Star Minds Third Generation Snippets

by Barbara G. Tarn

  Kaori didn't comment on that. When there was still a Sire governor on Xi-kong, things weren't that bad, apparently. She'd been born ten years after the death of the last emperor, so she had only hearsay to rely on.

  But after the Sire control was gone, the mob bosses had taken the reins of government and imposed their misogynistic rules to the whole planet, and she knew everything about those. As a girl, she hadn't been allowed to know much. Luckily her better half was male, and Akio had always done his best to pass on to her whatever was taught to him.

  He had been allowed to go to school. He had been trained at the local martial arts school. He could go out with his friends and visit places while she was stuck at home with her mother and sisters.

  Akio had given her a vision of the Star Nations that had made her long for freedom. Hence at the end of secondary school, he had cut her long hair and told her to embark on a tour of the Star Nations in his place. The only catch was she couldn't come back, or she'd be punished and locked up, probably forcibly married to some enforcer of their boss.

  Thus Kaori had run away with her brother's ID and found refuge in the Galaxy Police Academy. She'd had to work much harder at first, since she lacked some basics, but she'd soon become one of the best students of her course. Still, it was almost a miracle that she'd made it into the Galaxy Police!

  "And is it possible that my father's sister married a Sire?" Kaori asked. Maybe the unknown Aunt Mayumi had managed to get away, much like she had done. Apparently she too had a twin, and maybe he had covered her escape, like Akio had done with her.

  "Why not?" Neomi shrugged.

  "It's not really the wedding of the century, but I believe the marriage of Shan-leo Shermac didn't go unnoticed," Okan added. "And now that you make me think about it, yes, his wife is from Xi-kong and has your family name."

  "You probably need to catch up on gossip," Stephen said. "I hear girls are quite sheltered on Xi-kong."

  Stephen Gaetani was twenty-nine and always smiling. He had open features, wavy black hair and a short, lean build. His favorite sin was lust and he talked openly about sex – which sometimes shocked Kaori. Another good Field Training Officer who didn't mind Kaori's sometimes dumb questions that made Camila Kingston smirk. And he was a good friend of Okan, who was also from Xi-kong, hence he probably saw her as Okan's younger sister.

  Kaori nodded, determined. After the meal, she retired to the condo to study. Her apartment was barely a room with a bed and an attached bathroom, but it was enough for her current needs. She opened her laptop and time flew while she updated herself on galactic news.

  A yawn interrupted her research. She showered and prepared for bed, sitting on her mattress and checking what time it was on Xi-kong. Drat, too late to call. She should have done it immediately. She sighed. Never mind. She'd talk to her twin tomorrow before breakfast.

  Akio was still on the home planet. Nobody had actually bothered to come looking for the fugitive girl with no particular gifts. Their father's anger hadn't lasted and Akio still worked at the factory owned by the Horio Family, four years after her escape.

  She lay down to sleep and switched off the light. So much to learn, so little time! Sleep won her almost immediately.

  ***

  "I've heard how you guys helped with the final show at the Mega Arena!" Akio's smile seemed to shine even on video. "I'm very proud of you, sister!"

  "Wait, you mean I was on the news?" Kaori frowned, braiding her long black hair for the day as she stared at her brother's face on the laptop screen.

  "Yep, I got a glimpse of you in your battlesuit, taking that actress off the stage!" Akio chuckled. "I think even our father recognized you, but he didn't say anything."

  "Which reminds me why I called," she said. "Did he tell you about twin siblings? A school for gifted children? Or Aunt Mayumi who married a Sire?"

  Akio stared at her. "You heard about that?"

  She rolled her eyes. "I have now," she snapped. "Because Ker-ris Shermac mentioned it to me after the show! So, is it true?"

  "Yes." Akio nodded, thoughtful. "We were about five when the news of Shan-leo Shermac's wedding made the rounds. We couldn't care less, of course, but Father kept an image of that day. So one day, after you were gone, I asked him about the picture and he told me about the twins who had vanished in that secret school-lab along with his cousin Yoshio."

  Kaori sighed. "So what did you do?" she asked. "Did you try to contact our cousins on Marc'harid or not?"

  "Oh. I didn't really think about that. You think we should?"

  "I don't know, I'm about to leave on the Cosmic Scout, so I doubt I'll be able to meet them anytime soon, but maybe you can?"

  Akio's smile returned. "I'll do that, sister!" he promised. "You stay safe on that mini-cruiser. I'm very proud of you." He winked. "We all are."

  "Including Father?" she asked with a shaky voice.

  "Especially Father," he answered. "Although he'd never admit it, so don't ever mention it to him. He boasts you're dead, but I know he's secretly happy you made it off Xi-kong and are carving yourself a career in the Galaxy Police."

  "How do you know, are you a telepath?" she asked.

  He laughed. "No, but he keeps hinting I should get my ass out of here and maybe join the Galaxy Police... where do you think he got the idea? Of course he knows where you are, dear!"

  "Then why don't you join me?" she said. "What a team we could be!"

  "I have my reasons to stay here," he answered. "Now go report to your captain, I wouldn't want that S.E.T.H. sergeant to punish you!"

  She giggled. "Officer Thaman won't punish me. He's not as mean as what he looks! Love you, Akio..."

  She signed off and quickly finished packing. She was late for breakfast, but luckily she didn't eat much first thing in the morning, so she was done quicker than anybody else.

  The crew went back to the Cosmic Scout where Captain Natalya Ocano congratulated them for their work at the Mega Arena – and didn't mention anything about Kaori stunning the crowd, although her large bronze eyes lingered longer on Kaori's face.

  She had long straight medium brown hair and a stocky build. Kaori knew the captain was aware of her mistake, and she was happy nobody dwelt on it. She promised herself she'd keep calm next time.

  Then the captain briefed them on their next mission. They were going to escort a hospital starship to New S.E.T.H. World. The spacecraft carried tetraplegic Humanoids who had decided to upload their minds and either remain in the virtual reality of the meganet or download it in new and fully functioning artificial bodies – much like Tommie Thaman had done after a near-death accident on the job, which had turned him into the first GP S.E.T.H. officer.

  "Nobody will attack a hospital starship, hopefully, but the Star Nations still want us to keep an eye on them. I believe the fact that we have the only S.E.T.H. officer onboard helped. Tommie can have his body checked upon arrival."

  "I'll need to replace a couple of things," Tommie Thaman said with a nod. "It's starting to wear off and I'm sure there are upgrades available that weren't ready three years ago."

  Kaori stared awed at the S.E.T.H. who had slightly reduced his height inside the mini-cruiser but was still the tallest man onboard. Parts of his human body were still visible, especially the face, but most of it was just machinery that made him even more powerful than a normal Humanoid with a battlesuit.

  He was more than a cyborg, he was the next step of humanity – sort of. He was a war machine and supposedly the Star Nations were at peace. But then, sometimes security or control were necessary and words were not enough, so a tough trans-human soldier was the only way.

  Kaori settled back into the routine of ship shifts. The crew had become her new family. First mate Damien Hyland had short straight medium brown hair, very attractive features, narrow light brown eyes and dark skin. He was a little grumpy whenever he had to act as captain, as if he didn't like the responsibility of command.

  Navigators were Hank Vangelos,
who had attractive features and loudly disliked the adoration of the masses, gratuitous violence, and foolish bravery, and Victorina Dowe, compact build and golden-brown skin who disliked the 'bad boy/girl' look, stoicism, and flattery.

  Comm officers were Gaston Zahra, who had almost black eyes and sounded annoyed by strict codes of honor, elaborate schemes, and creepy crawly things. He was brave and very reliable, though. He loved any sort of aristocracy, the status quo, and excessive alcohol. And then there was Phoebe Scofield, wavy strawberry blond hair and large blue-green eyes. She was fast and very friendly.

  Lenard Rocheford was in charge of the infirmary. He had bronzed skin and short gray hair. He seemed worried by the thought that tetraplegics could upload their minds and become normal again. But at the same time he looked hopeful that it could be the cure for Locked-in Syndrome patients.

  Kaori had learned his daughter had LIS and if the experiment on tetraplegics worked, he'd take Mayme to New S.E.T.H. World for the mind upload as soon as their mission ended. Kaori wondered what it could be like to be aware but unable to move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes.

  "It's very all very tricky," Lenard told her as they ate together in the starship common room on the way to the rendezvous with the hospital starship. "I've seen cyborg suits for disabled people, but this is different. Are they going to fix the real problem or make it worse?"

  "You don't trust technology, doctor?" she asked, surprised. Hospitals could remotely check the health of patients. The technology inside the bodies could talk to the outside world – talking to other apps on the meganet and fixing problems when they arose.

  "What if the device that processes information takes control of the body it's supposed to keep healthy? What if implants grow a personality or stop working? New technologies break down, have unexpected consequences, and sometimes simply don't work as we expect them to." Lenard snorted, frustrated. "We might be used to cyborgs, but I don't know where this is going. Who does the upgrade of an old gadget?"

  "Um... whoever made it in the first place?" Kaori said, unsure.

  "And who made it? Who own the patent genetic breeds or implants?"

  "The lab that built them?"

  "Kaori, just imagine a gadget – mechanical or electronic – is implanted in your body..."

  "I have the battlesuit microchip, doctor."

  "Right, well, how do you make sure it's not bugged? How do you know if the code works? Who do you complain to if it breaks or stops functioning? What if the implant is hacked? Who is liable for your gadget?"

  "Er... the Galaxy Police?"

  "In your case, yes. But put yourself in somebody else's shoes. I heard Sylvanians were tied to their home-planet as soon as they had one tiny implant. The Galaxy Police owns Tommie's body, so to speak. Is that fair? Who will own those people's artificial bodies?"

  "Maybe you can buy a body for your daughter?" she suggested.

  He scoffed. "I'll never be able to afford it, honey. Just pray your body is never disabled, or whoever gives you a second chance will own you for life!"

  Kaori touched the microchip, uneasy.

  "That's easily taken out," he said with a shrug. "It's more important implants that become another kind of prison, in my opinion." He sighed. "Anyway, we'll see what happens on S.E.T.H. World... it's a scientific interplanetary station, not a greedy corporation, so they might do things right."

  The Fast Observer was a spacecraft three times bigger than the Cosmic Scout. Its sensors were slightly above average, and the crew of forty-five had been integrated with medical personnel to take care of the patients. Luckily both cargo and passenger space were good and equipped properly for the trip.

  The big starship had gathered people from all the Humanoid hospitals of the Star Nations. After a first batch of paraplegics who had received new, mechanical legs, it was the turn of tetraplegics, who needed much more than just legs.

  Gaston and Phoebe had to work hard to keep in touch, because the ship had very low-quality communication equipment. Kaori spent most of her time on the deck, trying to learn new skills from the navigators and the comm officers.

  She was present when the captain of the Fast Observer requested men to arrest someone. Captain Ocano sent Officer Thaman, as usual, and Kaori volunteered to go with him. She didn't wear the battlesuit unit, but did grab her gun before rushing to the teleport room.

  The captain of the bigger starship was also a woman. She has dark skin, straight brown hair and narrow light blue eyes. She nodded at the two cops and said, "Ty Butremovic. He attacked our passengers with a knife."

  A knife? Kaori couldn't believe her ears as she quickly checked her tablet. Ty Butremovic, twenty-six, from Serenaide, boarded with the medical personnel. Why did he turn against his patients?

  "Where?" Officer Thaman was laconic as usual. Sometimes Kaori wondered if he'd been like that before the accident that had turned him into a trans-human.

  The captain pointed at a section of the bigger starship. Kaori ran as fast as she could to keep up with the S.E.T.H. officer. The starship had no security, hence the intervention of the Galaxy Police. The crew was petrified at the sight of the killing spree, and Kaori understood why soon enough.

  They found the trail of blood first. The victims sometimes moaned, sometimes were still. Kaori gagged at the smell, but managed not to throw up and to keep control. She had never seen so many bloodied people in her life, not even when a gang war had hit close to her home on Xi-kong.

  The killer was in one of the patients' rooms – the fourth of the ten-people dormitories of the starship. Both Kaori and Officer Thaman rushed to stop him as he stabbed an old woman who was screaming helplessly.

  The man fought them and Kaori hissed in pain as the blade of the knife cut her arm, but Officer Thaman's superior strength quickly got the best of the attacker. Kaori pressed her hand on the cut as Officer Thaman handcuffed him without even looking at him.

  Kaori took a good look at Butremovic. He had long brown-black hair, a short, stocky build and a shifty expression. He glared at them, but mostly at Officer Thaman, who dragged him back to the main deck without gentleness.

  Nurses and doctors were already taking care of the victims and soon a couple of them came to report on the killing spree. The ship carried one hundred and fifty patients between nineteen and seventy-five years old. About forty were over sixty.

  "At least nineteen dead and twenty-six injured," the captain announced flatly. "Nine women and ten men from eighteen to seventy years old unable to defend themselves. And even the wounded were all equally helpless."

  "I did it because it's better that disabled people disappear," Butremovic said through clenched teeth. "You want to give them new bodies, but they're better off dead!"

  "Shut up!" Officer Thaman slapped him so hard he almost threw the young man to the ground. "We'll keep him restrained," he added, turning to the captain. "We'll make sure to dump him on the first GP star-cruiser that comes in the quadrant."

  The mini-cruisers didn't really have much jail space, but there was a small cell in case the crew arrested someone. Officer Thaman locked up Butremovic under Lenard Rocheford eyes.

  Then the doctor grabbed Kaori's good arm and dragged her to the infirmary to tend her flesh wound.

  "I'm fine, doctor," she said with a shaky voice.

  "That son of a bitch," he muttered. Butremovic had repeated his opinion on disabled people quite loudly as they locked him up. "Sometimes I think Mayme would be better off dead too. But she's my daughter, how can I kill her?"

  "Maybe you should go on the Fast Observer and give a hand with the wounded," Kaori suggested as he finished to bandage her cut.

  "Nah. They're a hospital ship, they're fully equipped..."

  "It would keep your mind busy, doctor."

  He stared at her and slowly smiled.

  "You're right, Kaori. You're very smart. You'll go a long way in the GP, I'm sure.
"

  She smiled back and watched him go to the teleport room. She better go back to the deck and see if there was anything else to do. She was still too upset to try to get some sleep.

  No real action, but the thought of those people killed on their way to be restored to normality... Kaori sighed. At least she hadn't panicked. She kept learning new skills to become a multi-tasking crew member. Her team bonded a little more with every mission.

  It was really a big bad galaxy out there. But she'd do her best to keep everybody safe.

  ***

  After the journey to New S.E.T.H. World, the Cosmic Scout went back towards the Humanoid planets and was enrolled in a big police action on Xi-kong. Before the actual operation took place, Captain Natalya Ocano called Kaori and Okan Suko in her cabin.

  "I know you're sworn to the Galaxy Police, but since you're both originally from Xi-kong, I want to let you know more details about the next mission," she said. "This intensive investigation on the Xi-kongian mob has been going on for a full year and we're finally ready to nail most of the bosses for various felonies, including drug trafficking and murder."

  "How come the Galaxy Police is investigating on a single planet?" Okan Suko asked.

  "Because the mob families are expanding their reach beyond Xi-kong and now have ties to the galactic underworld. Xi-kong seems to have become a second Friport, and we can't allow a planet full of civilians to become a nest of criminals."

  "But someone will step in to fill the shoes of the big shots behind bars. The black and gray markets will keep functioning."

  "We are aware of that. Okan, the largest crime group on Xi-kong has split into two main factions, which might lead to a gang war that may easily go beyond the planet's surface, especially now that the Gaians gangsters of the continent called Asia have joined the local families."

  "I think I saw the first Gaian gangsters on Xi-kong a few years ago," Kaori said shyly. "Some of them came from the Yakuza that had gone underground on their planet, others from the Triads, that seemingly followed the same fate, so when they heard there was a Humanoid planet with people that looked like them, they easily immigrated on Xi-kong, bringing their own rules to the game."