by Jim Laughter
The scouts remained silent.
“I’ll tell you a little secret,” Karnes added in a stage whisper. “Mary isn’t just a spaceship. She’s an animated computer!”
“You mean she’s alive?” someone blurted out.
“I’ll leave that for you to decide,” Karnes said with a wink. “But whatever Mary is, they tried to duplicate her and now we have a little ship the troopers know as Baby.”
“A baby spaceship?” the girl asked.
“Mary’s baby, to be more precise,” Karnes said. “And I can assure you that having an animated spaceship that pops around like a human toddler and gets into mischief is quite interesting!”
There was a smattering of laughter and a few giggles.
“A while back, a group of scientists tried to make another little ship like Baby,” Karnes went on. “And that brings us to our story for tonight.
We troopers call it Ghost in the Dark.”
Chapter Two
As the Mary Belle approached Shalimar, Mary called Approach Control for clearance to land. She used to just come on down, but that was before Baby.
Now, Mary thought with a sigh, I have to be a good example and use correct protocol. Just as she activated her transmitter to call in, a small pink blur appeared in front of her nose.
“Mama, Mama!” Baby cried. “You’re home!”
Inside the Mary Belle, Empress Ane-of-Axia decided not to interrupt. The little pink spaceship waved at her through the front windows, and Ane could not help but chuckle at the sight. How Mary had ever talked her into letting both ships be painted pink, she was sure she’d never figure out.
Fortunately, with Mary it was a passing fancy. Maybe being a mother had matured her somewhat. She would soon be repainted the deep blue of Mica. A more regal color, blue would be better suited for one of her best friends.
Betty Ebilizer, current president of the Ebilizer Institute and life-long friend of Empress Ane, walked into the control cabin on her way to the cargo hold.
“How’s the new bundle?” asked Ane as Betty came up to stand beside her. Both women watched the antics of Baby outside.
“Everything looks fine so far. The bundle is still secure and hooked up to Mary.”
“This one is a little different from Baby,” Ane offered.
“At least this one’s not pink,” Betty said.
“No, I wasn’t going to let that happen,” answered Ane. “Two pink ships is enough. Mica blue is a much better color.”
“So you’re saying this one is a boy?” Betty teased.
Ane didn’t answer. She wasn’t going to get tricked into one of Betty’s practical jokes.
“Do you think it will work this time?”
“I still don’t know what went right last time. Even Mary can’t figure it out,” Betty said.
At the mention of her name, Mary piped up.
“Don’t you two sound serious? What’s there to be so serious about? It’s just another bundle like the last time.”
Betty thought Mary had been euphoric ever since they loaded this bundle aboard at Firstas, one of Galactic Axia’s major research planets. What expectant mother wouldn’t be?
Betty decided to derail that train of thought. Baby had been an unexpected and non-duplicable accident, and no efforts on Firstas and the Ebilizer Institute had been able to explain it. Still, Krel, one of her senior research analysis’ thought that doing an actual duplication of the incident with a second little ship might at least give them a clue of how Baby, or for that matter, how Mary had happened.
“I hate to burst your bubble, Mary, but I’ve decided this time I want you to stay grounded until we’re ready to take the bundle out,” Betty said with a grin.
Ane covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. She knew Betty was setting Mary up for something, she just didn’t know what.
“You mean I’m on restriction like they do with Ane?” Mary asked with a gasp. “That means I can’t have any fun till the baby, oops, I mean the bundle has been out for a month!”
“That’s where we might change it a little,” Betty said. “If you’re good, I might let you fly as soon as the tests are done and the bundle is out. But only if you’re very good.”
“I’ll be good, I promise!” Mary answered. “And I didn’t even cross my fingers. See?”
The two women noticed that Mary had brought her mechanical arms up in front of the windows, and sure enough, the fingers were not crossed.
“I know you’ll be bored, so when we’re not working on the bundle project, you can play with the new computer the university just received from Mica,” said Betty. “They figured you’d do it sooner or later anyway, and decided to let you do it while the installer was still on Shalimar to repair it.”
“Hey! I don’t break my toys!” protested Mary. “I can’t help it if they can’t keep up with me.’’
Betty just smiled and winked at her friend Ane. She hadn’t told Ane about the surprises she’d helped design into the new computer just to give Mary some fun. Mary liked to chase wires and figure out the puzzles Betty and the institute made for her. Most took her only a minute to solve, but Betty had a few tricks up her sleeve. Mary’s curiosity had proven very useful. What better way to test a computer’s security than to let Mary have at it? As they say, send a thief to catch a thief.
They soon arrived at the institute, and Betty had Mary land inside the huge hanger at the research lab. Although she now had her own spot next to pad 1-A at the field, Baby still preferred to sleep snuggled under her mother’s side. This did pose a problem when they sealed Mary in the hanger, but one of Betty’s assistants suggested they install an oversized skylight for Baby so she could come and go as needed. They had Baby and Myra fly up to check it. Baby opened it with her mechanical hands, and after trying it a few times, figured out just how to angle herself to get out without scraping her paint.
Myra called down, her voice resounding through the external speakers on Baby.
“It’s a tight fit, but if she’s careful, she can make it.”
“Good,” answered Betty. “We won’t have to worry about closing it because of the weather control here in the city, and security is no problem with the troopers and detectors.”
Baby flew back down and landed next to Mary. Her hatch opened and out stepped Myra, no longer a blind and crippled teen. Although her body had been repaired with cloned parts, Myra still preferred using Baby to get around. Through the sensor systems on Baby, Myra could see farther and better than normally-sighted people. Her enhanced vision measured into the ultraviolet range.
“Let’s call it a day and go over to my place for a get-together,” said Ane with a sigh. “It’ll be good to watch the kids play while we put our feet up.”
Everyone agreed and they were soon on their way to the palace. Betty saw the worry lines on the face of her friend and knew this would be the last respite Ane would have for some time. She knew that on top of the bundle project, Ane would also have to face the almost animate pile of paper covering her desk at her office.
With an effort, Betty pushed the thought aside, determined to enjoy the evening. She could again hear Mary’s voice admonishing her about being too serious and needing to have some fun. Betty smiled at the thought and decided that tonight she would follow Mary’s advice.
Chapter Three
The research hanger had become quiet in the pre-dawn hours. Inside rested the most talked about spaceship in the Axia. Nestled under her bow lay the smaller form of Mary’s mischievous daughter, Baby, also a spaceship, whose antics had caused her mother’s paint to turn gray on more than one occasion.
Through a still unexplained process, Baby slept quietly. Although she did not require sleep, being a spaceship after all, Baby slept every night snuggled against her mother’s imposing bulk. Many scientists had attempted to explain what went on when Baby was asleep, but had only been able to document that she slept as most people – with her optical sensors closed. They determined that she dr
eamed and were very thankful that she didn’t sleepwalk anymore.
Voices filtered out from the open hatch of the Mary Belle as those inside finally decided to call it a night.
“Well, Mary. That should about do it for tonight,” said Betty as she closed the last access hatch in Mary’s private room. Betty’s assistants back in the hold also packed away their tools and came forward to join her.
“I’ve chased little electrons up and down those wires until I’m blue, and I still haven’t figured out what happened last time,” Mary said.
“We’ve worked on this problem ever since Baby was born and still can’t explain what went right that day,” Betty said with a frown. “Anyway, it worked then, but I’m not sure I’m ready to try to duplicate it again.”
“I know what you mean,” Mary answered. “I’ve earned my gray paint with that girl of mine.”
The conversation lapsed as they recalled the many instances Baby had confounded them both.
“You just leave that little bundle in the hold alone for now and we’ll pick this up again on Monday,” Betty ordered. “I’m going home for a hot bath, some sleep, and a day off with the family.”
“You going to take a bath with your whole family?” quipped Mary.
“Brassy girl! You know what I mean.”
“You go ahead, but be quiet when you leave. Baby’s still asleep.”
Mary peeked under her own nose and added, “In fact, from the wiggling, I think she’s dreaming again.”
“Let’s just be glad she finally outgrew sleepwalking when she did,” Betty said with a shudder. “It took weeks to clean up the last mess.”
“I know,” recalled Mary. “Chasing her all over the city when she dreamed she was in a parade wasn’t much fun either.”
Betty suppressed a chuckle, recalling an anxious Mary trying to squeeze between buildings during that frantic search.
“Oh, Mary? You be sure to leave the cargo hatch open so the morning crew will have an easier time working with our bundle Monday morning,” Betty said. “Yesterday it took them three hours to get your attention to open up.”
“I was having fun playing with that new computer at the university.”
Mary’s voice was shaded with mischievousness.
“I’m going back over and pick up where I was so rudely interrupted.”
“Picked up would be a good way to leave it this time, Mary,” Betty said. “The complaints I got last time made a stack three inches thick.”
“Okay,” answered Mary. “I’ll be good.”
With that, she was gone.
Betty smiled as she and her assistants walked down the ramp thinking about Mary’s new interest with the computer. She had spent many nights helping program several teasers into it just for Mary. Her inability to unravel them so far intrigued Mary so much that it absorbed all of her attention. Betty had taken advantage of Mary’s speed to build the loop traps into the system. Until the girl figured out that she had to do one step at a time slowly, she would keep hitting dead-ends.
Betty looked at the sleeping form of Baby and fondly thought of her own little ones at home. As she closed the door of the hanger, she turned and looked at the new little ship they had just brought back from Firstas. She noticed that Mary had tucked the tarp back around it after the workers had gone. It looked so small there in Mary’s cavernous hold, still plugged into Mary through the umbilical cable.
Betty sighed and closed the door. Monday morning would come all too soon with the early hours filled with the growing paperwork of the institute. How she missed the early days when she could concentrate on productive work instead of constantly fighting back the growing tide of bureaucracy.
The hanger had grown very quiet. Baby settled down into a dreamless sleep. Mary was happily absorbed in figuring out the new computer. The faster she tried to unravel it, the worse it got.
Finally, she decided to solve this once and for all. For the first time in many years, Mary disengaged herself from all the myriad tasks she was doing simultaneously and fully concentrated herself on only doing one thing at a time. She again entered the computer and was surrounded in the maze of the program. Excitement pulsed through her as she relished the challenge ahead.
Mary shut down all of her systems, and even the lights in her passageways dimmed. With the exception of her garden, which had its own automatic system, Mary shut down everything. Anyone observing would conclude the Mary Belle was empty and abandoned.
As the last light faded, back in the hold a little tarp-covered shape stirred. Slowly and hesitantly, it rose off the deck. The tarp slipped off and the umbilical cable disconnected, but no one was there to notice. The form turned, and two lights snapped on that gave the shape the appearance of having eyes.
It drifted slowly out of the cargo hold and into the hanger. In the pale light coming from an open skylight hovered a little spaceship, the near twin of Baby who remained asleep under Mary’s bow.
The little blue ship tilted and looked up at the open skylight, fascinated by the darkness beyond. It rose slowly and followed the light like a giant moth. It came to the skylight and after examining the opening, positioned itself and slipped out into the night.
∞∞∞
Across the city, the corridors of a section of the palace reverberated with the moan of moving machinery. Trooper Ched Waite on duty at the palace museum glanced up in time to see the moving room containing the Axia’s most treasured artifacts slide downward, and a duplicate, empty room take its place. Waite was not unduly alarmed at the occurrence, so only made a note of the incident in his personal log.
The room had been disappearing and reappearing with some regularity since the ship they call Baby first appeared at the spaceport. Personally, Trooper Waite could recall at least five times he had seen the room either disappear or reappear. Recalling again the moan he had just heard, Waite decided he’d better put a work order in to the palace maintenance department.
Normally, the room moved quickly and silently, but with all the movement of recent years, it probably needed its lubricant renewed. Reaching into the desk, Waite pulled out the necessary form. As he filled out the lengthy form for maintenance, he reflected on how much time he spent just doing paperwork.
Finishing the form some minutes later, Trooper Waite separated the multiple copies from the carbons, saving the carbons in a folder for later use. He tucked the completed forms into the cover of his personal log so they wouldn’t scatter in the breeze wafting in through an open window. Waite looked at his watch and realized it was time for him to make another circuit of his rounds.
∞∞∞
The sunshine filtering in through the lace curtains fell on the sleeping face of an older but attractive woman. The warmth on her face woke Mrs. Alor, and for several minutes, she lay still, enjoying it. She hoped it would be a beautiful day for the outing she and Myra were going to take. With all the extra work on Baby at the institute lately, there had not been much time for simple family pleasures.
The steam train trip out to the park in the mountains would be a real treat for Myra, and the surprise birthday party that Empress Ane had arranged would be even more of a delight.
Mrs. Alor arose and dressed in a simple, comfortable dress and went to prepare breakfast for herself and Myra. She was surprised to find that Myra had again beaten her to the kitchen and was already preparing the food. Mrs. Alor looked at her daughter fondly and marveled at the changes.
Not long ago she had been just a wisp of a girl, blind and bound to a wheelchair. Surgery had corrected some of the problems, and time and nature would do the rest. Although Myra could now both walk and see, she still maintained that the mobility and sight she enjoyed when she was in Baby far exceeded the repairs to her natural body.
The sight that greeted Mrs. Alor when she came into the kitchen was that of a beautiful and healthy young woman. Her daughter’s comely appearance hid neither the strength of her spirit or the warmth of her heart. All too soon, her moth
er realized, those charms would melt the mind and heart of some young man.
“So, we’re up early today are we?” asked Mrs. Alor.
My, how far you’ve come, daughter, thought the proud mother as she made her presence known. She glided into the room with the practiced quiet of having lived with a daughter whose hearing was acute.
“Oh!” gasped Myra. “You startled me!” Fortunately, Myra’s grasp on the pan of scrambled eggs remained steady in spite of her surprise.
“I didn’t expect you to be up this early after all the long hours down at the institute,” Mrs. Alor said. “I expected to have to drag a sleepy-head out minutes before it was time to leave.”
Her daughter fixed the gaze of her new eyes on her mother, excitement lighting her face.
“Are you kidding?” replied Myra with a laugh. “I had trouble staying in bed as long as I did!”
They both fell to preparing breakfast with the ease that comes from long practice. That mother and daughter shared love and friendship was evident. Although only twenty-one years old today, the preceding few years had matured Myra and strengthened the bond she had with her mother.
“I’m still amazed that Baby didn’t follow you home from the institute last night,” continued Mrs. Alor. “What is she going to do today?”
“Oh, she and her mother are going to chase wires today,” said Myra. “Baby wants to catch some electrons like we catch butterflies and put them in a jar.”
“That should be some trick if they can do it. If anyone can put electrons in a jar, it certainly would be those two who’ll figure it out.”
“It’ll give them something to do while Mary’s grounded at the institute,” answered Myra with a giggle. “Mary was complaining to Betty that grounding her while she had the bundle on board was like the restrictions they put on Empress Ane.”
“That’s a strange thing for you to say,” replied her mother. “Usually you call the Empress ‘boss lady’ like Mary does.”
