by JK Stone
Jason didn’t know where it came from but he felt as if a live wire were charging him. As he felt the energy building another feeling came over him, the sense of being pushed aside in his own mind, and all he could do was watch as events played out. Just as the ship was about to collide with them, his hand rose seemingly instinctively as if to ward it off. The pressure in his head reached the bursting point, and a moment later there was nothing.
*****
A second later—or it could have been hours—Jason couldn’t tell, his throbbing head cleared, and he took in his surroundings. That is when he heard a faint call for help that dug deep into his heart.
Alise. Where was she? He kept calling out to her but there was no response. He looked down at her body and felt as if his heart were about to explode.
Jason reached down to pick her up and as soon as his hand made contact with hers, it felt as if a floodgate had opened.
Pain…loss…fear and love. The flood of emotions was so intense it overwhelmed Jason and collapsing to the floor he lost consciousness beside Alise once again.
Chapter Fourteen
Jason awoke to find himself in his bed, but once again he had no knowledge of how he’d gotten there. That seemed to be a norm for him these days. A bit stiffly he looked around the room as the memory of what happened flooded back and he shouted Alise’s name.
A second later he heard Alise in his mind saying, There is no need to shout. I will be up in about ten minutes. I am connecting the ship to the pyramid’s generator beam.
Jason got out of bed and noticed he was sleeping in the nude, so he asked Alise, Why am I naked?
Alise let out a light chuckle and said, I will explain it when I get up there. Now stop pestering me.
Alise’s comment didn’t bother him because he could feel that she was just bantering. So, he let out a chuckle of his own and decided to get cleaned up. Wait, I can feel you now!
Alise replied with a laugh, Yes, I will explain it to you in a bit.
Knowing he would just have to wait for answers, Jason decided to clean up and get dressed. He approached the wall and was about to press his hand to it when the wardrobe panel appeared for him, and he thought that was strange.
Jason looked for his black bodysuit but was unable to locate it, so he retrieved a different body suit, this time a black one with a red stripe down either side. He was about to open the bathroom when that archway appeared, suddenly opened and was ready for him as well. Shaking off the fact that the ship seemed to know what he wanted before he even did, he entered the bathroom, figuring it must be due to the bonding process.
Jason finished his ion shower, put on his new suit, then reentered the bedroom. He thought about going to see how his family was taking things, but he opted to wait. If there was anything wrong, Alise would have told him, and he would really like to know what had happened to him first, knowing he would have to answer the family’s questions as well. The images were still a bit fuzzy at the moment and his headache didn’t help.
About eight minutes later, Alise entered his room and all Jason could do was stare and say, “What the hell happened to you?” Alise looked like a kind of tin woman that just vaguely resembled her old appearance.
Alise replied to his question with a question of her own. “What exactly do you remember?”
Jason thought back, “I remember going to the observation level.” He skipped past the kiss. He didn’t want Alise to get uncomfortable and continued. “We were looking at the stars and galaxies. There were flashing lights and then the feeling of being shocked to death and very little after that. Did you save us?”
Alise looked at him sadly and explained, “No, I did not save us. You saved us… when that attack happened the other day—
“The other day? How long have I been unconscious exactly?” Jason asked.
Alise replied, “About forty hours now. As I was saying, during the attack my consciousness was blasted out of your mind and the ship, and I was stuck in my body unable to do anything but watch events unfold. After the first ship collided with us you went flying toward the wall and it looked like you braced yourself as an energy blast hit the hull. Instead of dispersing through the rest of the ship like normal, the energy went directly into your body. One shot after the other, you kept absorbing the blasts.”
Alise paused a moment then continued. “A second ship collided with us and knocked you back into the middle of the room. You began to go into convulsions as energy exploded from your body, blasting the ships away. As I said, it knocked me out of your mind and you fell unconscious about six feet away from me. About an hour later, you began to regain a little movement and eventually crawled to my side, then grabbed my hand, then you seemed to fade in and out of consciousness.
“About an hour after that, you got a strange look in your eyes and stood up, and electrical charges began arcing between you and the ship. There was a massive ship headed for us and it was about to collide with us when you raised your hand and it just stopped. You did a kind of punching motion and the ship went hurling off into space. Then there were at least three, maybe four other ships flying directly at us. You took several deep breaths and then a massive energy wave erupted from your body that smashed the ships into little pieces.
“I tried to call for you, but our connection had been severed. You just stood there for an hour not moving a muscle. Then you bent down to pick me up and when your hand came into contact with my hand, it seemed to reconnect me to you and the ship. You fell unconscious again, and you have been sleeping until now. We had been knocked off course, so I reset our heading for the pyramids generator and we only just arrived when you awoke.”
Jason just looked at her and said, “You’re pulling my leg. That didn’t really happen.”
Alise looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Everything I told you is completely truthful. It was astounding actually. I have never seen anything like that in my entire existence.”
Jason was very doubtful that he could do all of that, but he trusted her. He put that behind him for now. His main concern at this point was her appearance. “Okay, but what happened to you,” he asked.
Alise got a sad tone to her voice as she said, “When we were reconnected, the ship changed my body to this. Apparently, I resemble a robot you saw in an old movie. It was picked to represent a protector I think.” She looked down at her feet in apparent shame. “This is not the first time I have been a non-humanoid.”
“I am so sorry,” Jason said miserably.
A moment later Alise’s metal face cracked into a wicked smile and with a flash, she transformed back to her beautiful self in front of him. Laughing uproariously she said, “Look, I am a butterfly,” then Alise burst into raucous laughter again. “I was just yanking your chain. I saw that old robot in one of your memories before, and I decided to take on that appearance while dealing with your family. It was very helpful in deflecting unwanted questioning.”
Jason’s relief at seeing her back to normal set in, then the hilarity of it all hit him and he began laughing. It took a good two minutes before he was able to speak again. “How does it help with deflecting unwanted questions?”
Alise grinned. “Whenever your family would ask a question I could not or did not wish to answer I would just say ‘DOES…NOT…COMPUTE’ and stare blankly at them. After a few minutes, they would usually walk away. So now they just think I am the dumb robot who feeds them.”
This time Jason had to sit on his bed he was laughing so hard, and between breaths, he said, “So…what did you tell them…about me?”
Alise shook her head. “Not much, I told them you sustained an injury and should be okay in a couple of days. They wanted to come see you, but I did not want to let them. So that is the reason for, DOES…NOT…COMPUTE,” She said as she performed a stiff-armed attempt at marching.
At this point, Jason was glad to be sitting because he was close to passing out from laughter. When he finally caught his breath and wiped tears fro
m his eyes he asked, “What happened after you got back into my head as it were?”
Alise looked hesitantly at him then said, “Well you were out cold, and I did not know what condition you were in so I transported you down to medical and performed a scan on you. I must say for sustaining the electrical shock you did, you are in remarkable health. I know the triple helix DNA helps prevent death from electrical jolts, but you were exposed to more current than I’ve ever seen before, and for some reason, your cells were able to absorb the energy and did not convert it to heat which usually happens.
“You did have elevated adenosine triphosphate levels, but that is to be expected, you also had a slight electrolyte imbalance but the medical unit corrected the issues. I have had prior commanders who died from far less exposure to electrical current. The medical unit did not have to do much to you. I did not believe it, and I performed several diagnostics thinking the attack may have damaged one or more of the ship’s systems, but everything was fine, so I brought you back here and put you to bed.”
“And my family didn’t see you transporting me on the gravity lift? They seem to always have someone watching it,” Jason stated.
“They probably would have, but I waited until they were all asleep.”
“And why was I naked?” Jason asked.
Alise got an impish grin on her face as she said, “Well, I did have to check you for injuries.”
Jason smirked and said, “I thought the medical unit said I was in good health.”
Alise looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, look at the time… Got to run.” They both laughed then she added, “Actually the body suit you were wearing was destroyed by the electrical arcing and energy waves. The only article of clothing that survived were the boots over there.” She pointed to the floor next to his bed. “If that was not an anomaly, we may have to see if there are more durable outfits for you to wear. We do not want to be cooking all your clothes off if we can help it now, do we?” she asked.
Jason chuckled and replied, “No, not if we can help it. So…the ship is recharging?”
Alise nodded. “Yes, it will take nearly twelve more hours to complete, and then we can be off to find your family a new home. Oh, and just to warn you, your family may in the tiniest way think you are a little bit touched in the head.”
“And why is that?” Jason asked a little worried.
“Well, Jeff told the rest of your family you thought I was the most beautiful being in the universe,” Alise said with a grimace.
Jason stared intently at Alise and said, “I do think that. I don’t know why they would think I was crazy for it though.”
“That would probably be due to the fact that they have only ever seen me like this,” Alise said and morphed back into the robot form as she marched over to the lift, laughing like a loon.
Chapter Fifteen
Jason followed Alise over to the gravity lift all the while laughing inwardly at the thought of the family thinking he was in love with a robot. He knew she was about to go back to level one, but he had another plan in mind. He was hoping he was right about what was happening to him so he grasped her hand and just as she was about to say descend level one, he thought, Descend level two, and they were off.
Alise looked around and said, “I think I will have to do another system diagnostic. That should not have happened.”
Jason shrugged to make Alise think he had no idea what was happening, and a moment later they landed on level two with the typical hop, then he led her toward his family saying, “Come with me.”
Jason guided Alise by her tin hand and approached his family and they all gathered around and one after the other they bombarded him with questions. He answered what he could or wanted to, then said, “We have to get back to work, but I wanted to check on all of you and make sure you were alright. I didn’t get a chance to introduce you to her before, but this is Alise, the most beautiful being in the universe and the love of my life.”
With stunned gazes upon them, Jason kissed Alise softly on her tin lips. Then they turned and went back to the lift at his families dumbfounded expressions. They just made it to the lift when he thought Descend level one, the floor disappeared and they floated downward.
Once the ceiling closed above them Alise said, “You are evilly funny you know.” She hesitated a moment and continued. “I really do think I need to perform a diagnostic on my neural link. I could not see what you were going to do, and that gravity lift is really concerning me as well.”
Jason looked at Alise with a smile and said, “The lift is fine. After I woke up I went to bring up the wardrobe panel and open the bathroom and they both opened for me without commands or even touching the wall. I just thought it and they appeared. So, I tried it with the lift and it worked.”
Alise looked at him with an astounded expression and said, “That is remarkable. Andel told me the Imortum who trained him could control the ship with her mind, but none of my prior commanders was able to do it.”
Jason furrowed his brows. “I think something must have happened to me when the energy passed through the ship and into me. It may have improved the link between me and the ship somehow.”
Alise seemed to think over what he just said, then replied. “As I said before, I had never seen anything like what happened to you during that attack, so I guess anything is possible.” With a shrug, she entered the control room.
Jason looked at Alise and asked, “Why do you still look like the robot? We’re alone now.”
“We still need to take care of a little problem that’s arisen,” Alise stated.
“What would that be?”
Alise frowned and said, “The preacher who was speaking at your services awoke from stasis while we were being attacked, so I moved him to decon for the time being. I figured that would be the safest place for him until he can be talked down. He has been on this level for over forty hours now. He refuses to eat and keeps demanding to see his lawyer and yelling that kidnapping is a federal offense, and every time I open the passage to speak with him he begins running, so I sealed him in there the last time.”
When Jason opened the decon door, the preacher made a break for it. Jason shouted to him, “We need to talk,” then let him run down the corridor.
He looked at Alise and shook his head. “I guess when he gets tired of going round and round and not finding a door he’ll be willing to talk. I know I was.”
“I really should be monitoring the charging process,” said Alise.
“Is there a problem I need to be aware of?”
“Usually we do not have any issues, but it is best to monitor the energy flow and make sure there are no adjustments needed. It is dangerous to disconnect before we are finished charging, and we are sitting ducks as you would call it.”
Jason nodded and said, “You should go monitor the ship then. I’ll be able to handle this guy.”
Alise laughed. “If you can handle him, then I will be on my way. Call me if you need my assistance.”
As Alise walked off, Jason heard a whispered voice from her saying, Good luck.
The preacher made two more circuits before he finally decided to stop and lay into Jason. At first, he was yelling about being kidnapped and was threatening to have him arrested. Then he got a good look at him, turned white as a sheet and shrieked, “But you died!”
Jason calmly said, “If you can stay cool-headed, I’ll explain everything to you. I assure you that no harm will come to you.”
That seemed to mollify the man for the moment and he said, “Okay, what’s going on? I thought you were dead.”
Jason told him about being picked up by the ship and rescuing the family and him from the bombing. The preacher looked doubtful, but seemed to be taking it well enough.
Jason had his suspicions that the preacher wouldn’t truly believe anything he said until he saw they were no longer on Earth anymore, so Jason asked him, “How well do you know the geography of Earth?” He made his way to the closest outer wall a
nd thought transparent, and the wall seemed to dissolve in front of him.
Jumping back, the preacher gasped and seemed to hold his breath for the longest time before asking, “Where are we?”
At that moment Jason realized he’d never asked where they were going so he asked in mind, Uh…Alise, where are we exactly?
Alise explained, We are in a stationary orbit over a planet called Daregon. It is situated on the backside of the star Mintaka, which is one of the stars of Orion’s belt a little over nine hundred light years from Earth. The Inhabitants here do not allow refugees but they do not have a problem with us using the pyramids generator, considering they were built for these ships eons ago.
Jason relayed the information to the preacher, and the man looked as though he was about to faint, so Jason summoned a chair for him to sit on. When the chair appeared right in front of him, all doubts seemed to leave the preacher’s mind and he sat down with a stunned expression.
Jason was a little stunned as well. He didn’t remember requesting a chair, or know that he even could in that fashion.
The preacher looked up at him and asked, “What’s going to happen to me now?”
Jason sighed and replied, “We’re working on that at the moment. If I returned everyone to Earth now, the people who tried to kill all of us found out they failed, and they might redouble their efforts to locate us and put more lives in danger. At the moment, all the evidence will make them believe they succeeded. If we were to return you to Earth now, they might harm you or others you love to discover the truth.
“For the moment, I believe it’s safer to let them continue thinking we’re all dead. If at all possible when this is settled, I’ll try to return you safely to a time just after the event and you’ll be able to say you were late showing up to the services. But for now, we don’t know if the bomber knew you were in the church when the explosion happened or not.”
The preacher looked determined and mumbled, “Not much we can do about it then. Well, let’s make the best of the situation.”
