by Ralph Prince
“I can’t wait until Dillon meets you,” she said dreamily. “I know he’ll like you.”
“Dillon?” Don asked, suddenly remembering someone in the city might be concerned about Karen’s whereabouts.
“My brother,” she said. “He worries about me, but I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” he said, distressed by how little he knew about her history or society. It seemed their conversations always centered on him, the ship, or the Earth, and he knew virtually nothing about her.
“Donald,” she asked hesitantly, her smile diminishing, “are you going to stay here again tonight?”
“Are you cold?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, nervously tugging on the hem of her shirt.
“Are you frightened?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, her eyes paling to green, as she directed them downward. “Well, maybe a little bit.”
There was a lengthy pause before he spoke again. “Do you want me to stay?” he asked.
Her gaze returned to the captain, her head tilted to the side and her lower lip between her teeth. “Yes,” she replied softly. “I want you to stay.”
“I’ll stay,” he whispered, seizing her hand and squeezing it in reassurance.
“Thank you,” she whispered in return, rising from the bed and embracing him tenderly. Tears welled in her intense blue eyes. Never before had she felt as she did now. The world outside was too harsh to know love; the only thing it understood was survival. Here, in his arms, she could feel love. She knew nothing could harm her.
CHAPTER 17: War and Roses
The ship was under attack. Five crystalline Quillan F-9 warships suddenly appeared in the holofield to the captain’s left, and were closing fast. Reacting without hesitation, he activated the plasma shields and armed the weapons. A quick glance at the status board confirmed the vessel was battle ready. Flexing his fingers casually, he deactivated the autopilot and veered the Nova away from the approaching ships.
The F-9s were small and quick, but lacked energy deflecting shields. Even though they were warships and the Nova was a cargo vessel, the odds were theoretically even.
“Jackie,” the commander barked, “signal Space Force Control and advise them of our situation.”
“Roger,” her voice responded.
“Firing range in 12 seconds,” Nav-Tac reported. “11 … 10 ….”
“Hold tight everyone,” Don said, his adrenaline beginning to flow. “This is where the fun begins.”
The tactical screen displayed all five ships approaching from behind, in V-formation, at near light speed. It was a typical Quillan attack formation.
“… 3 … 2 … 1 …” the countdown continued. “In range, now.”
The first volley by the Quillan drones narrowly missed, as the Nova dropped suddenly below their line of fire and slowed greatly as the captain reversed the engines. Speeding past the earth vessel, two of the enemy ships fell victim to an onslaught of photon cannon fire, and were vaporized into space dust. The remaining three dispersed in an attempt to prevent further casualties.
“Nice shooting,” Will’s voice commended.
“Keep an eye out for more of them,” Don warned, warily searching the simulated star field for any trace of additional enemy ships. “They usually travel in squadrons of at least ten.”
“Affirmative,” Nav-Tac said. “Five more approaching, bearing 35 degrees, elevation 12.”
Masterfully guiding the Nova toward the given coordinates, the captain spotted the enemy ships and began a corkscrew roll, directed straight at the lead ship.
“Sir,” Will’s voice cautioned, “the ship is not stabilized; we’re rolling.”
“Relax,” Don said. “I know what I’m doing.”
The shields weakening under the barrage of energy fire, the Nova sped ever closer.
“We’re going to crash!” cried out Will’s voice from his station.
His fingers poised above the weapon controls, the commander smiled as the enemy ships scattered to avoid collision.
Photon beams darted from the port and starboard cannons of the spiraling earth ship, each finding its intended target. The tactical screen showed no sign of the second wave of warships.
“Shields weakened,” reported Nav-Tac as the captain leveled the ship’s flight path. “The other three warships are converging upon us. By the way, I liked that maneuver.”
“Thanks,” said the captain. “You’ve got to love the classics. It looks like easy pickings from here.”
Targeting one of the ships, Don smiled to himself; it was another sure victory. As he fired, the smile quickly vanished. There was no fiery blue discharge of the photon cannons, and the enemy ship remained in his path.
“Nav-Tac,” he called, breaking away as the other two vessels came up from behind, “what happened to the weapons? I thought the Quillans wouldn’t be able to take over the systems under your control.”
“They haven’t,” replied the agent. “Apparently, sir, there have been simultaneous malfunctions on all weapon units, rendering them inoperative.”
“That’s impossible,” Don cried out as the barrage upon the shields began. His skin tingled as the neuro-link conveyed the sensor information to his nervous system.
“Not impossible,” corrected Nav-Tac, “but highly unlikely. It’s nearly as unlikely as finding an earth-like planet bearing earth-like beings. The shields are rapidly deteriorating.”
“Damn you,” Don muttered, engaging full photon thrust in an effort to put more distance between them and the enemy ships. He knew the attempt was futile; the F-9s were too quick to outrun.
“Sir,” Will’s voice said, filled with urgency. “We have a Quillan control ship coming into range behind us. It looks like it’s launching more fighters; I would guess about a hundred of them. The three pursuing us are falling back to join them.”
The Quillans are requesting our surrender,” added Jackie’s voice. “How should I reply?”
“Don’t,” Don ordered, a plan formulating in his mind. “The Quillans rarely take prisoners of war. How long until the new ships join the battle?”
“A matter of minutes,” Will answered. “The control ship is also closing fast.”
“Direct all shield power to the aft of the ship,” Don said, bringing the Nova to a near stop. “Increase the inertial dampeners to full and prepare to jettison the antimatter containment pod on my command.”
“The antimatter pod?” Will’s voice questioned. “You can’t be serious.”
“On my order!” Don repeated forcefully, his eyes intent on the tactical screen. Sweat beaded on his forehead, as he waited for the perfect moment to implement his plan.
“Now!” he replied, as the swarm of ships was almost upon them. Pushing the photon engines to maximum power, the commander simultaneously activated the interstellar ramjet, causing the ship to surge forward with incredible acceleration.
Chaos filled the tactical screen as one of the pursuing ships collided with the antimatter containment pod, erupting in a violently explosive chain reaction. All the flight controls went dark and the holofield melted away, leaving the commander alone on the bridge, except for Nav-Tac.
“Well?” the captain asked, addressing the agent’s image, which hovered above the emitter next to his station. “How did I do?”
There was a brief pause before Nav-Tac answered. “I find your propensity for discovering unique solutions to problems quite distressing. Though you did manage to cause extensive damage to the aft portion of the vessel, and probably rendered everyone onboard unconscious due to the inertial dampeners not being able to completely offset the force of acceleration, it would seem you have survived. The engines have been irreparably damaged, as have most of the other ship functions. If not for the Space Force’s policy on investigating violent explosions in their space sectors, I would say you would not survive for long. Due to their lack of energy shields, the Quillans were not so lucky, however,
and have been destroyed along with their control ship. Under the circumstances, I am forced to concede this game to you.”
“Don’t be too upset,” Don consoled. “I thought you had me with that weapons malfunction when faced with a hundred warships. By the way, I really enjoyed your portrayals of Jackie and Will; they were quite realistic.”
“Thank you,” Nav-Tac responded, using Jackie’s voice. “I pride myself on my accuracy, but I still believe sleeping would be a more constructive use of your time than engaging in battle simulations.”
“I’m not tired,” he said, reclining and shifting his chair back so he could prop his feet up on the control panel. “What are the conditions outside?”
“There has been a considerable temperature drop,” Nav-Tac replied. “Otherwise, little has changed.”
“Donald,” a familiar soft voice called from behind him, “is that you?”
“Karen,” he said, spinning his chair around toward the rear of the bridge. “You should be asleep.”
She stood just inside the hallway, her statuesque form haloed in the dim lights of the instrument panels. Upon seeing him she advanced, her bare feet shuffling across the cool metal of the deck.
“I had a bad dream,” she explained, her bare arms folded tightly across her midsection. “When I woke up, you were gone. I was afraid, so I came looking for you.”
“Come, sit down,” he urged, guiding her into his lap. “You must be freezing.”
“A little,” she said, drawing her feet up next to him in the chair. “What are you doing up here? I heard you and Jackie talking.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” he replied, slipping his arms around her and holding her close, “so I came up here and Nav-Tac talked me into a tactical simulation.”
“I almost won,” Nav-Tac said, a disgruntled quality in her tone.
“But where’s Jackie?” Karen asked, looking about the room.
“That was Nav-Tac,” Don answered. “She’s getting quite proficient at mimicking voices.”
“I have many capabilities,” said the agent, using the captain’s voice, “and I discover new ones every day.”
“She’s also modest about them,” Don said sarcastically.
“Are you coming back to bed now?” Karen asked sleepily, snuggling up to him.
“In a little bit,” he replied, rotating the chair back toward the front instrument panel. “I have a surprise for you first. Nav-Tac, could you create a scene from Earth with the holofield; one with a lake and trees.”
“Certainly, captain,” Nav-Tac replied, as the ship’s features seemingly melted away and such a scene took form around them. “Is there anything else you would like by way of embellishment?”
“Flowers,” said Karen, marveling at the scene, “and birds, and mountains.”
As she mentioned each object, it appeared in the scene until the whole was a poet’s wonderland. She looked on in awe at the majestic world being created before her eyes.
“It’s beautiful,” Don said, suddenly longing to be back on Earth. That was a feeling he had never before experienced. Most of his life had been spent in space, and aside from his books and video clips, he knew little of what Earth’s wilderness was like. “If we could get back to Earth,” he said dreamily, “I would find such a place, and you and I would sit and watch the sun set over the snow-capped mountains. There would be a soft breeze, and gentle music amid the chorus of singing birds.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Karen said, trying to envision it, but having difficulty. She had never seen snow, nor heard singing birds. “I only wish….”
She broke off as the panorama began to change. A sun crept slowly toward the mountains, as the landscape’s shadows grew longer. The air units on the bridge silently came to life, sending a soft warm breeze over their huddled bodies. Then, the bridge filled with a gentle flowing orchestration, accompanied by the sound of happily chirping birds.
Glancing toward Nav-Tac’s interface, Don voiced a barely audible “thank you.” Moisture came to his eyes as Karen tightened her embrace and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
Stars began to shine down upon them as the night came alive with the pleasant sounds of chirping nocturnal insects.
“Donald,” Karen whispered, her eyes staring passionately into his. “I love you.”
“And I love you,” he responded without hesitation, his newfound emotions having somehow made their way to his trembling lips.
Slowly, they drew even nearer until their lips met in a passionate kiss. Enveloped in one another’s arms, they lost all concepts of space and time as ecstasy smothered them. Aside from one another, nothing existed in the euphoria they shared.
“As much as I would like to stay here and hold you all night,” he said as their lips finally parted, and the virtual reality of the holofield hazily returned. “We should be getting some sleep.”
“I guess you’re right,” she agreed, her disappointment obvious. She slowly gazed once more at the panoramic scene, permanently affixing the images in her mind. “Thank you, Donald,” she said. “It’s beautiful.”
“I wouldn’t want your feet to get cold,” Don said, turning the chair and rising with Karen cradled gently in his arms. The holographic image slowly faded away, and they were once more on the bridge of the Nova.
Pausing at the hallway, he looked again toward Nav-Tac’s smiling interface. “Goodnight,” he said, “and thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Don,” Nav-Tac responded. “Goodnight, and pleasant dreams to both of you.”
As the footsteps faded, the airflow and music on the bridge subsided. After a final status check, which revealed no change, Nav-Tac produced a sound like a sigh, and the flurry of activity on the status board ceased. Shutting down all except for her primary circuits and the sensors, she closed her eyes and slipped slowly into a mode that resembled human sleep. As the haziness of the dreamstuff enveloped her, she could feel the warmth of another presence reaching out to her. For the first time since achieving sentience, Nav-Tac didn’t feel so intensely alone.
CHAPTER 18: The Green-Eyed Monster
Karen woke from a dream in which Donald had taken her from the barren, hostile world, to a place far away. There were trees and lakes in their new world, and animals, the likes of which she had never seen before. They were alone, needing nothing except for one another. She knew such places existed; they were the places poems told of, and Nav-Tac had shown her such a place.
“Donald,” she called out sleepily, reaching toward him. There was no reply and his side of the bed was empty. She sat up abruptly, making a quick visual scan of the room; Donald was nowhere to be seen. Gazing toward the open bathroom door, she called out his name again. Still, there was no reply, and the room was completely silent; she was alone.
Stifling the momentary sense of panic, she determined he must have gone to the bridge, as he had during the night. She slid from beneath the sheets, grabbing the captain’s shirt—the one she had worn on the previous night—from the nightstand. Pulling it over her head, she hastened to the room’s exit, and touched the panel causing the hatch to slide aside.
She stepped into the comparatively chilly hallway, and glanced in both directions. The long corridor was brightly lit, giving her a clear view from engine room to bridge. The intervallic structural arches along its length gave it the appearance of a gigantic ribcage. Though there was no trace of Donald, she could hear voices carrying through the corridor from the bridge.
Stealthily, she crept down the hallway toward the ship’s control center, her bare feet unintentionally silent upon the cool metal deck. She paused at the entrance, recognizing the voices as being Will’s and Jackie’s. Peering in, she saw they were alone.
Turning back the way she had come, she halted at the mention of her name.
“It’s not that I don’t like Karen,” Jackie was saying, “but I don’t care for the way Don’s reacting to her.”
“He likes her,” Will said. “What’s wrong with
that? Unless….”
Karen pressed against the bulkhead, out of sight of the two lieutenants.
“Don’t even suggest it, Willard Porter,” Jackie warned. “I am not jealous. I told you, Don and I are just friends, nothing more.”
“I can’t see where she’s done him any harm,” Will said. “On the contrary; I think she’s done him a world of good. I never saw him smile before she came aboard, and he hardly ever spoke to me. I was beginning to think he was either anti-social, or not all together there; if you know what I mean.”
“He’s known her for less than two days,” Jackie retorted loudly. “What do we really know about her? What do we know about her people, or the city? Whenever I asked her about herself, she became evasive. What’s she hiding?”
“Why does she have to be hiding something?” Will asked. “Maybe she’s just a private person. Some people just don’t like to share personal information. For example, we’ve been on the same ship for five weeks, and what did we know about each other before the black hole?”
“That’s not my only point,” Jackie continued. “She follows him around like a love-sick puppy. It’s affecting his command ability. He didn’t make it to our workout session this morning. She’s distracting him from his duties.”
“Duties?” Will repeated incredulously. “What duties? We’re stranded on a wind-swept barren planet with a disabled ship. What’s he supposed to be doing?”
“I don’t know,” Jackie replied sharply. “But anything’s better than just sitting here, waiting.”
“About the only thing we can do is collect data on our surroundings in hopes of finding a way home,” Will said. “The captain is fostering trust with a representative of the indigenous civilization, and probably gathering information and doing a threat assessment. He’s following first contact protocol. It sounds like he’s doing his duty to me.”
“That’s not all he’s doing,” Jackie mumbled. “How is all that really getting us back to Earth?”
“Nav-Tac’s working on the problem,” Will assured. “I’m sure she’ll come up with an answer soon. We can’t go to Karen’s city until this storm blows over, so we might as well enjoy our free time.”
