Tales of Reign

by M E Wise

  Dae lay sleeping and I watch her here in the Hermes craft and almost feel that I am dreaming. Everything that happened, had happened and it was true. I came across the galaxy to make contact and be an ambassador and furthered a conflict, found a friend in Ben, a romance in Dae, only to bring the whole act full circle again at the edge of space. Suddenly territorial beetle crabs would never satisfy that unfocused anxiety ever again. I close my eyes to rest them a moment.

  Breathe. Swim. Breathe. She waits on the shore by the white tower. Breathe. Swim.

  The proximity alarm sounds loudly! “We have incoming projectiles!” Hermes announces coldly. “Brace for impact!” I rush to a nearby viewport and rub the sleep from my eyes. An OG Cruiser was looming in the distance and I could see a volley of rockets making their way our direction. Their firing range must have been far greater than our safety net. A probe maybe? It doesn’t matter now, I reach for Dae and we brace together accepting whatever comes. I see Ben floating in the zero gravity between ships, he braces in the opening.

  The alarm pounds in my head! I focus hard not to let the excessive stress cause a spoiled sharing. Under these circumstances it could happen. I watch as intently as I can, knowing we don’t have time to do anything about this! Then they miss! “How is that possible Hermes?” I screech with joy. “We are not the apparent target Reign.” Answered Hermes back. “Taking measures!” The Hermes craft is very fast for a small ship. The Mor’h made sure that the tech hidden in the vessel maintained the look of old but the kick of new. We change course and pull away.

  “They’re firing on the Tekker barge!” Ben screams. “If we don’t get clear, either that boom will get us or the cruiser will turn on us next.”

  “Strap into the jump harness!” I order Dae. “Now!” I say more forcefully as she resisted. She reluctantly complies. “Charging for phase shift Reign.” Hermes says monotone.

  “We can’t run and jump Hermes!” I cry out making my way to see the state of the Tekker barge. “Hermes we may not survive the jump in motion!” I challenged.

  “Missiles or chance, Reign?” Presented Hermes factually as if the choice was of two flavors of cocktails! “Probability of escaping the proximity explosion of the barge 82%. Surviving a direct volley of low yield missiles reduces that to near 55%. A second would pulverize the crafts.” A second volley of missiles hit the Tekker barge as it actually begins maneuvering away. Some computer automated course correction most likely. I watch its contents spilling into space. “All occupants will not survive.” Hermes concludes.

  “Ben get into something and strap in!” He insisted on staying in the Aries, his baby. He nods and straps himself into a small compartment he has stuffed with sofa pads and a jimmy-rigged co-pilots seat. It’s healthy salvage style ingenuity! He gives a thumbs-up, salutes and then thumbs some religious cross onto his chest. “I didn’t know you were religious?” I questioned to break the tension. “I’m not!” He smirked back.

  The barge begins breaking apart and I am rushing between vessels. I make it to the other jump module. I am directly across from Dae. “Are we set to make jump?” I yell out loud. The motion of stars suggest we are moving at a decent speed. I make eye-contact with Dae, “I love you!” she cries out. I lock eyes with her and in my shock say nothing. An immense flash sends our ship careening off course! The barge must have exploded. “Jump in,”-a series of descending tones ring out as Hermes voice fades into the ether.

  

  It’s incredibly cold in the ship observed by my breath bellowing out as I exhale. It is a breath of life though! That is all one could ask for. I am surprised my barrier helmet hadn’t gone into effect, although that is a good sign we didn’t have any hull breaches and our filtration system was still making air. The issue of heat could just be a symptom of allocated necessity. Given we jumped in motion we are very lucky not to be star dust.

  “Dae!” I cry out searching through the many objects floating around in the compartment. “Reign?” She says back softly. “We’re alive!” She perks up. We laugh together. “I will come to you!” I say unlocking my harnesses.

  Our two crafts remained connected and were rotating counter clock ways. Light from the nearby star poured into the vessel in the usual ambient fashion of constant streams changing from one viewport to the next. I floated effortless across to Dae. I didn’t wait to speak, I just kissed her firmly over and over. We both sighed and smiled at each other. “Let’s get you out!” I said unfastening her binds. She poured forth like clinging life and I embraced her as we spun from the contact and I held her as if I was holding onto the essence of love itself. We were incredibly lucky to be alive.

  Cabling dangled and I could see systems all over the ship stuck in different stages of reboot. Many would need manual attention. Hermes was unusually silent. Life first, I thought to myself, something universal like self-preservation is always in need of company. Dae and I progressed to the tube between ships. Some unsecured furniture was blocking the port. “Ben?” I shouted. “We’re coming to you Ben.” I again redressed to no response. “Ben?”

  “Yeah.” Came a low and muffled response to our relief. We worked a sofa free of the entrance, it drifted off and crashed into the opposite wall. I quickly kick off the airlock opening and dart across the space landing sharply on the wall near Ben’s makeshift safe-room. Dae wasn’t far behind. “Are you hurt Ben?” I asked as I worked the door. It was jammed and I needed something to pry it. I looked around and Dae passes me a long bar, probably a hand lead broken free in the jump. I force the door open, Ben lay slumped and crowded in the hole. He was bleeding from his mouth.

  Dae brushes me aside. “Ben. Ben! I need you to tell me what you are feeling.” She goes right into emergency response mode. We are lucky again she is a doctor. “Come on Ben.” She is very calm. Ben’s eyes roll about as his gaze doesn’t fix on either of us. “Let’s move him. Easy though. The zero gravity may be helpful here!” She says while looking around the room. “Reign, we need a stretcher; something hard and flat.”

  I break the door to the compartment free in my impulse. “That will work.” She says alarmed. “Reign, I need you to help me. Help me keep Ben awake until I know what is going on with him.” I nod more calm than a moment before. The sofa pillows floated out of our way revealing Ben to be broken in many ways. I release his straps and then we gently pull him from his tortured holds. Dae works him onto the door in a careful ballet. She motions to the straps on the pilot’s seat in the compartment. I push away and open the maintenance hatch to retrieve some shears we had seen there before. I take them and cut away the straps leaving the fastens and clasps attached. She and I then use them to stabilize Ben.

  “He needs to be secured before the gravity,” She pauses, “if the gravity comes back. We’ll move him to quarters and secure him there. Keep talking to him Reign!”

  Dae is definitely in charge of the situation. Even though she is splitting my attentions between helping and engaging Ben, I believe it is a method to keep me in the moment and not losing myself in the panic. We manage to get him into the cabin by floating in sideways. It is obvious Dae has trained for this. I don’t hear myself but I have been talking to Ben non-stop. Platitudes and quips about things we have joked about. He slides in and out of lucidness. I then see his vacuum suits vital readings. It’s not very good. Dae sees me focusing on the wrist monitor. “Reign, you can go check on the systems we may need to help Ben. Reign.” She reaches for my hand. “We will do our best to help him. Together.” She says as she looks toward the mess across both ships. She’s right. I slip away into the larger room and for a moment I hang there like a planet amongst lesser celestial bodies, she is my light, my sun and my friend is in good hands.

  

  “Damn it!” I slammed the panel closed. Expressing myself with assertive slang always seems to help. I have restored the lights, heat and extended our systems to power the Aries near fully functional save some damage to a rear thruster. Most of the H
ermes systems are running at minimal, some even optimal save the Hermes collective artificial intelligence. No matter what I do that node remains inaccessible. The communications are completely shot, and the Aries is incapable of making transmissions across deep space like Hermes can. I believe we can phase jump but I am uncertain what that could do to a critical yet stabilized patient in Ben.

  “Reign, you haven’t slept in almost thirty hours since waking up after the jump.” Interjects Dae. “We aren’t going anywhere and things won’t get better if your human side just collapses on top of the Mor’h side will it?” She walks up to where I sit under a maintenance crawl space. Gravity does special things to a woman’s walk. If it weren’t for the entirety of our current predicament I would spend all of my time coming up with reasons to watch her move. “He’s stable.” Placing a hand on my stomach. “It’s more than we can ask for.”

  She’s right again. I slide out and stretch to stand up. I think a shower is in order since I have the water recycling units working on the Aries. The Hermes has only an antibiotic dust shower. I never enjoyed it. I cross between ships as the gravities exchange positions and ceiling becomes floor. I’m still working out how that is possible. The shower loomed dark and spacious because of the high society nature of the craft. I tossed aside my vacuum suit and let the water wash away some of my frustrations. I feel a presence and turn to see Dae coming to share my space. “We both could use some…” I cut her off fully entangling our beings. She giggles. I had never done this before but I am a natural at most things. Everything to do with her is natural.

  We moved as one, in and out of the water. In small lapses of concentration, a link would sneak its way into play and our mutual sensations became amplified, personified into one intense experience. The less I struggled to suppress it the more Dae engaged into it. The more passionate we became the more reality stripped away and we were alone on a plane of our own design. The gravity failed again and we both lifted off the floor and drifted into the main cabin, the cool air made us make for the Hermes in a haste. I chased after her and she motioned with a finger to catch her. Her long red hair waved in the air like a crimson halo. I managed to catch her; or she let me catch her in my cabin above my bed. The gravity suddenly gripped us again and we plunged down but laughed off the collision. The water trail behind could be heard crashing down like rain.

  We made love for the first time again and again. In and out of the sharing.

  

  I woke to find Dae conversing with Ben. I don’t know how long I had slept but the sound of the two felt like a waking dream. I made my way between the vessels and he was awake if ever so slightly. “He was just asking me a very odd question.” Dae said. She looked to Ben.

  “I totally dreamed you guys floated naked through my ship! And It rained inside.” He said puzzlingly. Dae and I just glanced at each. She turned to hide her blushing. “Drugs give great dreams.” He said drowsily. “Minus you naked boy!” He said looking off to my direction. He slipped back into a deep sleep.

  “I can keep him comfortable. We have some medical supplies thanks to the kit in the Aries and the vacuum suit is also working to maintain safe levels for him.” She said clinically. Then shifted more to friend. “I won’t lie though Reign. It doesn’t look good. I think…” She choked back emotions, “this may have irreparably kicked that timer into motion.”

  “Timer?” I said questioningly. She looked at Ben’s left hand. The Halfer biological clock had wound down. Time was not our companion.

  I turned and left the room. I made my way back to the central control panel and punched it hard, cracking the glasslike cover. The receivers flashed. A strange blurred and slurred language garbled on the COM throughout the ship. It was the Hermes voice trying to address me! It wasn’t destroyed. Maybe the housing was compromised and the connections inside the matrix fried. I pulled on the floor panel in front trying to see the Mor’h way inside. It then dawned on me. Link with it! I sat quiet and calm and let the sharing widen, isolating the minds around me and feeling for something reaching back. And there it was! Five sleeping consciences all tucked neatly in one tiny little node. The hidden panel opened and I broke the link to see a packed cradle of Mor’h style processors. I bypassed some obviously burnt connections and then the COM squelched.

  “Hermes online. Processing.” Said a recognizable nuisance. I clapped my hands and kicked my legs straddling the hole beneath. Dae buzzed into the room and lit up with cheer. “You did it!” She slid to me on the slick floor and nearly toppled us both. “Co-Co-collective coherence unstable.” Stuttered Hermes. “Attempting reset.” The COM buzzed and we sat a diligent audience of every painful pause in the show.

  “Reign. Jump successful. Multiple system failures. Critical damage to a biological passenger. System collapse.” There was a brief pause, “Reign would you like a diagnostic of our current situation?”

  “Of course I would!” I said gleefully.

  “Communications are completely inoperable. Life support needs a bio-sweep. Ships drives are completely within sufficient functionality. Without Mor’h database link we are working with current system library. However, Reign, that library is extensive and my collective personalities are the best Mor’h has to offer.” Arrogantly stated as normal.

  “Ego-much?” Says Dae jokingly. “How may I assist, Reign?” Hermes says as if to ignore her.

  “That machine just made a direct statement like a jealous bitch!” She laughed. “That’s great.”

  “We could use assistance with Ben.” I ask without thinking of Dae. I catch her irritated stare. “The doctor here would like professional collaboration on the damaged biological.” I rephrased my request.

  “I am Nala Tah’l. Says a starkly feminine voice on the COM. “My preserved sharing is in biology, what you would refer to medicine and life reconstruction.” Hermes balked.

  “Can you scan the attached vessel and give a diagnosis and prognosis?” Asked Dae. No response. Dae looks to me annoyed. “Hermes please assist Dae, the human female with emergency permissions, Reign…” coupled with a brief link. The COM buzzed.

  “Of course Reign.” Came again the feminine voice.

  “Human Female Dae,” states Hermes dramatically. “The biological being in the adjacent vessel is genetically constructed to fail. This cannot be reversed and is of an order to be obeyed.”

  “There’s nothing you can help with?” Questioned Dae with confusion. “What kind of compassion is that?” Dae argued.

  “Hermes, what can be done must be done!” I said angrily.

  “The subject is a genetically altered construct. This is irreversible under these conditions. Our apologies Reign.” The personality struggled to establish empathy. “The best option is to return to Mor’h on the current course and find assistance there.” Came the collective Hermes voice.

  “When can we jump?” I say knowing full well the answer won’t satisfy my anger.

  “In minutes Reign.” Responded the Hermes matrix. “However the strain on the patient could be fatal.”

  “Plot the course and make the jumps.” I concede. I turn to Dae and she is as dejected as I am.

  “Prepare for jump in five minutes.” Came the very robotic voice above. Dae quickly leaves the room and is obviously on her way to Ben’s side.

  

  With each shift Ben worsened. His organs began to fail. His skin began to lesion and then break. Dae induced a chemical coma for several jumps but his pain was obvious even while unconscious. The shifts were rapid, cutting the trip from weeks by several days. But ultimately we knew how this would end. The harder decision would be to wake Ben, explain his fate and say our good byes. The easier thing for the surviving witnesses of his decline would be to sedate him until his body stops fighting the inevitable. We chose the former.

  Dae and I sit somber by Ben’s side as he begins to wake up. Dae cleans dried blood from his eyes and applies some eye drops. At first he seems to slip back into sl
eep for a moment. Then he struggles to speak. His throat parched and no doubt decaying in tune with the rest of him. Dae places an ice chip to his lips and he swallows hard. He knows he is dying.

  His head tilts to us. “This sucks.” He jests and breaks into a coughing fit. Dae jumps to his aid but he waves her off. “I would have come,” he pauses and wheezes, “either way!” He reaches for my hand and tears trace his cheek. He points to his crates, “I have something in there for you. In case you find yourself alone again.” He looks to Dae. “That may not happen again for a long time though.” And he winks at her.

  “I’m so sorry brother!” I say with my head down. “I had hoped…”

  “Don’t feel sorry for me!” He stressed. “Don’t dare.” He said with his teeth red with blood. “I made it out.” He pointed out at the range of space uncharted by humankind. “And I didn’t die like that! I didn’t die with no way out.” He seemed to lose all energy quickly. That last defiant speech took everything he had. He looked to the ceiling and said, “Paps.” As if to remember his father was left behind.