Cryptikon Far Freedom Part 2

by Warren Merkey

wrong," the man conceded, "but I think she resembles very closely the woman who sang at the end of the last Mother Earth Opera."

  Jamie identified the man through her shiplink. He was not typical of the civilian crew. He was a cultural historian and artist.

  "You must be wrong," Jamie said. "Why is this a matter of such contention, Professor Sung?"

  "How could it possibly be true?" Wingren asked.

  "The boy!" someone else tried to interject.

  "It is a matter of contention because we are both sure of our facts," Sung replied. "And, yes, I think the boy is conclusive evidence on my side of the argument. This is a dangerous journey with a frightening inception. What starship ever warns of a possible collision? I'd like to know that our leader isn't a singer but a competent Navy officer. I also want to know what she's done to cause our early and dramatic departure."

  "I'll agree with that," the Rhyan officer said. "It's been two days since we departed Headquarters and we were told nothing about the abrupt departure. Isn't a daily briefing required aboard ship?"

  "That's correct," Jamie replied to the Rhyan Navy officer. "If you haven't had a briefing then you are not working crew." What is this about a boy? Jamie wondered. Do they mean Sammy? Why would that prove the contention that my mother is a singer?

  "Do you have a recording of the Mother Earth Opera?" Jamie asked Doctor Sung.

  "It's in the ship's database," he replied. "I've watched it more than once. If you speed to the end, you'll see the injured child rumored to be aboard the ship. Another rumor is that the child has been seen here on this ship! Why is a child aboard this ship? Another reason to wonder about the admiral's ability to command!"

  Jamie watched several minutes of the final performance through her shiplink, skipped to the very end and nearly suffered a loss of Marine discipline. She had to pull herself away from the startling experience and the image of her mother weeping and hugging Sammy.

  "Is that her?" the Rhyan officer asked. "Is that the child?"

  "Yes." Jamie could hardly say more.

  "It doesn't matter!" Lt. Cmdr. Wingren spoke with such conviction that Jamie noted the reaction through the interference of her own reactions.

  "You shouldn't be agitating the civilian crew," Jamie said. "What do you know about Demba that makes you want to defend her in the face of such odd criticism?"

  "We aren't criticizing her! We just know she looks like Commodore Keshona!"

  This caused many to laugh and make rude comments about military mentality.

  "This is a woman who's spent most of her career in Navy Archives," another civilian man said.

  "Possibly she had time to learn to sing," Professor Sung said, "but she is a truly great singer. I can't believe a capable admiral can also be such an astonishing singer."

  "I've also heard a ridiculous rumor that Doctor Mnro is on the ship!" another civilian, a woman, declared. "Can you verify that?"

  "Yes," Jamie answered, after deciding she should answer. That renewed her shock that the most famous person in the universe had exploded into her personal life! She hoped the news of Doctor Mnro's presence would not cause more chaos. "I've met her," Jamie added. "I also can't believe she is here, but she is."

  Her response caused a steep rise of commotion as the rumor was passed out of the group as fact to all the other groups. This drew more people toward her group and unleashed a barrage of questions and comments about Aylis Mnro and Admiral Demba. She endured as much as she could, until her own ignorance of the details maximized her frustration. She also started being attacked by an endless supply of intensely emotional images that were triggered into her consciousness by almost anything. She couldn't remain here! Her emotional control was about to fail! The Rhyan named Wingren was staring at her, apparently seeing Jamie's internal struggle, and guessing she might have more information that would aid her belief about Demba being Commodore Keshona.

  Jamie had come to the gathering more for her own mental health than for concern about any trouble that might ensue. She couldn't allow herself to sit in her lonely quarters or in Security Ops and brood over the loss of Direk. She needed the distraction, but she had not expected this!

  Jamie turned and marched away from the group. She sensed someone following her - the Rhyan officer - and when she had walked far away from the gathering, she stopped, turned around, and was surprised to see not just the Rhyan woman but also three other female Navy officers. The Rhyan had three Earthian friends and she was their leader.

  "Don't you have duty assignments?" she demanded.

  "We're on standby until further notice," Wingren replied. "We're late additions to the roster. When the ship's routine becomes normal, they'll find jobs for us. In the meantime, I'd like to volunteer for Security duty."

  The other three women, although surprised, followed their leader and offered to do the same.

  "Security duty?" Jamie queried impatiently. "What use would I have for four Navy women? Do you understand what Marines are?"

  "You don't seem to have any trouble with them, Major."

  "That's because I can beat the hell out of them!"

  "We've all mastered at least the fifth level of the Navy Personal Combat Training Course," Lt. Cmdr. Wingren said with pride.

  "Why? I see your career fields are far removed from that kind of thing. All high-level technical fields. Is fighting a hobby?"

  "It's a membership requirement to be in our group," another female officer replied. "We do historical research."

  "You need combat training to do research on Commodore Keshona?" Jamie proposed.

  "Female officers need all the combat training they can get, and all the friends they can get," another of the Navy officers offered. "And a hero like Keshona is nice to have, also."

  "It started when I visited Archives," Wingren said, "to question a security restriction on some old engineering data I needed. I saw Admiral Demba there and she looked familiar. I came back later and commented about her resemblance to Keshona, and she seemed disturbed and argued that if she had been Keshona she would have changed her features to avoid attention. I agreed with her, but I was stuck on the idea for some reason. If she knew I was aboard, she would probably make me leave."

  "Why did you pursue it?" Jamie asked. "There are no images of Keshona. The commodore's records were expunged for her own safety. She also would have altered her features. How did you even know what Keshona looked like?"

  "There are some Rhyan images of Keshona that survived the data purge, mostly kept by survivors of the Massacre. It's difficult to get access to them, but we have. They prove nothing, of course, but the resemblance to Admiral Demba is tantalizing."

  "She denied being Keshona," Jamie stated, almost making it a question, as probabilities and possibilities about her mother jarred her imagination. Was she Keshona?

  "Yes," Wingren said, "I doubt she believes she was Keshona. If she did, we might not be standing here talking to you. What do you think, Major?"

  "I think you're crazy!" Jamie answered. "You volunteered for this mission, didn't you?"

  "Why wouldn't we?" one of the other Navy women replied.

  Jamie paused to look at each of the female Navy officers. They met her gaze and didn't flinch from it, which many male Marines often did. It's no use continuing this meeting, she thought. She had only her fine Marine uniform to keep her from losing control, and even that felt ready to come unbuttoned.

  "From what you know of Admiral Demba, would you completely disagree with us?" Lt. Cmdr. Wingren persisted.

  What I know of Demba, Jamie thought, is that Demba is my mother, and that seems impossible! What I know is that it was she who sang at the Mother Earth Opera, and that seems impossible! What I know is that Direk, dear Direk, died rescuing Demba and Sammy, and that is unbearable!

  She had to turn away as tears came to her eyes. She had to escape.

  "Report to Security Ops at the next shift change," Jamie said roughly, retreating, knowing the four women had seen her t
ears and heard the heartache in her voice.

  = = =

  "Damn it, sir!" Jamie didn't realize the captain was asleep until he twitched.

  /

  Horss woke up. He was sitting in his captain's chair, alone on the bridge. He was studying ship specs, poring over crew records, exploring the ship's databases. He had closed his eyes - he told himself - to better see the information scrolling through his ocular terminals.

  Horss opened his eyes and saw Major Jones. He came completely awake in that instant. Jones was the kind of person who - if you suddenly encountered her in close proximity - made you want to take a step backward and keep your hands in plain sight. He had to remind himself that he was the captain and he still outranked her.

  "Damned if I do and damned if I don't," he said with a yawn.

  "Do what, sir?"

  "Doesn't matter what." He noticed she was standing somewhat at attention. "At ease, Major."

  She took off her fatigue cap and he saw her hair was short like all the other Marines. A shiny hairless scar ran through her scalp. Then he noticed other imperfections in the skin of her face and bare arms. She had never bothered to clean up the violent history written in her body's terrain. It was a silly Marine affectation. How could you sneak up on anyone if you looked like trouble from a distance?

  /

  "I'm here, sir." Jamie said it after Horss waited about a second too long to speak. She was still upset with how he had handled the Mnro Rape but she was trying to move on.

  "I'll be here shortly, too. You caught me