The Awakening: Imortum

by JK Stone

  Alise snorted and said, Now that was funny. I see what you meant when you said that they do not get you.

  Jason snorted in return and then he asked her in mind, And just where have you been for the past couple of hours, young lady?

  This time she let out a laugh he thought the whole of the ship would hear. Young indeed! You are such a flatterer. I was staying out of the way and letting you and your family reunite. Also, I was looking into additional planetary options, she said with an apprehensive tone.

  What was wrong with the ones we picked for them to choose from? Jason asked.

  Alise seemed to ponder his question before answering. It looks as if the solar system we chose is going through turbulent solar storms. It is still habitable, but it would be very harsh conditions. The planets Asilada and Breena are closest but there has been trouble in those areas in the last couple of years, dammed Consortium space pirates. The Metan Nebula has the best natural camouflage, and there are three inhabitable planets that have friendly civilizations—

  The Metan Nebula sounds great. Is there a reason you suggested it last? Jason asked.

  It will take three more months at this speed to get there through hostile space if we do not stop for any reason.

  Jason considered her wording and tone. I’m sensing you would like to stop for some reason. What would that be?

  Alise replied, The ship needs to recharge. Our energy stores were almost depleted when we showed up on Earth. Elgon wanted to make sure we were not tracked by any of the races that have knowledge of altered time, so we traveled all the way phased out shifting between a positive two and negative two-phased time dilation, and that used up a lot of energy. And with how long it took for you to bond with the ship, then rescuing your family…well we used up the reserves Elgon had planned for your trek to the nearest pyramids generator.

  The engine is capable of maintaining minimal speed with the energy it gathers as we travel. But at this speed, we will not even get a trickle charge beyond that. The bottom line is that we need to recharge at a pyramids generator for about twelve hours or stay static for six months in an ionically charged region to have enough energy to travel faster to a pyramids generator. Without the time dilation or ability to phase jump, we will be defenseless against an attack.

  Jason thought on it. Where is the closest pyramid generator? And I thought you said this ship’s engine ran on ion and dark matter.

  The ship does run on ion and dark matter. We use ion particles as a catalyst between the two, and they can be collected as we travel but at a very minimal rate at this speed. The pyramids generators were created to focus a concentrated beam of ion particles into the ships. The closest generator is about seven more days from here, but we would have to travel through some contested space and Elgon had made enemies through that region. The next generator is about a month in the wrong direction.

  Jason thought about it a moment and asked, Can’t we just use the pyramid back on Earth?

  Alise sighed. Those pyramids are no longer functional. They were destroyed a long time ago by The Eleven. Besides, it would not be safe to return to Earth at the moment even if they were functional.

  Jason thought about what she just said, and he said, Our scientists said the pyramids were only around five thousand years old.

  Alise let out a laugh that Jason thought for sure his family could’ve heard in his head, and she said, Your scientists are clueless about them. The Pyramids were around far longer than the Lantins had control over these TDS ships. The three great pyramids were destroyed when the Eleven returned to Earth nearly ten thousand years ago. The only pyramids that were built by the humans on earth were the smaller ones. The primitive clans built them in an attempt to have their “false gods” return.

  Jason, appeased by her explanation returned to their dilemma. He weighed their options and looked at his guests. They were already getting on each other’s nerves and they’d only been on the ship for a few hours now, so the decision was made. Let’s get to the closest pyramids generator and hope we don’t run into anyone hostile. It’s not as if space out here is crowded…right?

  Alise hesitated only briefly before saying, Not overly crowded, no… Okay, the new course is laid in.

  Well, we also need to get food so our guests won’t starve. They’re already complaining about being hungry. I wish I’d thought of that before we left. Now Jason wished he hadn’t had tunnel vision about rescuing the family and had planned a little better.

  Alise laughed. Uh…I already took care of that.

  Jason stammered in mind, What? When?

  Alise said, When we were rescuing your cousin Jeff. While we were in phase for the half second I transported him up, I also transported all of your survival gear, food, and drink to the primary storage room on level two.

  Jason laughed out loud and said, “Now you tell me.”

  Everyone silenced and turned toward him when he said that out loud, and his aunt asked, “Told you what?”

  “I have just been informed that we do indeed have food and water onboard. So dinner will be in about two hours if you can wait long enough for me to learn how to cook on this ship.” Jason shook his head and wondered why he hadn’t asked about the food before but instantly realized he had been more concerned with rescuing his family than the aftermath.

  Cheering erupted from the room as they heard the news, and Jason silently wondered how fast the mutiny would’ve begun if they had to go hungry for the week it was going to take to get to the planet they were headed to.

  Jason spoke to Alise in mind again. For a minute there, I thought I was going to be one of those stupid people who went to deep space and starved everyone to death.

  Alise let out a chuckle and said, I would not have allowed that to happen.

  Jason asked, So, how do I cook a meal on this ship? I didn’t see a kitchen.

  Alise replied, It is pretty simple, put the items you wish to eat in the raw materials container and tell the computer to store base food materials, and then look at the menu to see what the computer can make. Tell it what you would like, and it will take less than a minute to process and prepare. One second… There is a dining room set up in the control-prep corridor now. After you choose the meal, it will materialize on the table when it is done. Happy dining.

  Jason thought, That shouldn’t be too hard then. Thank you, Alise.

  You are most welcome, she replied.

  *****

  The meal was great. Jason really didn’t feel hungry yet, but it smelled delicious and not wanting to appear impolite, he ate a little as well. He couldn’t believe it was actually made with emergency rations. Everyone said how much he or she loved it, and that he was such a great cook. He didn’t have the heart to tell them all he did was tell the computer to make a Lantin version of lasagna and French bread, and the computer did the rest.

  Alise’s voice popped into his head. It was really good…most definitely the best meal I have had in over thirty-seven thousand years.

  Jason could hear the laughter in her voice and feeling like a heel for not inviting her to dinner he said to her, You should have joined us. Knowing you were eating all alone makes me feel like a cad.

  Alise laughed again and replied, I was not eating alone.

  Jason felt a wave of jealousy rise within him at the thought that she would have eaten with someone else when it dawned on him, You mean you were dining with me, right? He asked.

  Alise’s laughter was infectious. It went on a few seconds before she said, Yes, I could taste the food as well.

  You still should have joined us. Then I could have introduced you to the family.

  In time, perhaps. Alise stated, then she went quiet, leaving the conversation hanging.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jason loved his family very much despite their many faults, but he could only endure being in enclosed spaces with them for so long. Eventually, an argument would ensue, which seemed to echo in his mind which would give him a splitting h
eadache. Consequently, he ended up in his room or on the first level most of the time.

  The only exceptions to this were Jerren and Justin. Their proximity to him always put him at ease, and for some reason, the three of them had always known when each other were having bad days, and they tried to run interference to help.

  Over the last several days his brothers had been putting in overtime, and Jason really appreciated it. The open hostility his uncle and half-brother had for one another seemed to be at the root of most of the arguments, and the bickering would eventually build up until the rest of the family was screaming at each other as well.

  When Jason tried to defuse the fights the group would turn on him, and if not for his brothers he may have threatened to do what his father always did on long trips. Don’t make me turn this ship around and take you home! He’d thought and his frustration eased a little.

  *****

  Alise had arrived in the bedchamber and was not noticed, so she stood there watching Jason. He seemed deep in thought, so she used the time to figure out how to proceed with him. After all the diagnostics she had run on her programming, she had finally figured out what was happening to her. She could hardly believe it herself. In the hundreds of thousands of years since coming online in the service of the Lantins, she had never experienced these emotions. It was probably due to the fact she had never been a female escort before.

  Prior to this bonding, she had only ever had a non-gendered humanoid or robotic form. With the adaptation to a female body, she must have been imbued with the full range of feminine emotions and hormones, which were now running rampant through her system, and they were even more predominant when she was near Jason.

  Now that she knew what was happening, she decided she would have to do something about it. She was ready but she feared Jason did not feel the same as she did. She was about to take a deeper look into his mind to see what he thought of her. Alise knew he trusted her; the ship made sure of that when it created her body, but did he have romantic feelings for her?

  Wanting to know for sure she had just started to peer into his mind when he looked up. Jason’s tormented gaze caught her by surprise and prompted her to change her plan.

  *****

  Five days had passed since they had left Earth, and aside from the family’s bickering, and in his half-brother and uncle’s cases, physically fighting, those days had passed uneventfully. Jason and Alise felt it would be best to keep the preacher in stasis until they figured out just what they were going to do with everyone. They were having enough troubles with the family as it was, and they figured the last thing they all needed was to add a stranger into the mix as well.

  Jason was in his room bored as hell when he sensed Alise’s presence and looked up. She stood there staring back at him with a bright smile and said, “Ah…going stir-crazy I see. I have the cure for that.”

  “What might that be?” Jason wanted to laugh. Alise seemed to be just like Justin and Jerren in the I-know-how-you-feel department.

  Alise gave him an impish smile and said, “Just follow me. It is a surprise.”

  Jason got up and met Alise in the middle of the room.

  Alise grasped his hand, “Ascend observation,” she purred in a sultry voice that made Jason’s heart flop in his chest as their bodies floated upward.

  After they made it through the ceiling, the floor closed beneath them and Jason landed with a slight hop in total darkness.

  Jason thought, It looks like this ship has many surprises in store for me apparently.

  With a hint of a chuckle, Alise whispered, “You have no idea.”

  Jason stood there for about thirty seconds in the inky darkness before the walls slowly became transparent and he gasped in stunned disbelief. The room was fourteen feet square with tapering walls that formed a pyramid-shaped room, and the effect put him in mind of standing in space.

  Jason was looking out into the universe. It appeared to go on forever, and it was the most astonishing sight he had ever seen. He could see many types of galaxies in a wide array of colors and stars of varying brightness in the distance.

  Jason glanced at Alise, who was watching him in apparent fascination. He looked into her eyes staring back into his and his heart started pounding hard. He was becoming lightheaded and was finding it harder and harder to breathe. He didn’t know what had come over him, but he leaned in and kissed her. It was gentle at first, then it had seemed as if a floodgate had opened as raw emotion took over and their kiss deepened.

  Passion threatened to overwhelm Jason as a warm tingling coursed throughout his body. Before he completely lost control, he forced himself to regain his composure.

  Jason broke from the kiss reluctantly. He was confused and afraid he had just crossed some line. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”

  Jason could have died right there. He almost passed out for sure. There were two lounge type chairs in the center of the room and he gestured toward them. “Should we sit down?” He was hoping she would be okay with that because he was about to embarrass himself by hitting the floor.

  Alise nodded then lay down on one, and he quickly took the other. Both of them reclined back staring out into space, letting what had just happened between them pass in uncomfortable silence.

  After a while, Alise continued her explanation. “This room is primarily used to nourish your body by letting you absorb the sunlight from the stars we pass and the free radiation throughout deep space as we travel, but it can be used for relaxation as well.”

  Alise went on to explain that she would spend days, weeks and sometimes months just staring out at the stars and galaxies, remembering some of the missions she and her former host commanders had been on. But lately, she didn’t have the time to relax.

  Jason listened intently. A surge of jealousy rose in him that the other commanders had gotten to spend so much time with her. Then irritation set in over the fact that they had all treated her as if she were a tool or an accessory on the ship. Maybe he was just odd, but Artificial Intelligence or not, Alise did have feelings.

  Jason said, “I really enjoy being here with you.”

  Alise stood up, stared back down at him with a hint of misery in her expression and said, “I really enjoy your presence as well.”

  Just as she began to walk away, the room began to flash as if strobe lights were going off. Jason looked around and saw half a dozen ships firing weapons at them and he yelled, “Raise the shields!”

  “You watch too much television,” Alise said.

  Then she added, “Those weapons will not harm us. The skin of this ship absorbs energy blasts like those. Conventional explosive weapons can rock us, but they will not damage us either. I have increased our speed, but I do not think we will be able to outrun them. This is going to be interesting. We would usually just phase shift, but we do not have the energy. If they have suicide ships it could pose a problem for us. As long as they only fire those weap—

  With a loud bang, the ship rocked hard. Alise hit the floor and Jason felt as if he was thrown against the far wall, and he braced himself against it in a bid to regain his footing as another energy weapon blasted the hull of the ship, and it felt as if each of the blasts surged right through him.

  The electrocution he had felt during the bonding process felt like a tickle compared to this. He had heard about people using stun guns on themselves to test the power. The convulsions made them hold the button until the power ran out, but this felt a thousand times worse than that ever sounded.

  Jason heard Alise yelling for him to get down, and there was another BAM. He was thrown from the wall back into the center of the room. For a brief moment, everything went silent and time seemed to crawl. The lighting in the room kept getting brighter and brighter, and Jason struggled to his feet to get a better look at what was approaching, but he realized with a shock that the light was actually emanating from his body.

  Jason felt as if every muscle in his body was resonating to the po
int of almost numbness and a pressure built in his head until he felt as if it were about to split open. Then it surpassed that point and his whole body began convulsing, with an explosive burst, an energy wave pulsed out of his body, and he fell to the floor, and all he could see were Alise’s eyes staring unmoving back at him as he lost his bid for consciousness.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jason lay there for what felt like hours on end, unable to move and drifting in and out of consciousness. Every time he regained a modicum of clarity, something seemed to push it down. He was aware that Alise was hurt, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Hell…he could barely open his own eyes at times, let alone move his numb and tingling body.

  Jason kept calling out to Alise in his mind, wanting with all his being for her to respond, but there was no response. That energy blast did one hell of a number on him because the numbness from the jolts left him unable to move a single muscle.

  Jason estimated he was several hours into his convalescence when the feeling started to return and he could finally move a body part or two. A few more minutes and he had the strength to roll himself over and crawl to Alise’s side. He took her hand and looked deep into her eyes. She looked back at him with a vacant almost dead stare. He tried to talk but was still too hoarse, so he kept trying to speak in mind but there was still no response.

  Jason had remained there for what seemed like another hour when a vaguely familiar voice entered his head. Get up. This is your awakening.

  Jason didn’t know what the hell that meant, and then he heard a louder GETUP! YOU ARE ALL IN DANGER! That got his heart pounding. He tried, and was a little surprised to find he had the strength to finally move. He looked up and saw a massive ship barreling toward them as if to ram them. That is when Alise’s words sank in. “Suicide ships”.

  Looking at the ship he thought, Suicide my ass. We’ll be like a bug on the windshield to that thing!