seem to realize I was serious, then he said, “For several months, she has made sure she’s near the restaurant when Rik was. You honestly didn’t realize?”
I felt very stupid. How many other mothers would have seen that long before their husbands. I lay back down and turned to him. “I’ve been so blind.”
“No you haven’t. So you didn’t see. Who cares? I certainly don’t.”
“It’s not just this, John. I’ve been blind about so many things. For nine hundred years, my attention has been so inward directed.” I felt that the tears were going to well up again and I buried my face in my pillow.
Instead of letting me stay like that, however, John lifted my head and turned my face toward him. “Rose, do you really think that aside from Total Fun, I have not enjoyed the last nine hundred years? In my expert opinion, gained from observing you for our entire lives, I have not seen you as completely inner directed for nine hundred years.”
I giggled and answered, “John, how do I know you aren’t just saying that for some more physical training?”
“My good looks?”
I scowled at him. “Dear,” I said, “there are plenty of handsome men who will say anything to get into a woman’s bed. Try again.”
“Hmmm… My suave style?”
I sighed. “While I won’t argue that you are debonair, I have to say that many men throughout history use that style as a way to impress a woman, generally for sex.”
He seemed to think about it and commented, “I suppose my impressive size is not decent evidence either.”
“Uhhhh…” I lifted up the sheet and looked under it at his manhood. “I’m not going to argue that it’s not impressive. In fact, I believe it would be possible to play baseball or horseshoes with it. Hmmm… I’ll have to remember that for later.” I let the sheet fall slowly down onto his now aroused penis. “Alas, dear husband, I think you’re right. Something that impressive is most definitely not evidence of pure motives.”
He laughed then told me, “I have to say, my dear, your body is not either. I’m afraid that I can’t look at you, as you are now, without having uh... wonderfully inspirational thoughts.”
I sat up and deliberately let the sheet fall away from my breasts. “So how do I know your statement was not inspired by your libido?“
This time his answer was ready immediately. “Because, fair Rose, I love you.”
I couldn’t hold the tears back now. Even though we had been working up to another round, they came.
John sat up and put his arm around me. If he had thought my tears were for any reason other than my joy at being loved by him, he never would have said, “Hey! Come on! I wanted some more PT,” then kissed me.
His mood brought me back and I laughed again. I pushed him down on the bed and straddled him. This round was a lot better than the first.
The next day, I went to the steakhouse to have lunch with Paula and Carla. They must have noticed something in my manner, as Carla smirked at me, then asked, all innocence, “Did you have a good night, Rose?”
What could I say? “Wonderful!” I then turned to Paula before Carla could respond. “What’s the special, Paula?”
“Oh, no you don’t,” Carla said. “You aren’t getting off that easy!”
I kept my face turned to Paula, a big smile on my face, and waited.
“I think Dez has made some of his special meatloaf, and Ray did a jambalaya,” Paula informed me, a grin on her face as well. Neither of us was paying Carla any mind as she made out that she was getting steamed.
“You are not going to ignore me, Rose!”
I finally turned back. “And why not? Are you ever forthcoming with information about your nightly escapades with Marc?”
I had her, and she knew it. She appeared to struggle, but I don’t think she’d ever seen me so clearly thrilled with life. Ultimately, her curiosity won, and she said, “If you tell me, I’ll tell you.”
It seemed like a good deal, so I did.
We were headed toward the Fomalhaut system to find another of the ships. At Atlantis, we had been ‘topped up’ with fuel, so we burnt a bit more to gain more speed than what we had before. It was a long trip, but we settled into routine life.
I had a pair of twins during the voyage. John and I had chosen not to know the sex of them. We really weren’t worried about it. When we gained two more girls, we were both pleased. We named them Pearl and Carrie, after two women that I missed very much.
Near Frieda’s two hundredth birthday, we finally merged onto Fomalhaut IV’s course. Rhoda had figured how far they should have come in the time they had, and we came into their course so we could backtrack on them. We traveled for about ten years, when a ship was detected ahead of us.
John and I entered the command center just before Paula and Winston did. Marc and Carla were already there. Technically, we weren’t necessary at the moment, but all of us had long been placed in the line of command, and Gina liked to keep us informed.
We faced the screen and watched as the ship in front of us got arger.
It was not destroyed as N22 had been. It appeared as though everything was alright with it.
Rhoda had been trying call it on our radio, however. We had not received any reply.
Marc was monitoring the health of our computers while we were trying to contact them. Suddenly, Marc looked at the screen. “You son of a bitch!” he exclaimed. “Break connection, Rhoda!”
There was no argument. Rhoda flipped a switch and then looked at Marc. “What,” she began, but there was no time to say anything more.
“My dear, sweet children. It’s been so long. I’d like to play, but first we must have a conference. I demand to see you in Fredriksburg, in front of the statue of my departed brother.”
We stared at each other. It was Willem’s voice, coming through the speakers.
Finally, Gina spoke. “No!” she said simply.
In response, her eyes glazed and her head fell onto the deck beside her quickly falling body. Rhoda screamed as a new twist to this old practice of Wallace’ occurred. Gina’s body started to smoke until there was only black carbon and clothes on the deck where she had once lain.
I was holding Rhoda as she cried. “How can you do this again?” I screamed at the ship around me.
“I am getting very tired of waiting.”
Marc started toward the door, and the rest of us followed. Rhoda hung on to me. I think she would have stayed in the command center, but she cried out in pain when we left, and hurried to catch up. She seemed alright as we continued to Fredriksburg.
I’m not sure what I expected when we arrived at the statue of Fred. Certainly not what we found. Standing there was Willem Wallace.
“Hello, children,” he said. “I thought I made it plain many millennia ago. I am your master.” He turned to Paula and his eyes burned. He slowly walked around her, taking in her body. “Paula. I will say; this look fits you so much better than what you had the last time we saw each other.”
He stopped in front of her, and the hatred from him was almost something physical. “You caused me so much pain. You let it go on. I understand you told Freddie that it ‘had to be done’. Well, my dear. Here is something else that ‘has to be done.’”
With that, her body began to smoke, just as Gina’s had. It went on much longer, however, and she appeared to be in agony. Marc pulled out a gun and pointed it at Wallace’ head. “Stop!” he yelled at Willem.
Paula dropped to the ground and the smoke stopped pouring out of her body. “That looks somewhat painful,” Wallace commented as he stooped by her side. “I want you to know, I stopped not because of Dodson’s pitiful attempt, but to cause you just as much pain as you caused me before I kill you.”
He backed up, and in a loud voice announced, “I am your master!”
He pointed at Rhoda. “You are to be my wife. Your mother and step father will witness the consummation of our marriage tonight.”
“No!” I shouted, but it was for naught. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to please this man! I wanted to be one of his maidens. “Please, Willem,” I said, “let me be your slave. I want to serve you. I want to give you whatever you wish.”
“Very good, my Rose, but you see; I’m a one woman man now, and I will have Rhoda. Since you want to serve me, you will stay with your husband, dress in a way that shows off your body. Make him long for you, and deny him any attempt to have you.”
I walked over to John and stood by him, still making eyes at Willem. I loved him! How could anyone not? I knelt down and bowed my head before him. “Whatever you wish, my Master.”
“Wonderful, Rose,” he praised me. I beamed back at him, thrilled to be able to serve him.
John and I were ordered back to our house. Once there, John tried to hug me, telling me we’d get through this, but I slapped his face, hard! I didn’t feel any desire to ‘get through this’! I wanted only to serve Willem!
I went into the bedroom and changed into very sensual lingerie, designed to flaunt my body to John, but he would be denied; just as I had been told to do by my loving master.
I came out and sat on a chair positioned where John could see everything I did. I started masturbating in front of him. Carrie came into the living room, wondering what all the noise was about. She saw me dressed as I was, fingering my breasts and clitoris, and John with his face held in his hands, crying.
“Mom?” she asked, bewildered. “Dad?”
John looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “She’s under control of Wallace. Somehow, he’s on the ship.” He didn’t say it that way. His speech was filled with sobs.
Suddenly, I no longer felt in love with Wallace. I collapsed on the floor, and I felt my love for John come back. I heard Wallace’ voice echo in my head. “Do not defy me again, or I will pull you back into my service forever.”
I hugged John as tight as I could when he reached for me. Then I cried.
We met, the next day in the back room of Heaven’s Rose. I had been ordered by Willem to continue dressed revealingly until or unless he decided I should wear something different. I was also ordered to continue to deny John any sex.
Honestly, that was fine, as long as he didn’t tell me I couldn’t love my husband. We were both old enough to know that sex was not the be-all and end-all. Love was much more than that. Somehow, I didn’t think Willem could ever fathom that.
We were there to discuss any possibility to get Willem off our ship. Technically, John was now in command, and I was his first mate. I thought it was fitting, but I didn’t see that it was a good idea. I had been under Willem’s control, and who’s to say I wasn’t only acting the part of a free woman. For all I knew, he could take control of me at any time.
Of course, he could also listen in on anything we said, anywhere on the ship. Oh, it was all such a confusing gamble.
“I’m acting under the assumption that Willem is a holographic construct,” Marc said. “It’s all that makes sense.”
"Really?" Paula asked. She was not well. Somehow, her nanites weren't functioning. She was coughing up a thick fluid, quite regularly. I had spoken to Winston, and he told me he had seen her dinner be spat up, much like a baby would do before it's nanites were infused. There were also several blisters on her body, probably from burns.
Marc looked at her and I could see his face turn slightly green. He tried to put on a brave face, though. I understood how he felt; none of us had ever seen a sick person. "Yes, Paula. Somehow…" his voice faltered as the subject of our conversation entered the room.
I stood up and moved in between him and everyone else. I felt ridiculous, standing there in lingerie, trying to hold him back. "Don't you dare touch my sister," I told him.
I was afraid that he would take control of my mind, but he didn't.
"So you call Paula your sister? She's nine hundred years older than you, Rose."
"No matter what you think of my love for my friends, you will not touch them."
"Have you forgotten my orders to you?"
I took a deep breath, and maybe I was about to become his permanent slave, but damned if I was going to do what this madman ordered again.
"No, Willem. I haven't forgotten. I choose to ignore them."
He looked at my clothes. "You have, have you?"
Before he finished his sentence, however, I was removing my clothing, such as it was. In a moment, I stood in nothing but defiance.
He glared at me, but turned and walked away. I shakily turned to look at my friends. I saw it, and it almost killed me. Paula was dead. There was a hole from under her chin that apparently emerged through the top of her head.
I screamed.
Doctors Jack and Sylvia were sitting with us in the briefing room. I was weeping while I once more leaned against John for support. Carla was sobbing with her head in her arms on the table in front of her. Winston was sitting, staring at the screen.
"Her nanites were completely deactivated. In fact, many had left her body. We know that there are around twenty pounds of nanites in an adult, and our computers collect information through those nanites constantly. We lost contact with her nanites yesterday, and her body was roughly ten pounds less today than at last connection," Jack told us.
"If they were deactivated, how was she killed?" Marc asked, a look of frustration on his face.
Doctor Sylvia looked extremely uncomfortable. "There were all the signs of a stake through her head."
"How did he drive a stake through her head without us knowing about it, and where did it go?" John was absolutely furious, and it scared me. I had never heard his voice sound like that.
"Why?!!?" I couldn't take it anymore, and it burst from me like my heart was exploding. "He threatened me with slavery. Instead, he killed my sister! The BASTARD!"
I now had my head in my hands, and I was sobbing. "It was my fault. I wanted him to focus on me, not her and he killed her!"
John pulled me tight. "Rose, each of us needs to group together now. I very much doubt that this was your fault. He told her he was going to kill her painfully. If anything, you stopped her suffering more."
"You think so?" I wasn't very logical at the moment, but he was starting to get through to me. "She didn't suffer as much as she would have?"
"John's right, Rose," Marc agreed. "You know what Fred and Paula did to that piece of shit. He suffered way more than she did. You helped her."
It was a small comfort. Very small, but it helped me focus. Carla seemed to be drawing together as well. Only Winston still seemed lost to the world, probably going through memories of the joy they shared.
John said his name, but there was no response.
"Winston," Marc said louder.
Winston blinked, looked around, then stood. His eyes were red and moist, although he hadn't been openly crying. "See ya'," he told us as he turned and left the room.
"I can't imagine what he's going through," John said. "To lose…"
Suddenly we heard something very disturbing. The airlock began cycling. Jack and Marc both leaped to their feet and ran out of the room.
We heard something that will always stay with me. "You have to know! Does he have complete control or not? I don't think he does. He is concentrating on the fields! Not nanites! Somehow he blew his connection. He let Rose go! I'm going to see if we can end it!"
I heard the inner door open, then close. A moment later, the outer door opened. A few minutes later, Winston Reese, a friend for years floated away into the void.
We were in the steakhouse, having a wake for our family and friends. We were determined that we would not give in to the piece of shit we had been subject to for so long. Jack, Marc, and John were all in suits, while Sylvia, Carla, and I were in dresses suitable for the situation.
We were drinking a toast when the particular piece of shit walked in again.
Again, I stood. I was shaky but determined. I had not wanted to do this, but the others, including John, were adamant. He had threatened me specifically, but not carried it out. Why? That was not his style.
"Get out of here," I told him. I sounded scared to death to myself.
"I own the ship. You are violating my rules."
"Go to hell," I told him.
He laughed. "I probably will, but I'll own it quickly after arriving."
Marc stood up. He held a pad that he had been watching while I talked to him. "You are already in hell," he told Wallace. "You're not a real person. You're a virus in our computers, and you're losing the fight. Winston was right!"
"You had power at first, but you lost power over the nanites yesterday. Otherwise you wouldn’t have let Rose go. You couldn't hold on to her."
John stepped to my side and told the virus, "Never touch my wife again."
Marc continued: "you killed Paula with the shaped fields. The same as you're using right now to give yourself a physical presence. That and the holographic equipment. I wondered why you only appeared in this bay. It's the only one with the projectors for either."
"I still have power," the hologram told us.
"Not much, " Marc laughed as he looked at his pad. "In fact, you don't have enough for the fields anymore."
"That doesn't matter!" Screamed Wallace as his voice switched to the speakers.
"You can't control the nanites, and you can't control fields anymore. How will you hurt us?"
"I control the computer!"
"Good for you," said my husband. "But what can you do there? Look around. You will find that you cannot control any vital systems. They have a failsafe that will always be in our favor. You can't even open any doors. They are all mechanically locked."
I watched that horrible face go through several emotions until it faded away.
"Are you still there Willem?" Marc asked.
"You think you've won, but what do you think I've done to the other ships? I'm in each one, waiting to come out and play. And they don't have computers that even begin to compare to yours." His voice stopped in a dramatic pause. "They are dependent on their computers for everything. They can't stop me."
The voice became a vile whisper at the last sentence, then it seemed as though he was gone.
Marc looked at his pad and verified it. He turned the pad around. We saw the screen change from a blinking red eradicating virus to a steady green virus eradicated.
I put down the mic and look at my husband. I'm very pleased that we have been together as long as we have.
Tomorrow will be twenty-five years to the day since my sister died. We are on the way to the next ship's location to see if they need or even want our help.
I suppose I should fill in a few details. Yes, Willem was a virus, as you saw. When he lost control of me, he still had control of Rhoda. He put everything he had into holding her. We finally found her body buried in the ground near the statue of her stepfather. John believes Willem did that because she was Paula’s daughter so symbolically, he was getting his revenge.
A question that comes to mind is, how did he know how his body had died?
Marc was able to take a memory snapshot of the virus, and access its memories. He then placed them into a computer separate from any other. He questioned the thing for months.
He has informed me that what Paula told me about her and Fred's speculations on the making of Willem were essentially correct.
As to his showing up on our ship, he had a dead man switch in his nanites. If for any reason, his blood stopped flowing in his brain, his last conscious thoughts would be sent to his computers. He had kept a running recording of his thoughts, so his death was recorded and the recording process stopped.
When new computers were built, a memory crystal held the read-only memory that allowed a computer to talk to its hardware. That didn't take up much space but he made sure that added to the bios was now his mind at the moment of his death, along with instructions on how to break free and to make his way into other machines. A memory crystal can hold a lot of information.
I'm looking through my notes to see if I've forgotten to relate any information. Oh! Fred Freeman II. He was left without his mother or father, or even any siblings. He has made it clear that he has not lost all of his family, however. He has two aunts whom he loves. We love him too! He is a reminder of our dear sister.
Freddy (he doesn't mind it as his dad did) now owns the steakhouse. He changed the name to Fred and Paula's. It is my favorite restaurant now. On one wall is a holographic portrait of my sister and Fred Sr. When they were married, along with one of her with Winston.
Speaking of Winston, his death was helpful. Marc was worried that Willem would have locked us into his game as he did before. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.
Wow! What a story to tell! It still hurts to think of all the friends and family that I lost. That we lost. Perl, Brandy, Kari… there are so many. I can't lose my memories of them because of the nanites.
There is a finite amount of information that a brain can hold, but one of the more frightening aspects of nanites is that we all have our brains constantly recorded. We have to, or we would run out of space.
Our nanites are hooked to personal crystals, usually held in some type of jewelry. I almost always wear mine in a necklace. John has his in a watch band. They don't have to be on your person, but most people's are. You want to make sure your memories are safe.
Some people require that after their death, the crystal be destroyed. I have always considered this line of thinking to be silly. With Willem's antics, I'm not so sure now.
So ends my account of Caesar's legacy. It was a horrible part of our history, and may not be over. I hope it is.
I plan on recording any meetings we may have with other ships, so others will know our legacy, and not just Willem's.
And now, I have a special duty to perform. John earned some very dire consequences for something today. I'm not sure what he did, but I'm certain he did it. And if he didn't, we'll just pretend he did.
Talk to you soon!