by F. E. Arliss
“Shields. We need better shields. A better transformer. Maybe some cannons that we can surface mount and set to auto-fire. Oooh, maybe we could get the parts to make our own fold-space drive,” Violet’s voice trailed off as she trotted down the ladder to the deck below in search of a tablet for her ideas. Jack simply grinned. That had the girl movin’ in the right direction!
Chapter Five
Reality Aboard
The U.S.S. Jupiter was a long, ugly military cutter. It was old, but sturdy. Nothing was glitzy or state-of-the-art. What it did have, was a hell of a good crew. Once Ruby Monahan had found some food, she’d been offered a berth with three other women and put to work in the very same medical unit she’d woken in.
Issued a regulation jumpsuit in a horrible color of washed-out grey-green, that she would later come to know as ‘military brainwash’, Ruby’s first job was cleaning bedpans. She didn’t mind. She was a social worker. Sometimes the homes she’d entered back on Earth hadn’t smelled much different than a bedpan. The human nose seemed to die after a few minutes of breathing noxious fumes and the mask made her feel that at least she wasn’t inhaling germs. If that’s where the crew of the Jupiter needed her, that’s where she’d be.
[2]
When she’d been informed that the trip to UZ627 would last six months, Ruby had settled down, gotten a routine, and promised herself that she would work as hard as she could to help other people and honor Daniel’s sacrifice. Each day was a struggle. When she opened her eyes and realized he was gone, all she wanted to do was die. Only the thought of Rory Carmichael’s snarkily-grudging demand kept her going.
Ruby worked out and began self-defense training. She ate right so that she’d have the stamina to help lift patients, carry equipment, and last a twelve hour shift. Many of the orderlies and nurses ate sweets, drank caffeine, or took drugs to have the staying power to finish a hectic, highly physical shift. Ruby did not. She drove herself onwards by sheer will at first and later with strict health regimes and exercise.
Her ability to do what was asked, and then what was needed, had her quickly rising through the ranks of the med unit. Although not certified as a nurse, her credentials as a social worker had been a boon. She was now assisting the doctors with surgery and had been issued a military EMT certificate that allowed her the position. After surgery, she attended to patients in the ward back in her menial position as an orderly. Her willingness to help with bedpans had earned her a high regard among the medical staff and overall ship’s crew.
One of her favorite patients was a priestess that had come from a rather unorthodox temple in the mountains of rural Nevada. She called herself Sister Water. The staff called her Sister Waters, but that wasn’t correct. It was water. Just water, like the stuff that sustains life, the Sister had explained to Ruby. Each day as the priestess from the Temple of the Mother recovered, she and Ruby talked about philosophy and life. It was interesting and helped Ruby express her deep grief over Daniel and her call to honor his gift.
Sister Water talked Ruby through the beliefs of the Temple of the Mother. At first it had seemed like the ravings of a nut, but slowly, Ruby had seen that Sister Water was actually highly intelligent, eminently insightful, and a keen judge of people. On occasion, Sister scared the crap out of Ruby too. She’d stopped items in mid-air twice, seemed able to read people’s minds, and was healing much faster than the average person from her broken hip, crushed femur and fractured patella. Most people would never have been able to walk again after such massive trauma’s all to one side.
Ruby finally had to admit, if only to herself, that Sister Water was extraordinary. When Sister offered to train Ruby, she agreed in moments. Thereafter, she began an ongoing course of meditation and concentration exercises. Lessons on the energies of the universal oneness -- whatever the hell that was -- and ideologies about the interwoven destinies of species in the new world they journeyed to were also included.
From the beginning, Ruby had an affinity for meditation and energy work. She liked the escape. She liked the concentration. And she liked the way she felt afterwards. Sister set her to concentrating on healing energy when she worked the ward and even her supervisors soon commented on how much faster her patients seemed to recover. To Ruby’s surprise, it all seemed to be real and working!
By the time the six month trip to UZ627, or Uzi, as most people called it, was nearing its end, Ruby was what Sister Water called, ‘an adept’. Ruby wasn’t sure what that was exactly, but Sister Water wanted Ruby to continue on with her to the Temple of the Mother on a planet named Gaiaca. Ruby agreed. Why not? She had nothing else to do. Only Rory Carmichael smirked at her new found path and rolled his eyes. “You should ‘do’ something. Not hide away from the world as a useless ‘follower’,” had been his exact words.
Perhaps that would be true for a while, but Ruby felt sure that this training would help her somehow. It had certainly helped her heal from Daniel’s death...if there was such a thing. At least she could function and be of use. There was no doubt in her mind that the teachings had enabled her to work and carry on. At the beginning, before the training with Sister, all she’d wanted to do each morning was kill herself.
Now she wanted to help make the universe a better place, in whatever way presented itself to her. She believed three months in the Temple of the Mother would help her decide.
When they landed on Uzi, Ruby and Sister only had three days to wile away before boarding another ship to Gaiaca. Both women couldn’t wait to go onwards. They’d landed on the dark side of Uzi at an out of the way port that reeked of illegal activity and piss. The U.S.S. Gerald Ford, now the renamed military cutter they’d flown here on, had lifted off immediately. The last thing Ruby had seen was Rory Carmichael’s grimacing face as he retracted the ramp to the cargo bay. Ruby hadn’t bothered to wave.
Chapter Six
Gaiaca
The small ship that took Sister Water and Ruby to Gaiaca was fast, sleek and alien looking. Ruby didn’t ask how they’d gotten their berths on the ship, but did do a double-take several times on the first day when tall, alien men with long white hair, pale, almost translucent skin and elongated-limbs, all wearing raggedy animal skin throws over their shoulders, seemed to be crewing the vessel. Sister Water assured her they were kind souls bent on honoring the Mother and she should just get over their jagged teeth and werewolf-like clawed hands.
On day two she found out that the species were called Idolum and that they sustained themselves on mammalian energy. Ruby was ready to run and lock the door to her berth, but Sister Water had just laughed and assured her that she was perfectly safe. The Idolum that crewed this vessel were part of the Alliance and did not damage ‘the life givers’. In this instance the ‘life givers’ were a stable of long-legged, cud-chewing animals called hippolites. Looking much like hippos on Earth, they had longer legs and thinner bodies and preferred land over water. They munched happily away in the cargo bay behind a barrier that acted as a full-spectrum light that kept them happy, healthy, and grew their hydroponic grass-food.
Once the ship landed on Gaiaca in a few short days, possible as Ruby understood it, due to a fold-space drive, they were met at the bustling space port by a white-clad Sister and led to the Temple. Its interior was permeated with an aura of tranquility and Ruby felt at once relaxed and peaceful.
After a quick hug from Sister Water, sister was whisked away into the depths of the Temple while Ruby was left to contemplate her navel in the sanctuary. People from outside came in, lit candles, sat, prayed, knelt or prostrated themselves, then left. She was almost asleep when a sister came for her just as another visitor arrived in the Temple doorway.
The visitor was a petite young woman who was dressed opulently in a long gown and white fur-trimmed cape. Her bald head glowed in the soft candlelight and an interestingly-intricate earring twined around one delicate ear. Some type of gauntlets encircled her wrists and were covered with ornate patterns. She seemed to glow with power
. Ruby was awed.
Together the young women were escorted into the interior of the Temple. Ruby could hear beautiful voices singing somewhere in the depths. Candlelight flickered along the hallways and the scent of incense permeated the air. Finally, after what seemed like walking a mile in steps downwards and winding through cave-like tunnels, the women were left in a small waiting space carved into a wall of rock. A padded seat on the small niche beckoned them to sit.
Taking her courage in hand, Ruby said, “I’m Ruby.”
The smaller woman smiled, nodded, then said, “I know. I’m Winter.”
Oookkay, Ruby thought to herself, ‘She can read minds, or what?’
“Yes, I can, actually,” the young woman beside her said with a grin. “It’s part of my gift as an Idolum Viceroy. Which is sort of like a ‘supreme judge’. I work on behalf of the Idolum Empire and Queen Altum Juls,” the girl added slowly. “If you know what that is.”
“Um, yeah. I do know what that is,” Ruby said slowly. “One of the crew members on our ship here from Uzi explained it to me. He was Idolum. His name was Trupe. It was kinda hazy to me, but I got most of the story. I don’t have an implant chip yet, so we were working with the English proficiency from his chip.”
Winter laughed, “Yes, I know! The Idolum teeth make English difficult to pronounce. Some of them file their teeth off flat, which makes those sharp fangs easier to talk around.”
Ruby grinned back. “Yeah, I have to admit when he first started talking to me I thought it was sorta ‘shark week’ scary. But, you get used to it quickly. He was a nice guy,” she added quietly.
“I’m glad you could see that,” Winter said to Ruby, patting one of Ruby’s fidgeting hands. Weirdly, that pat bothered Ruby. It had seemed condescending rather than comforting or encouraging.
Both waited quietly after that. Finally, a young novice led them even deeper into the bowels of the planet and they were given a narrow slot of a room with upper and lower bunks carved into the rocky walls. Ruby took the top bunk as she was taller. Winter laid on the lower one and sighed. “I’m gonna miss my Idolum bed. This one, while lined with furs, isn’t nearly as comfortable.”
Ruby, just nodded. To her, the fur-lined alcove was comfortable and snug. She felt safe and protected. So far, she loved this place.
Within the next hour, both young women were given new white gowns, snug, fur-lined slippers and a warm-woolen, hooded over-cape in soft ivory. Escorted to a long hall with tables, they dined quietly with a group of about twenty sisters. Talking seemed to be de trop in the dining hall.
After the nourishing but plain food, both were assigned sister-teachers and sent off for a couple of hours of lessons with their instructor. From what the women would tell each other later, they were having entirely different courses of instruction and silent contemplation. According to Winter, it was what the Mother had decreed to the High Priestess of the Temple for each of them.
The following weeks were full of silence, contemplation, meditation, energy-work, and lessons on the interconnectedness of all things. Ruby had received much of the information from Sister Water, wherever she was now. But each day, a new layer of the doctrine was unpeeled, keeping her busy and engaged. Both women were still having lessons in hand to hand combat, extensive weapons training and strategy classes. To Ruby this seemed odd for a Temple. But Winter assured her that some species just didn’t deserve to live and that knowing how to defeat them would prove important knowledge later on.
Why? Why did they not deserve to live, was all Ruby could think. She wasn’t crazy about alligators, spiders or poisonous snakes, but they still deserved to live. Did serial rapists and murderers deserve to live? She didn’t really know. What had made them that way. Maybe there were extenuating circumstances. Was there such a thing as pure evil? Some of the actions on Earth made it seem as if people could be purely selfish whatever the cost.
Perhaps that was the greatest form of evil. Pure selfishness. Ruby’s great aunt had always told her that it was ok to be selfish to care for oneself. As long as you didn’t harm anyone else, self care was first. That was the difference between self care and selfishness. Selfishness hurt others. Self care did not.
Finally, after several months of training, Ruby was approached by the High Priestess of the Temple. She wanted to know if Ruby was progressing with her training and if she’d experienced any unusual results from the work they were doing here.
Ruby just gaped at her. “I can’t read minds, if that’s what you’re asking,” Ruby answered curtly. “I don’t have superhuman strength, or run lightning fast. Do I understand people better? Yeah, I think so. According to Sister Water, I heal people slightly faster than ordinary when I care for them. Do I know why I’ve been brought to you here at the Temple? Again, not really. I thought it would become clear to me, but it has not,” she added forlornly.
“I believe that the Goddess is calling you to another Temple of hers on another planet. It has come to me in contemplation that you are needed on a world called UN18G. There is a Temple there that belongs to the Mother. We have not sought it out for millennia, as the world was devastated in a war. As radiation swept over UN18G, the temple was lost to access,” the High Priestess explained softly. “Perhaps your very openness and search for the answers of what is good and what is evil are the things needed there. Only the Mother can be certain.”
“I believe that if you were to journey to UN18G and try to locate the Temple of the Mother, you would discover your purpose. As the war began, the Sisters retreated to the Temple of the Mother on the highest plateau above the cloud cover and were lost to us in the fallout of the massive war. The planet was devastated and we hope they survived on some level. We do not know if they survived or not. They were the teachers of the Osmir on the planet Caloon, but separated from them as a sect of priestesses to the Mother. Caloon suffered a similar fate.”
The Priestess continued, “Your friend Winter is an Osmir. She gained some of her powers from the Osmir on Caloon. The Osmir are an ascended species. During a terrible war, much like the one on UN18G, they retreated into underground caverns. After a decade of surviving there, but running low on supplies, they began to strive to ‘ascend’, or leave their corporeal bodies and become living energy in the ethers. Some succeeded. The others died.”
“I believe that you and Winter may be two sides of the same coin, so to speak,” she related gently to Ruby. “You may find a purpose on UN18G that will point you in the right direction in life. Winter found a goal on Caloon in the Osmirian tradition. Perhaps you will find your goal on UN18G. Would you be interested in departing on an adventure to find that Temple for us?” she questioned Ruby. “We feel you are the right candidate for this. The Mother has foretold it. All you can do is try. What do you say, Ruby? Will you proceed and see?” the Priestess asked, her serene gaze holding Ruby’s worried eyes.
Ruby just stared at the High Priestess. “She foretold it?”
“Yes, it has been dreamed,” the High Priestess said quietly and with absolute conviction. “I have dreamed it. Therefore it will be.”
Suddenly, Ruby knew it was the right thing to do. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she did. “I will go,” Ruby said firmly. “When would you like me to leave?”
“In a week we should have time to pull together a ship for you and give you training on how to use the pod that will drop you on Caloon. A larger ship will remain in the atmosphere until they hear from you for pick-up,” the priestess stated calmly. “Will one week work for you?”
“Yes. I’ll be ready,” Ruby replied, suddenly filled with excitement and fear all at once. “I’ll be ready,” she repeated, wondering at her intrepid agreement.
“Very well. We will prepare,” the priestess replied, as she floated from the room.
Ruby slept the sleep of the dead that night and dreamed of flames and smoke. She finally had a plan and that gave her ease. For some reason the flames and smoke did not seem threatening. Only comfort
ing. Only the goddess knew, she assured herself the next morning.
Chapter Seven
Zabados 9
After several weeks of flying the battered sloop Violet Camden had been given, the four crew members aboard the rough-looking space vessel had met in the tiny galley and pondered on a name for her. Violet came up with Subaru, as she’d heard an old Earth story about a brand of ancient automobiles that had kept on going long after they should have died. That was this sloop for sure!
Ben Dodge, one of the older crew members from the aerial hangar bay that had opted to join them on the mission, thought she should be called Lucy. No one bothered to ask him why and his comment, “I keep waiting for her to pull the football away,” made no sense to anyone.
Capp Fulsom, the other member of the crew from Uzi, said she should be called Henrietta. Everyone just stared at him. It made as little sense as Lucy. At least Subaru had a story attached to it.
The second and third round of names got increasingly strange as the rounds of naming got more and more loopy as laughter kept them all going. Violet said it should be ‘3 geezers and a girl’.
