The Syn-En Solution

by Linda Andrews

  Doc laughed. His tan hand moved her dripping bangs out of her face. “Not your lungs. The blue composite inside them. It prevented you from dying in the event your stasis chamber decompressed.”

  Nell rocked back on her heels and blinked back the tears. Water snaked down her spine as more warm air blew on her. Her new clothes were damp. She’d have to go back to being naked while they dried. Her stomach burbled and jumped inside her belly. Nell stuck her head back in the shower and threw up again. How much fluid could her lungs hold?

  The admiral continued his speech. Didn’t he even care that she was dying here? “As I’m sure you’ve noticed that our journey seems to have ended, but Ms. Stafford has brought with her updated information on how we might yet reach our new home.”

  As this round of retching ended, she turned her head, filled her mouth with water, swished it around then spit. Dirty socks would probably taste better than that crap. “And I suppose the orange stuff is my spleen or that peach I ate before I was sent here?”

  Doc chuckled and offered her a green folded towel. “Your spleen isn’t orange. No one’s is.”

  Nell reached for the hand cloth just as her stomach clenched. Bitter bile burned her throat. “Oh, just kill me now.”

  Doc yanked the towel out of her hand. “What!”

  Nell finished rinsing her mouth again then backed out of the shower. The water shut off but the air continued to push the rivulets toward the drain. Exhaustion crashed over her and she collapsed against the toilet watching the moisture boiling off her body. “It’s just an expression. Mostly. When can I expect to stop trying to turn myself inside out?”

  “Soon.” Doc dried her face before setting the towel around her shoulders. He lifted her hair, rubbed the lock between his fingers before settling it gently against the towel.

  “Your COs will brief you on your duties. Admiral out.” From the other room, Beijing ended the fleetwide communiqué.

  Nell closed her eyes. Funny how just a moment ago, she was grateful for the clothes keeping her down, now she felt their crushing weight. At least her stomach had settled.

  More footsteps sounded.

  “Is she all right?” Beijing’s concern washed over her like a balm.

  “Tired.” The word was thick on her tongue. She’d slept for over a hundred years and could sleep for another century.

  Beijing scooped her up in his arms.

  “Civilians are returning to duties, Admiral.” The chief’s voice came from a great distance.

  “Assemble our top scientists. I want them on that recorder and figuring out how to get us on the other side of that wormhole.”

  Tell them, Nell’s mother urged. Tell them the formula to open an event horizon is inscribed on the stasis unit.

  “Stasis unit.” Nell forced her eyelids apart as she felt the mattress give under her body.

  “It doesn’t work anymore, Nell.” Beijing tugged the tunic off her. Cold air brushed over her before he covered her with a blanket. Gently, he tucked in the sides and wrapped her damp hair in the towel. “Don’t worry, you just stay in bed.”

  She shook her head. “Math formulas. Power for event… On stasis. E equals M…”

  Once again, Nell closed her eyes. This time she surrendered to oblivion.

  As Syn-En are sworn to protect human life, liberty and property, we, the citizens, will ensure the rights of the Syn-En are protected through all available means, rights and responsibilities

  Syn-En Vade Mecum

  Chapter Eight

  “Admiral.”

  Lying on the bed beside Nell, Bei looked up at Shang’hai. Something had excited his Chief Science Officer. Dragging a hand through his hair, he sighed. He hoped it was good news for everyone and not just some fascinating science mathematical formula explaining the life cycle of scarab beetles.

  Although in his quarters, Shang’hai remained close to the entry door. Smiling brightly, she bounced on her heels as excitement flushed her wide cheeks. “The last of the command staff is boarding the Starfarer.”

  Security Chief Rome’s large bulk filled the space behind her. “They’ll reach the ready room in five minutes.”

  At exactly one hour after Nell’s speech. Had the stress done this to her? Bei swept his fingers across Nell’s forehead. Her body temperature had dropped from forty degrees Celsius to a more moderate thirty-eight. Still one degree above normal, but she had stopped convulsing. Rolling off the bed, Bei focused on Doc Cabo. “Stay with her.”

  The green barrel chair Doc sat in creaked as he scooted closer to his patient. “Aye Admiral.”

  Bei straightened his uniform and looked down at Nell’s sleeping form, tiny on the large mattress. The fever dotting her pale skin egged on his anger. Humans were too fragile for space travel. How the hell would she survive settling an alien planet? Her brow wrinkled as her arm moved under the blanket, reaching for the spot he’d recently vacated.

  Doc activated his MedPak. The green sensor moved up and down her body. “I’ll let you know if there’s any change, Admiral.”

  Nodding, Bei strode from his room, flanked by Rome and Shang’hai. The chief’s irritation jostled with Shang’hai’s excitement for dominance in the wireless array.

  “Bei, you’re allowing your flesh infatuation to cloud your judgment.” Rome raked his hand through his short, blond hair as he walked down the hall toward the elevator. “Doc’s services would be better utilized in Sick Bay.”

  Bei winced at the reminder of the injured Syn-En. Although he hadn’t forgotten his men, Nell’s arrival had filled his thoughts since they’d found her. It was as if she’d climbed into his cerebral link and made herself at home. Still, that didn’t mean he trusted her. The more innocent citizens appeared, the more treacherous they proved to be. He knew that lesson well. Too bad it did nothing to curb his lust. “We have to keep Nell alive.”

  Rome snorted. “At the expense of our own kind? Now you sound like a citizen.”

  Idiot! Shang’hai pinged the chief through the WA. “Nell Stafford is a symbol. Everything we’ve been taught since our induction has been about citizens. As much as you and I want freedom, the younger soldiers are still eager to serve, to prove themselves to the citizens.”

  Bei grunted in approval at his engineer’s logic. Freedom was an abstract notion, but Nell was concrete. Something the Syn-En could see and touch. Bei rubbed his thumb over his fingers, remembering the feel of her skin and the soft texture of her hair. Well, maybe not touch. “You’ve decoded more of the flight recorder.”

  “Yes….No.” Shang’hai twirled her fiber optic cable around her index finger. “We’ve decoded the writing on her stasis unit.”

  “And?” Rome poked her shoulder, nearly sending her into the hall wall.

  “And something completely unexpected. With your permission, Admiral, I’d like to save that until the meeting.” Shang’hai’s voice shook. “This is something you have to see to believe.”

  Bei allowed her enthusiasm to wash over him. “Good news then?”

  “Amazingly so.” She skipped a step. “I’ll never look at Nell Stafford the same.”

  Neither would Bei, but he doubted it was for the same reason. His groin tightened at the memory of their time in the cargo bay. Her arousal had quickly become his own. So much so, he wondered if Doc had missed something in his scans. “Is it something I need to know now?”

  He trusted his men, but he didn’t know if he wanted another surprise.

  “Don’t worry, Bei.” Shang’hai’s eyes glittered. “It’s good news. I swear.”

  At a bend in the bare, gray hall, three Syn-En crewmen fixated on their com screens. Spare parts littered the floor near their feet, no doubt meant to repair the broken relays in the wall. Instead of working, they replayed Nell’s speech. Her smiling face beamed out at them from the screen as she uttered those amazing words.

  Chief Rome scrubbed his hands over his broad Germanic features. “Great. Three more skin junkies.”

 
Bei glanced at his head of security. Rome had been stripped of his captaincy when his team had arrived too late to save a powerful citizen’s kidnapped son. No one could have prevented the tragedy. The boy had been killed when he’d been snatched. Yet Rome had been blamed and the grieving parents had demanded a court martial. The Syn-En had allowed a letter of reprimand and a demotion for the head of the mission.

  How deeply did the Chief’s resentment run and would it jeopardize the new mission or Nell’s safety? “I think it is her words that have them enamored, not her form.”

  At first Bei’d been irritated that she had ignored Shang’hai’s prepared speech and had interpreted her resistance as citizen arrogance. But then, he’d registered her distress when she looked at the prompt. He’d never considered the possibility that she couldn’t read. Ignorance couldn’t explain it; those words she’d spoken were a thousand times better than anything they wrote. Everything she’d said hit him on a visceral level, and he wasn’t the only one affected.

  Now, the atmosphere aboard the Starfarer was lighter, charged with excitement. More of his crew must have realized what the collapsed wormhole meant than he’d thought. Perhaps a higher power looked after the Syn-En and had sent Nell to them at this critical moment.

  “Are you questioning the admiral’s loyalties, Chief?” Shang’hai stressed both titles as they stopped in front of the elevator doors.

  “No, Commander,” Rome shot back, stabbing the up button. “Bei is more Syn-En than anyone aboard, but that means he’ll do just about anything to prove we’re as good as the citizens.”

  The elevator doors snicked open and Bei entered the closet-sized space. “Nice to hear your faith in me is so unshakeable.”

  The chief and Shang’hai squeezed inside, bracketing him. Their wide shoulders brushed Bei’s.

  “You’ve saved my ass more times than I can count.” Rome smiled. “But I worry. You’ve cut yourself off from Syn-En flings, and then there was the Faso interlude and…” He shrugged, flashing his palms.

  Bei stifled his irritation. The problem with growing up with your executive staff was they considered your personal life part of their own and tended to speak their minds. Not that they would disrespect him in front of others. They had been trained too well. But they also noticed small changes, like not participating in after mission comfort rituals.

  “Stop nagging him like an anxious grandma.” Shang’hai reached around Bei’s back to shove Rome against the elevator wall. “Lots of the old Syn-Ens don’t participate anymore.”

  “Old?” Bei straightened. He was in the prime of his life. So why had the orgies left him feeling more alone instead of part of something bigger?

  Ignoring Bei, Shang’hai twisted to face Rome. “He has to conserve his strength. His legendary prowess in bed with several influential female citizens got him his promotion to admiral. The first Syn-En admiral.”

  Rome grinned back and slapped Bei on the back. “That’s a benefit when half the appointment committee are women and want a one-on-one interview with our Syn-En Stud.”

  Bei ground his teeth together. He had hated the nickname since Rome gave it to him when they were both sixteen. To hear it now and used in connection with those morally upright hypocrites on the review board… Hell, his reputation had almost cost him the appointment to the Admiralty, especially when the female citizens started comparing encounters.

  Shang’hai’s almondine eyes narrowed. “You’re one to talk about stud service. You’ve slept with half the women in the Fleet. That’s why Havana didn’t want anything to do with you.”

  Rome glanced over his shoulder as if expecting his lover, Commander Keyes, to be nearby. “I wouldn’t have slept with the others if she’d just once let me in her quarters. Hell, I knocked practically every night for two years.”

  Shang’hai set her fists on her full hips. “So it’s her fault?”

  “That’s enough,” Bei spoke softly. Their banter had fulfilled its purpose. Their emotions had been dealt with and they could move onto the next step. He doubted either expected what he was about to do, but then they’d been too busy with the citizen to look at the wreckage.

  Both soldiers clamped their mouths closed and stood in parade stance. “Aye, aye, Admiral.”

  Bei nodded, proud of their serious demeanor. Still, that comment about his age stung. He waited until the elevator slid to a stop. “As for my citizen conquests, you’re only half right. The Councilmen had very unhappy wives.”

  The chief’s and Shang’hai’s shock lit up the WA as the doors opened.

  Rome set his hand on Bei’s arm. “Be careful with her. I have a feeling even your experience won’t help you with this citizen.”

  Shang’hai rolled her brown eyes, clamped onto the chief and dragged him onto the bridge. “Come on, Grandma Rome.”

  XO Penig sat in the command chair in the center of the semi-circular bridge. Syn-Ens repaired five of the six damaged hubs arcing around the room. A fresh-faced, red-haired recruit manned the Science hub to the right of the elevator doors. His fiber optic cable pulsed blue, but the LCD above his station remained dark.

  The fleet’s XO rose to his feet when Bei walked in. His head twitched when he saluted, proof that he needed more repairs. “Admiral on the bridge.”

  Stepping onto the deck, Bei returned his XO’s salute. “Status, Penig.”

  “All captains are in the briefing room, as requested, Admiral.”

  “Shall we join them?”

  “Aye, Admiral.” XO Penig’s head jerked to the right as he turned left. “Lieutenant Dublin, you have the bridge.”

  “Aye, Sir. I have the bridge,” the red-haired Lieutenant Dublin confirmed.

  Bei motioned for Chief Rome and Shang’hai to precede him through the double doors off the bridge. Excited chatter greeted him as he entered the rectangular ready room and scanned the occupants. Forty faces turned toward him as Bei stood on the threshold. Many he recognized, but most of the older Syn-En captains were absent. Had their class three enhancements failed? He turned to his XO, remembering that only the upgrades by a civie had kept the old Syn-En’s brain from frying in a surge.

  XO Penig’s stride was jerky and tentative as he moved the five yards across the floor. “It looks worse than it is. I just need a few mobility programs reinstalled.”

  Bei nodded and carefully blanked any emotion from his face. Come to think of it, Bei had been the last Syn-En in the fleet to have requisitioned upgrades. Even the younger Syn-Ens had sixth generation bionics. No one else aboard had seventh generation although they had been approved four months before the start of this mission. “Civilian Smith’s upgrades worked then.”

  “Saved my life.” Penig patted the back of his neck as he entered the ready room off the bridge. “And they’re compatible with the newer software.”

  Bei leaned close to his XO as the doors shut behind them. “Do you suppose the old war horses would be interested in similar modifications?”

  XO Penig pinched his bottom lip. “We lost ten in Operation Blowback. Their hardware just couldn’t take the overload. Three more are critical. The civie thinks he can save them but…” Penig smoothed the fringe of white hair on his pale head. “My presence might convince the rest that Smith can be trusted.”

  “Good.” Bei watched as one of the younger officers vacated her seat and slid the gray chair toward the XO. She sat on the floor in the fourth row of the executive staff.

  Chief Rome worked his way to the back of the room to stand near the collapsed metal conference table leaning against the bulkhead.

  Bei returned his attention to his second in command. “Oversee the rotation, but you’re to be repaired first. The Fleet XO should set the example.”

  Penig’s joints creaked as he lowered himself into the chair and slowly wheeled it against the wall at Bei’s back. “Nothing like being a guinea pig for the cause.”

  Chief Rome frowned as he glanced around the room.

  Bei knew who his security
officer sought. “Status of Commander Keyes?”

  XO Penig set his hands on his knees and gingerly leaned back in his chair. “She’ll be rebooted in two hours.”

  Rome winced. Shit! She said she was undamaged. Damned hardheaded woman.

  Pings of sympathy passed through the WA.

  Bei added his own to the mix. “Rebooted?”

  Setting a neural link to its factory settings was a lot like stuffing a candle in an electrical outlet. You never got the results you wanted but did receive a nasty shock for your efforts. Add that everything got routed to pain sensors first and Commander Keyes would be hard pressed not to take off Bei’s head.

  XO Penig studied his reflection in his black boots. “She kept trying to move, so I powered her down. I don’t think the chief has allowed her to get much sleep when she’s off duty.”

  Hey, now, don’t blame me, Chief shot back across the WA. She gets her required four hours, just not all at once.

  Snickers rumbled through the officers as they picked up the exchange.

  Tension bit into Bei’s shoulders as he surveyed the assembled Syn-En leaders. With what he was about to propose, he doubted their good humor would last long. “I’ll brief Keyes when she wakes.”

  XO Penig scratched the white stubble on his chin. “Ahh, the pleasures of command.”

  Pleasure? Hell, volunteering to talk to someone who’d just rebooted was a masochist’s wet dream. Bei waited for the chatter to fade before addressing the crowd. “Thank you all for coming.”

  They nodded in unison.

  “Before I begin, if you haven’t already done so, I’ll need a list of supplies on hand, status of all repairs, plus the names of the fallen.” Using the WA, Bei accessed the CIC and called forth his avatar. The little digital man crawled out from behind a mound of data bundles and began to sort and prioritize the information.

  “Aye, Admiral,” the Syn-En chorused and the WA filled with other presences as those who just received their battlefield promotions sent the requested updates.

  Biding his time until everyone looked at him, Bei noticed that the noise on the WA faded to background levels. Every Syn-En was listening. “Now as to the question of Citizen Nell Stafford, Engineer Shang’hai will fill you in on what we’ve learned so far.”