Star Minds Next Generation

by Barbara G. Tarn

  ***

  Erika met them in a coffee shop by the spaceport. Maela had called her to ask when she was free and they'd set up a meeting.

  Erika only vaguely remembered Maela, but she looked a lot like her mother, so Maela was able to sort of recognize her even after eighteen years. The "real deal" allowed Sylvanians to have daughters who were almost clones of their mothers, at least in looks, since sometimes they developed different interests and skills.

  Long brown hair framed an oval face with hazel eyes and a shy smile. Erika was curvier than Dadina, but seemed unaware of her appeal. Men would love to meet a tall, slender girl like her. Like all Sylvanians, Erika had been sent to the Girls' House at five to be indoctrinated – what Dadina had avoided – and she knew her mother had changed partners since, so she was surprised to hear from Maela.

  "Mother told me you abandoned her," she said, curiously observing Maela's silver hand. "When did you lose your hand?"

  "Hand, leg and ovaries – at the same time as your mother," Maela answered. "I stayed with Juna for another three years until I realized that I was still more a woman than she was."

  Erika scoffed.

  "My mother was never tender," she grumbled.

  "She was at the beginning, even with you. But she'd become ruthless. A killing machine. She despised my love for my one and only daughter – but she could have more."

  "And she did have more," Erika said, wrinkling her nose. "I have two younger sisters. It's like having three mothers somehow!" Obviously Erika's sisters were real clones of Juna.

  Maela smiled briefly.

  "I know what you mean. My mother had five daughters – just in case. She was a soldier, she wanted to make sure the Sylvanian army never ran out of soldiers. Of course the maternity leaves also allowed her to avoid battles and stay whole..."

  Dadina stared wide-eyed at her mother. Cora hadn't mentioned any of Maela's sisters. Were they all dead?

  "That's probably what my mother thought," Erika said sourly. "She hated me when I refused to follow in her footsteps. Then Corina was killed in a riot around the Fertility Center and she grudgingly admitted that maybe I had chosen the safest path."

  "I've heard you're a nurse."

  "Yes, I'd rather give life than take lives."

  Maela nodded, thoughtful.

  "I abandoned your mother because I didn't want to lose my daughter to the Girls' House. Dadina grew up mostly on Marc'harid and I'm very proud of her."

  Dadina blushed under the eyes of both her mother and Erika who brightened.

  "So you've known men?" Erika asked her. "How old are you now?"

  "Nineteen, and yes, I've known men," she answered. "I have a brother – or two." She glanced at her mother who smiled fondly at her.

  "That's so cool!" Erika beamed. "The only downside of being a nurse is I don't earn enough to take vacations off planet. I'm saving all I can for a trip to Vilas Lok, but I don't know when I'll be able to afford it!"

  "Why do you want to go to Vilas Lok?" Maela asked, amused.

  "It's the pleasure planet! And I wouldn't mind studying some male anatomy while I'm there... although I'd be careful not to get pregnant."

  "Ah, yes, the peril of sexual intercourse with men..." Maela smiled. "You should carry condoms or start taking the pill before you go to Vilas Lok."

  "I've been taking it for years," Dadina said, thoughtful. "But I guess you don't really need it here."

  "For years?" Erika gaped. "At nineteen?"

  "Mm, yes, I lost my virginity at fifteen."

  "Aw! Lucky gal!" Erika sighed. "I'm still wondering what it's like with a man!"

  "It's... different," Maela said. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

  "Not for another ten years," Erika grumbled, averting her eyes.

  Maela and Dadina exchanged a glance.

  "How many days can you take off without losing your job?" Dadina asked bluntly.

  "I have a month of paid vacation per year, why?" Erika asked, puzzled.

  "Did you already take it this year?"

  "Uh... no. I usually go to some seaside resort on Sylvania during the summer..."

  "Do you think you can take it now?"

  "Mm... yes, why?"

  "We have a starship... a private starship... it belongs to my foster brother who is waiting for us on Serenaide, then has a little tour planned... We didn't include Vilas Lok, but I'm sure he can add it to our route. You can meet plenty of men out there. And if you need to come back before we finish, I'm sure Shan-leo will pay for your ticket on the Galaxy Express!"

  "Really?" Erika brightened.

  "Dadina, are you sure?" Maela asked, worried.

  "Mom, he's a Sire aristocrat. He has plenty of money."

  "For us. But for Erika?"

  "You underestimate the Shermacs' generosity."

  "I don't. I'm indebted to them for the rest of my life!"

  "You're not indebted to anyone, Mom," Dadina chided. "They don't need that money back. They're not the greedy Sylvanian government!"

  "You have Sire friends?" Erika asked, eyes wide in wonder. "And a Sire brother?"

  "A foster brother," Maela said. "I can't have any more children, so Dadina is my second and last."

  "Oh, of course. And you've moved to Marc'harid, so I assumed you work for the Sire, not that you have Sire friends..."

  "Yes." Dadina grinned. "The first was runaway Imperial Prince Kol-ian Vaurabi who helped us when we escaped from Sylvania. Then we met his wonderful brother-in-law Ker-ris Shermac, whose son, Shan-leo, is my foster brother..."

  7. EARTH 2023

  "You're back already?" Shan-leo said, finding Dadina outside his hotel room on Serenaide.

  "Yes, well, we arrived yesterday, but you were off to some forgotten monastery," she said, following him inside. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

  "That and more," he assured her, putting down the rolled posters and prints he'd brought back from his excursion. He'd kept the hotel room as a base of operation and had spread his findings all over it, so he had to remove some from the couch to allow them both to sit down. "The monastery hadn't been plundered, but I spoke with the curator of the Planetary Museum about last year's theft – one of the oldest pieces. The security cameras recorded two people entering the museum, but he doesn't remember any of it. They had covered their faces, but one was definitely female. The GP filed the recording, but couldn't identify the thieves."

  "You mean they stole in front of his eyes and he can't remember any of it?" Dadina asked, incredulous.

  "I saw traces of tampering in his mind. Someone deleted part of his memory. The thieves must have some mind-controlling ability."

  Dadina's eyes widened. "What would anyone want with an old piece of paper anyway?"

  "It's parchment, and colored inks, and a beautiful work of art," Shan-leo explained. "I think it's very beautiful to behold, but it's also a priceless piece of the history of this planet... I'd never take it away from here, but obviously someone wants to start his own collection."

  "You think they'll go on Marc'harid too? Is Jan-wen right to be worried?"

  "Probably not. Sire minds are stronger than any natural ESP. But I called Jan-wen and warned him. He has five librarians under him, two ESP thieves can't do much against them. Now, let's see if we can find any clues we can pass on – since we are now connected to the GP through your half-brother." He grinned, but she averted her eyes.

  Dadina looked at the paper and inks and prints he'd gathered and frowned with worry.

  "That's all I could find on Sylvania." She offered a small envelope. "I know that it doesn't compare with what you have here, but..."

  Shan-leo quickly opened it: it was an old-fashioned postcard, with a century-old stamp and flowery handwriting. The picture was of a Sylvanian beach and it was addressed to a woman at the capital from her "loving daughter" Estella.

  "Dadina, it's beautiful!" he exclaimed. "You must have found this in an antique shop! They've become so rare to find t
hroughout the galaxy!"

  "I had never seen one before, but Mom knew where to look," Dadina said, relieved. "I'm glad you like it."

  "Thank you!" Shan-leo hugged her, then put his treasure back in the envelope. "I have a few more, I'm going to start a collection. Although you'll have to slap my hands when we get to Gaia. Daniele and Chantal told me these things are still quite popular on Earth in spite of the new technology."

  "So that's our next stop? Earth?" she asked.

  "Yes. There are plenty of postcards like this one, and illuminated manuscripts and old codices I really need to see. But you tell me about your Sylvanian visit."

  "Oh, I thought you'd already found out everything by reading my mind," she teased.

  "You distracted me," he replied, waving the envelope at her. "And I missed the sound of your voice, so go for it."

  "Good. Well, my mother took me to see my grandmother and then I thought she wanted to see Juna, but no, she contacted Juna's daughter instead. Erika is twenty-two like you, and she's a nurse, and she wants to know men, but like all Sylvanians she doesn't really have the money to travel, so she took her yearly month of leave and joined us on the Haiduc." She stared at him expectantly.

  "So she's here?" he asked. "And will come with us?"

  "Yes, if you don't mind. We can send her back to Sylvania with the Galaxy Express when her vacation is over. Mom is going back to Marc'harid from here."

  "Fine, I understand Erika's financial distress and will surely pay her ticket home from wherever we'll be by then. Is that all?"

  He knew it wasn't but he wanted to hear it from her, so he could answer properly.

  "Um... I was wondering if you could..." Dadina blushed. "I mean, Erika is pretty and she's not a bitch like Izzy-lee and..."

  "Have you raved about your first time with me?" he chided. "You know I'm not a common young man, I'm not the right person for someone who is supposed to go back to Sylvania."

  Dadina bit her lower lip, thoughtful, then sighed.

  "You're probably right. I mean, I enjoyed other boys after you, but somehow they are no match..."

  "Of course not, they don't read your mind. And is Erika ready for motherhood or just willing to try something new?"

  "No, she doesn't want to get pregnant yet, just experiment. So you think it's better she does it with someone else?"

  "A male escort could take care of her virginity," he said. "They're pros, she'll enjoy it. And yes, I'll pay for him. Go online with her and see if Serenaide offers anyone she might be interested in. I need the rest of the day to organize my findings and we won't leave until tomorrow..."

  ***

  Dadina and Erika took Maela to the spaceport right after lunch. After hugging her good-bye the two girls went back to the hotel room they shared and checked the meganet for what Shan-leo had suggested. Erika was very nervous once they chose an attractive young man and kept giggling while Dadina helped her to slide into a sexy gown while they waited for him.

  Dadina gave him a look of appraisal and let him in, introducing Erika and ordering a bottle of sparkling wine for them.

  "I'll be downstairs," she said before leaving.

  She went to sit in the lobby, but couldn't concentrate on reading, so she tried to call Hiro, but didn't get through. She sent him an email, went online for a while, then managed to relax. The escort was a pro – like Shan-leo had said – he'd give Erika a great experience. She was a bit disappointed that Shan-leo had refused to be the first, but she could see his point.

  Hiro's reply hit her inbox – he'd been in a meeting and had to switch the phone off – and was now headed for dinner. There must be some time lapse between Marc'harid and Serenaide, so Dadina hit the reply button: "Call me when you can."

  As she waited, she compared boyfriends. After Shan-leo, she'd spent the rest of the school years with an Ulba'wissian – much like her mother's first and only man. He was her best friend M'oll'inda's older brother, but when she'd started working at the Vaurabi Labs, she'd stopped seeing boys. She was too busy. And then Hiro had come along. And she was on hiatus from work.

  Hiro was sweet, and they liked the same things. She could talk forever about artificial bodies and intelligences, and he could do the same. Or they could just shut up and have sex and cuddle and whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears. They hadn't really talked about love, or a steady relationship yet, though.

  Her phone rang, and it was Hiro. They chatted for a while, then she bade him good night and ended the call. She wasn't really missing him yet. Maybe her mind was busy with the thought of Erika and the upcoming travels, but still...

  She decided to wait and see. Maybe being apart for a month or two would prove fatal for whatever had been blossoming between them...

  She saw the escort emerge from the elevator and checked the time. Three hours, it was almost dinner time.

  He stopped next to her, even though he'd been paid in advance and didn't need to.

  "She's asleep," he said with an impish smile. "She was exhausted."

  "And how are you doing after the sex marathon?" she asked, amused.

  He shrugged. "It's my job. I was born to please women."

  She chuckled. "Don't try to sell your services to me. I have a boyfriend at home."

  "And a brother here." Shan-leo's voice startled both.

  The escort acknowledged him with a nod and left.

  "You don't need to play the jealous brother," she chided.

  "I know you can take care of yourself." Shan-leo grinned. "You're a good liar."

  "I'm not!"

  "Hiro is not your boyfriend and you know it."

  "He will be!"

  "Maybe. Let's wake up Erika and grab some dinner, shall we?"

  ***

  "Do you remember when we first came here?" Shan-leo asked, pointing at the blue ball of atmosphere fast approaching on the main screen.

  "Yes." Dadina nodded, thoughtful. "Daniele and Chantal wanted to go home, but they didn't know their planet was a Saurian colony locked in a manufactured time-loop. It was such a shock for them to discover twenty years had gone by on the planet instead of the twenty galactic months they'd lived!"

  "You mean that's a Saurian colony?" Erika asked, worried. She sat with them on deck, curious about the next destination.

  "Was," Shan-leo answered. "It became a member of the Star Nations eleven years ago. A stargate opened with a galactic conjunction and they were able to take Gaia out of the manufactured time-loop – and Saurian control. The last Saurian governor came after Uncle Kol-ian and my father with such vicious cruelty, he had to be killed to be stopped."

  "I'm sure my mom helped to kill him," Dadina added. "She hated Reptilians."

  "She'd been maimed in the war against them, like mine," Erika said, relieved. "So this is a free Humanoid world now. Where is the main spaceport?"

  "It's what I'm trying to figure out," Shan-leo said, checking the data scrolling on his computer screen. "They haven't built one yet, since they're still cleaning the air. The carbon dioxide levels are still quite high, even if they got rid of all the polluting means of transportation."

  "What does it say about the time-loop?" Dadina asked.

  "Oh, it's gone. For the first time in almost a century, it's finally September of the year 2023." Shan-leo grinned.

  "What does that mean?" Erika asked, puzzled.

  "The local calendar was stuck in a time-loop between August 12, 1903 and August 12, 2023," Shan-leo explained. "August is their eighth month, September is the ninth. They're finally unstuck from the Saurian experiment."

  "There's still a lot of space junk in orbit." Dadina wrinkled her nose with distaste. "Ah, there's the orbital immigration station. I guess we should report there, since there are no official landing places for spacecraft on the planet."

  Shan-leo nodded and requested permission to dock on the station to gather information on the blue planet under them. They were instructed how to reach a hangar and invited to disembark to speak with
the station crew.

  They left the Haiduc and followed the signs to the welcome area. The orbital station crew was mostly Humanoids with some Grays and a few Reptoids – hybrids of Humanoids and Reptilians – probably born on the planet below.

  The first available employee was such, with a shorter muzzle than the usual lizard-like face and blue nacreous scales. He was shorter and sturdier than the Saurians, about Dadina's height, and had five fingers to his hands, with scales only on the upper side of the hand. He stood behind a desk, so they couldn't see the lower half of his body.

  "Welcome to Gaia, or Earth," he greeted them. "I'm sorry to inform you that most Humanoid visitors develop nasty lung problems after staying on the surface. We haven't yet managed to take down the level of carbon dioxide in spite of the carbon sequestration machines working at full capacity, but if you tell me the purpose of your trip, I'll help you to get the most from your stay."

  "Our sensors already told us about the air pollution," Shan-leo said, offering his ID. "I was wondering if it's possible to see old things like illuminated manuscripts, miniatures and works of calligraphy..."

  He casually brushed the Reptoid's mind and his heart missed a beat, finding a name and a Reptilian face that was carved into his worst memories: S'lyss, the last Saurian governor of Gaia, who had almost killed Kol-ian and Ker-ris after they'd mind-linked.

  His fingers shook as he took back his ID from the Reptoid's hand – he should have used the bionic arm. "I'm sorry, are you related to S'lyss S'sassan?" he inquired with a shaky voice. They weren’t really his memories, more what he'd seen through the blood mind link with his father, but a shiver ran down his spine.

  The Reptoid stared at him, and then at his monitor. "Oh, I see! Ah... yes." He took a deep breath. "My name is Halyss, I'm S'lyss's bastard son."

  Shan-leo saw that his name had triggered a memory in Halyss's head. The Reptoid had helped the Falstelo to locate the Hall of pain where S'lyss had kept Kol-ian and Ker-ris.

  "Oh!" Shan-leo felt immediately relieved. "Thank you! You're the one who helped my friends to save my father and uncle from S'lyss's clutches, then. Your father almost killed them when he abducted them, and I was very close to being an orphan."