by M E Wise
Dae looked at Ben as if they had already talked about this. “We wouldn’t be here now Reign if we hadn’t thought of it that way. For some reason this feels like something the both of us have waited on our entire lives but didn’t know what it was.”
“I am completely humbled by your sacrifice. I am not sure I can fully express my appreciation but I can do something else.” I put out my hands and calmly assured them both then I opened them up. As they focused on my hands I gently joined our minds into one common thread. At first they wouldn’t even be aware of it but then I would subtly control what they were experiencing in the sharing they wouldn’t reveal anything they didn’t want to.
I am a novice at group linking but I have grown better over the years. I quickly shared with them my joy, sincerity and concern for them. They knew it as a feeling they would have on their own, becoming their joy, their truth in me. I gave them scenes from Mor’h; the gardens, the views from above in the array and of the city proper. I held back the Mor’h themselves though. They are not mine to share so freely. I gave them my rooting as the Mor’h would say. I brief glimpse into the fullness of another fleshed out in real experience. There was no resistance, no hesitance but a wanderlust I felt in return. I broke the link slowly.
Dae inhaled deeply! Ben waved his hands in front of his eyes and then rubbed his face with both hands. “That was sharing?” gasped Dae.
“That was sharing.” I said calmly.
“How long did that take?” Ben questioned.
“A few seconds.” I answered. “Lost time is frequent at first. At least that is my experience as partly human. I am not sure of the Mor’h.”
“Can part of me do that!” He asked excitedly.
“I honestly do not know.” That was the truth too. I did not know.
“Those scenes were a paradise! Like Eden or some fantasy!” Glowed Dae. “Is it like Earth?”
“I can’t answer that either. I have never been to Earth.” I said regretfully. “I know they have near identical make-up. Their atmospheres, soils and waters are very similar. Even the carbon of the life is shared. Or at least from the same universal deposits.”
“Cousins then.” Said Dae. “Cousins from an aunt the size of a planet.”
We all stood equal distance apart and understood each other so much more. Neptune had now receded into a tiny blue dot and Kuiper’s belt loomed ahead. We must traverse this rocky path first and into the grip of Pluto’s Belt next. Kuiper’s array was setup this side of Pluto’s Belt as the inner most axis of one of sixteen array spherical paths that connect the other array geometrically in a responsive flexing and contracting of gravitational forces on celestial fragments. Dae called the description a wicked galaxy-sized Hoberman’s sphere. An aft comparison I gather. Without a Mor’h signature the Belt would make passage through impossible, however unmanned probes and satellites were often allowed through to not arouse suspicion. A sizeable fleet testing over great distances could possibly defeat this since this belt required the meteors, asteroids and like debris available to create the navigational havoc is finite. The sheer cost of the endeavor in resources and lives would however greatly repress such desire. Find Hermes though and we have our way out.
The ticking of a dash sensor would indicate we are nearing a fractal ring. Tiny meteors pelt the hull, but years in space have given human engineers time to remedy this. We will have to slow down greatly to move safely through the larger masses that make their home here. “Hold on to your butts!” Says Ben. “We are within hours or minutes of your array Reign. You weren’t very clear what I am looking for or where it is.”
I close my eyes and let my senses wander. They tangle around the closer minds without disturbing them and move outward. And ever so slightly I receive a sensation backwards like two echo’s joining as they pass. It isn’t sonar, just a voice in a feeling in an essence of a thought. The Sentinel Tone that Mor’h have used since they were without time said Wan Sah. “There.” I said strained. “That large asteroid-in the break in its outer shell.” The linking across such distances is very difficult. The pain left behind my eyes causes the light around me to feel like pins. I have to rest them for a few minutes.
“Are you alright? Reign!” Dae again comes to my rescue. “Tell me your fine. What’s happening?”
“I will be fine Dae.” I take her hand. We lean cheek to cheek. “Sharing doesn’t agree with humans at some levels; even half humans.” I smile eyes closed. She kisses my forehead. I think she has found a great need for me, I am certain I have need for her. Love; something the Mor’h could not provide me. Something I have begun to grow more and more in need of.
“I will do my best to get us closer Reign but that is going to be a tight squeeze.” Ben says loudly over his shoulder. He is an adept pilot for his history. “It’s as if the opening was cut or drilled out!’
We pass through the artificial pathway and into an interior that is vastly open. A world within the asteroid reveals fractured and sharply angled spires and flattened clearings beaten down by contact with other colossal objects. Ice and space dust had formed a stained glass-like canopy above the hidden landscape. Some voids found space staring back at us but from outside you would have a hard time investigating this hunk for anything more than minerals if not for further knowledge of the path here. Buried into the cratered plain was a very Mor’h like craft. The array was very similar to the one I had visited as a young man. Hermes was nowhere to be seen though. “I can use a repair suit to leave the airlock and use the array to locate my craft.”
“Someone is going with you Reign!” Said Dae, meaning her. “I have spacewalked in training three times.”
“I will get as close as I can. You can use a tether to help fight the lack of gravity.” Ben says intently.
Ben landed within forty yards of the array station. Dae and I entered the airlock and began to suit up. She unzipped her jumpsuit and slid down her gender retardant apparel revealing black common issued under garments contrasting her velvet pale skin and pronounced curves. “You pick now to notice I’m a girl!” She said exhaustedly working to change. I had been ogling her without being aware. I blush and quickly follow suit.
The clunky human design is dense and rigid, unlike my vacuum suit which again I find myself missing greatly. The airlock seals behind us and then the doors to space open with a tug. We are anchored tightly within the opening. From a side panel Dae retrieves a cable-gun.
“We can use this to shoot a tether to the other side.” She said with an airy voice in the wireless headset. She points the device across the path and watches a screen to make sure she is balanced. She pulls the trigger and whips of air express out several holes forcing the barb out toward an awaiting wall by the array. The chord ripples and the harpoon strikes the wall hard and a stream of dust moves in one unified group away in the lesser gravity. “We will use this to get across.” She clinks her harness to the guide. I admire her for being so capable. Her experiences seem so much greater than mine. She began medical school at the tender age of sixteen. Only a single year separates our age but her accomplishments say something else entirely.
The trip over is brisk and uneventful. As I approach the array the systems begin to come to life. I can link to it once inside. Dae looks to me and I nod to assure her that that is supposed to happen. Her aim couldn’t have been better! We barely had to hop for the airlock, no easy feat though in these boxy space suits. After the seal light changes to a color I am familiar with I release my helmet and Dae slowly does the same.
I look around and find the panel I had seen Wan Sah once negotiate in the array in orbit above Mor’h Prime. I move my hand over it and the entire array beings to light up. The air is old and has a stinging taste. I send the panel a sharing of this and it adjusts according. The interface is as efficient as any newly state of the art Mor’h technology. Dae is mesmerized. She walks in and out of holo screens! “Who’s the alien now Reign?” She spins around joyfully.
“You ne
ver cease to amaze me.” I said to her. She moved about so gracefully, I thought she had floated across the room. “This could be the end and the beginning.” Dae stopped dancing and was deeply serious. “An end I get, but what kind of beginning will it be?” What an odd question. “What do you mean by that?” I asked as she stared out of the array solar screen. I again focused on the controls and searched locally for the Hermes signature. It wasn’t too far away. Maybe a kilometer or so. I am guessing the asteroid shielded a more accurate jump. I saw the vacuum suit repair and refit panel at a glance and immediately made for it! If the station has updated tracking signatures, then it must have stored specifications for my suit.
I strip as fast as I can and skip across the intensely cold floor! Dae watched like I had lost my mind. “Reign what the hell are you doing?” She barked. Without a word I step into a long half tube and I am enclosed within the fitting chamber. Dae runs and beats on the glass. Lights begin to pass over me, “It’s completely safe! I will be fine. Better than fine!” Several grids of light beams contract and expand in and out of my form. Soon the spindles begin knitting the under-layer, mid-layer and out-layer of vacuum suit around me, like some giant mechanical silk worm lacing the perfect webbing. Soon the process is over and I am once again equipped in the very best covering I know to exist. I step out and admire the fit; and so does Dae!
“I want one!” She bursts out with a squeal.
“We can try.” Although I am cautiously optimistic. “If the machine threatens you in any way I am ceasing the process.”
“What a way to get my naked!” She giggles as she streaks toward the machine. I am immediately distracted. Nudity on holo is nothing like this. She climbs into the machine and I’m still petrified.
“It’s kind of cold Mister!” She shivers.
I wave over the controls and it seems to begin a reset of the scans. To my surprise a curious imprint appears on the monitor. A human female signature is already in the system and it only takes a moment to synchronize for Dae. A universal typing maybe? The Mor’h are very forward thinking. It could be that. The system begins mapping her body. I can’t help but follow the lights tracing her inch by inch. I could spend every day with her and be completely happy. Her suit weaves on effortlessly. She did wince when the suit ported into her neck. She looked at me curiously as the sensation passed. “Did this thing literally become one with me?”
“In a sense yes.” I explained. “I should have warned you. It is something I actually find soothing now.”
“I’m good though, thanks.” She says sarcastically. “This is awesome.”
“It will monitor just about everything and adjust according to your optimal comfort.” I said confidently. “I woke up without mine in the cell and it was horrible.”
“I bet.” She said. “And these?” Pointing to the wrist and neck interfaces.
“They are the environment collar and separate wrist links.” I gently took her wrist and demonstrated. “This one monitors your vitals and allows you to see them on your left. The right is sort like a communicator and locator.”
“Oh, these are like my tablet and GPS.” She states boldly. I nod in concert.
We look across at the UB Aries and almost forgot we needed to go back. The huge viewing window allowed for constant monitoring from the ship. So Ben shouldn’t be alarmed. In the airlock our suits form geometric helmets around our faces instantaneously! This momentarily caused a panicked reaction from Dae then a look of amazement. We toted the old clunky suits back to the ship. After moving through the two locks Ben awaited us on the other side. “I’ll take those.” As he took to the old earth suits from us. He points to my suit intently! “I want one!” He says.
“I’ll be right back!” I said smirking at Dae. She blows me a kiss.
“Thank you Ma’am!” Says Ben bouncing his eye brows and fitting on his helmet.
“That wasn’t for you!” Dae said of the blown kiss.
“Thanks for the show!” He says with a silly face.
The reality sank in and Dae hurls the other helmet at him as the airlock closes tightly. His dirty laughter fills the ship as she silences the intercom. The airlocks clear and Ben and I are on our way. “Did you really see everything?” I asked over the COM ahead of Ben on the tether.
“Some things were really hard to see, others weren’t!” Ben joked. “But it was cold so I understand completely.”
“I don’t know what you are getting at?” I questioned. Not being able to see his face made it all the more difficult to understand his illusory language. “What did the cold have to do with what was seen?”
“You crack me up!” Ben laughed over the COM. “It’s nothing big bro! Not a big deal. Really!”
“He’s an asshole Reign!” Dae called over the link. “Ignore him.”
“Dae don’t be so sensitive!” Ben balked. “You looked just fine.”
I remained silent. I wasn’t sure what to say and getting involved in something like this would probably be best avoided. Observe and learn. “Thanks pervert! But we will all know if the cold affects you as much as it does others very soon won’t we!” Dae’s voice was forceful but playful. Ben remained silent for the rest of the engagement. Save for some odd requests in color choices and trying to avoid revealing positions. Must be a human male thing.
Reign Chapter 13
Tek or Die
Hermes was closer to the exterior of the Kuiper Belt than the original map had pinged it. It was almost as if the vessel was moving. There was no contingency in place to make or even allow Hermes to relocate even under seizure. Either the vessel is being pummeled by the surrounding asteroid belt or it may have inadvertently ended up in the wrong hands again.
“Have I said how much I love my new threads?” Says Ben looking about for recognition.
Dae and I give him no satisfaction. He spent the better part of an hour trying to find a way to make his vacuum suit neon colors. Grey and stealth were not his shades he kept saying. Then he fidgeted so much in the machine it kept reading him incorrectly further confusing the processing of his physiology as it toggled into a loop between small male; which he took offense too, and Lo’Mor’h which he took even more offense too. We finally managed to get it right. He added a red handkerchief around his neck though to look boss he said. He also donned a signature hooded jacket that all Halfer seemed to find similar comfort in.
Our area scans began to ping a vessel. Then a set of vessels. And then a series of smalls probes could be seen off our starboard side. “Tekkers!” jumped Ben. “This isn’t good Reign.” As we rounded a large asteroid trying to use the smaller groups for cover I saw something distinct and familiar. Tek or Die trailed in the distance on the massive barge I had first made contact with on entry into Pluto’s Belt. The huge ship searched wildly as before and as it passed there was the Hermes craned and in tow. There were no visible signs of disrepair only a few abrasions on the now worn surface.
“We have to get that ship!” I demanded. “There is no other way!”
“Ok, ok! Calm down bro!” Ben says in a whisper like he’s afraid the beast of a ship will hear us. “I think this little bird has a secret! You see it was meant to carry VIP’s for the government and high ranking folk. I think it is built from stealth material.” He points as a probe changes course to avoid contact with us. “You see that! It’s as if they don’t see us.”
“How does that help us get to Hermes?” asked Dae.
Ben looks at us like we are all idiots. “I will fly us in cold. Airlock and you two can silently go in and disable the crane arm and release Hermes or board it there. Or both!” He says like waiting for applause.
“And what of the occupants Ben?” Bites Dae. “You know of that huge ship! Are we going to go over there and just say excuse me, you have our ship!”
“Yes we are. Do it Ben!” I say without hesitation. “I will go alone and make this happen.”
“No you won’t!” Challenges Dae. “I will go with and Ben ca
n stay safe in this stealth buggy and get us out if need be-or himself if he so fancies. But I am not going to sit back and let you go down alone!” She straightens herself and whisks a hair from her face. “We didn’t escape a military flagship to have some Tek addicts ruin our little adventure.”
“Together then.” I declare, once again in disbelief of her bravery.
Ben uses the nearby rock debris to mask our movements. Even as advanced as some probes can be the iron and heavy metals in some of these masses give false readings or encourage the probe to falsely investigate an area for absent deposits. Ben expertly avoids the viewports of the huge barge as well. “It’s a goliath class processing and salvage vessel. The crew should be very small.” He again whispers. We climb to the top of the ship and see a docking port near the top. Ben has apparently also done this before and makes the docking connection on the first try.
“Someday you will need to tell me in greater detail where these tricks of the trade were honed.” I said while moving toward the airlock in the floor. “Good luck and be safe,” He says seriously.
