by Selina Brown
“Before I go, boss, are you ready for your first meeting?”
“With the parents or the Aether?”
She shrugged. “The baby I was thinking.” Her hazel eyes, oval face, slender build, and blonde hair were replicas of Ryama, except she had the necessary curves and softer features for the female version. Aside from that, where Ryama had been quietly witty and calm, Diane was quick witted, loud and vivacious.
“I am ready for both, including the baby. How difficult can she be?”
“Simon said to remember to keep a look out for our mystery player.”
Jamie sighed. Apparently, someone was interfering with the Cardinal Unit but they couldn’t trace the person, or people. Simon had little to say but Jamie knew he knew more. The mission was to unfold, like a bloody story.
In a month he would be ready for his charge.
Babysitting. Baby bloody sitting.
Crack.
Kyle shook his head at him.
“I know. Stop cracking my knuckles.” Jamie left the room in annoyance.
***
Perza Space Station
The main impression he received from the Aether, especially in regards to Pen, Terance, Marc, Ersen and Sacha, was that they were mostly excited about their new life. Jamie felt confident they would look after his charge as if she was their own. He wasn’t sure about Aven, Marc’s twin sister. They looked a little alike but Aven was a withdrawn and angry person. But he found out she had access to the Cardinal Unit. Six of them returned to Saratoga together, and while they headed to the homestead Jamie went to his cabin and the work began in earnest.
His list was already long.
He flew his ranger to Perza Space Station, and then tucked it into one of the open hangar bays, shutting down all the systems and masking it, making it look like part of the station. He cycled through the hatch and sealed it. If he had to, he could escape with the babe rather than be limited to the Space Lift or using a transportal, which would be difficult to set up while engaging in close combat.
Jamie strode down a wide corridor with curved walls, checking the monitors to see where he was. At a junction, he went to the left, up a narrow companionway and headed down a ladder. His team members were posted around the station and had already conducted the preliminary reconnaissance. Marc had also assured him that Aven made Jamie invisible to the Perza Station’s internal sensors. He felt a little uncomfortable leaving that kind of security to her but the girl had mad skills and Simon reported no one else could do what Jamie wanted, at least not in the timeframe he wanted it.
Valan, a Kavakar, was considering attacking Perza Space Station. Something or someone had already nibbled at the Saratoga Space Security Net. The Triple S&N teams under Cyrus were sending out military rangers to check. Max was out in deep space, monitoring and scanning the region, coordinating with Cyrus, while King Delario, who was supposed to be in charge, held a tea party to welcome the Pure-Gen. At least he was a doting father and had two boys, one just a year older than Jamie’s charge.
Jamie walked through the nursery and scanned the data trailing down a white wall. It didn’t make sense to him. But the Cardinal Unit and Maya were exchanging data repeatedly about the babies. Jamie was growing concerned as some of the logs looked like “elimination” commands for the third baby. He wasn’t sure what to do as he stared at the images of the babes. Two babes looked similar to each other but his charge looked different.
He reached out to pull the commands into full viewing mode but froze. One of the images, along with the data, was enlarged saying the baby was shunted in a capsule to be destroyed. In the seconds he tried to work out what to do to stop it, the deed was done. Jamie shook his head and held his stomach. Breathe slowly. Never in history had three Pure-Gen babies been fabricated but this was reprehensible.
Jamie stared at the image of the “Mobile Unit”. According to that log he had read, her memories had been blocked. He surmised she must be connected to something outside the test site and that she had something to do inside. But why would her memories be blocked and why placed into a baby biosuit? Was her real form so different? There were too many questions and he forced himself to focus on his mission. That’s all she was.
His assignment.
Red
Lacuna
Iota Test Site
Assigned Sub-Maya Unit 9, Cardinal Unit 9
Iota Test Site – Vakar seeded and overlap
Mobile Unit 1
For Aryan Pure-Gens, the First Race, being fabricated was light, energy, and efficiency. Ara knew her name even as the Cardinal Unit deposited her safely into her artificial womb in the small space station near Perza’s new central planetary system, Saratoga. She was due for rupture and gently floated in her liquid pond. And while she felt warm, there was a sense of loss and grief. “Gah?”
Ara waved her hands, the feeling gradually receded as Maya connected with her, driving the sadness away, and injecting something into her fluidic sac that cut her off from those feelings. It did not, however, stop the intriguing incandesce of heat and color visible to her that was gracefully swirling around her body.
As Ara floated with sleep beckoning, her mind opened wide. There was danger outside in soupy space in the form of a cloaked war ranger. Accessing data from the Cardinal Unit was as natural to her as breathing. But that danger was only a trifle compared to the danger that lay tantalizing out of her reach and she dared not draw attention to herself just yet. Drawing on latent abilities, she began to weave her own protection and, by reaching far, she found two who could help.
CARDINAL Unit 9 (CU), sub-Maya 9, Ara’s Logs
0001
PING danger: Valan Taka, Kavakar, Ji’hathlo
PING help: Kavela Istonia, Planet Engineer, Kios
PING help: Korbet/Randall West, Planet of Law/Lavenia Imperia
OVERRIDE
End check
It was not consciously that she chose Aryans instead of Maya, or Cardinal Unit with killer sentries; it was that, somehow, the desire to connect to flesh, blood, and bone were more necessary than relying on energy or machine. Maya allowed the contact, for how could the entity or machine really understand the needs of a babe? There was fear close by now, and she identified it as coming from Maya. Why would Maya fear her? She soothed the ancient sentient energy waiting for help to arrive.
“Gah.”
Robotic arms gently encased her sac and the capsule began to trundle along smooth rails in a dark tube. Her time for rupture was close and in the deep recesses of her mind, she was sure she had broken through a much darker tunnel and been welcomed into the world. She remembered warm breath, gentle hands, and overwhelming feelings of love.
“Welcome to life.” The voice had been low and deep, loving.
“Our baby girl.” The voice had been higher pitched, tender but protective.
Before the Maya detected those memories, and the warm feelings associated with them, she bundled the tiny neurons and pathways and tucked them in a part of her brain Maya was struggling to access and called it: “Baby Girl”.
The capsule slowed and Ara heard noises now even as her body undulated in the viscous fluid. A light appeared at her feet. Robotic arms positioned the capsule and the transparent section allowed her to see a bright room. Her cradle like capsule, which the Cardinal Unit had inserted her into, slid inside with the small, white triple hatch sealing one after the other in the long tube to outer space.
Sub-Log VII
Iota
Station: Perza
Galactic System: Sarato (Spiral Galaxy)
Planetary System: Saratoga
Perza Space Station
Nursery
Jamie’s frontal node gave him a little buzz. Someone or something was incoming and had activated an external transportal. During the briefing regarding the initial checks his team reported that explosive devices could be blocked and/or removed quickly. Scans revealed that flesh and blood entered the portal but had not registered. He
slipped into a nearby lab and checked by tapping on the wall icons. It was coming from the Planet of Law. That was odd. Jamie’s scan came up with “Korbet West”. He was Silvia’s contact and was cleared by the Aryan Military. Jamie listened in on the monologue as he talked to baby Ara.
Jamie stared at the series of commands Maya was playing back. “That can’t be right.” He gave a bark of laughter. Well, he’d keep it quiet. He had the right to keep some secrets himself and unravel them before reporting. Since it looked like Korbet came because Ara commanded him to, he decided to keep an eye on the notary official himself. He withdrew the “kill” signal and then wiped the perspiration from his brow. So far, nothing had gone to plan.
Jamie watched as Korbet checked logs, and then created a mindlock and wiped the CU logs. Jamie saw the CU and Maya logs decrease rapidly. The mindlock was what his therapist had offered him to block memories of Leanne’s intrusions. He’d refused because it also acted like a canal lock that controlled the fluctuations of energy and mental processing. Effectively, it dampened the Superlunary and Nexus parts of an Aryan’s Triad. A square-framed holo appeared to his left, next to the data stream and image feeds, and expanded into view overlaying what he had been watching. Aven peered at him from her place on the CU. The words, “I can remove the mindlock, yes or no?” appeared beneath her image.
He shook his head and the box minimized. He wanted time to study what Korbet had included in the mindlock—was it just a memory gate or something more?
Another holo popped up. Aven had typed, “Ara is tapping into Maya and using heat and color to map her own plasma links.”
Jamie nodded without really understanding. There was little information regarding the fabrication of Pure-Gens, but he was sure that normally Maya made the links, not the Pure-Gen. He asked softly, “Is that unusual?”
Her voice came from somewhere to his left; she said, “Not with Pure-Gens. They have their own links to Maya, and strong.”
“What for?”
The image showed Aven shrugging. “To talk to Maya or other Pure-Gens. Think of it like two cans with wire in between. The plasma stream is the wire obviously.”
Jamie grinned at that old Aryan child’s game. He resumed watching Korbet who was reading the blaze of data running down the walls. He said to Ara, “Survey pragmatically, Mobile Unit One? What’s that and what’s that around your neck, baby girl?”
“Gah?”
Jamie watched his display as a strange looking necklace appeared on Ara’s neck. He looked away and when he looked again, it was gone. That was odd. Korbet lifted the pod lid. Jamie tensed. The thick wall of the womb was transparent and well supported by the low walls of the capsule.
“Hello, Ara Honeybee.” Korbet smiled, leaned over and stared at Ara. “You have beautiful, big, blue eyes.”
Jamie relaxed a lot more as Korbet made baby noises. Jamie’s attention spiked again minutes later.
“…made a plasmic connection?” Korbet’s eyes were wide. “Your first I think. I’m honored. Look at that, the exergon, or plasma as many call it, is now stringing between us.”
An image of what Korbet was doing displayed on his main monitor. Aven had tapped into Maya’s visual files and typed “Usual for Pure-Gens to link to others”. Korbet appeared to be playing with the strings that were blue in color and thick. Not only that; Jamie saw an incandescence of heat and color swirling around Ara, not just around her body, but outside the sac. He was about to ask Aven if that was usual but Korbet was saying, “I wonder how strong it is? I’m not sure but, technically, you can spike a plasma impulse to me.” He eyed Ara with a smile. “It’s called the Aryan Transmission or ArT.” He studied his fingers again, leaning casually against the pod watching the exergon disappear into his fingers making deeper connections. He mused a little, saying, “I should sever it.”
Jamie watched as Korbet thought about it.
“I should feel violated you know, normally you ask to make a link. But—” he grinned down at her “—you are the Vanguard so as long as you don’t goo or gah too loudly it won’t distract me.” Looking down at her, Korbet watched as she was moving her hands and tiny fingers. She made an “ooh” sound.
Vanguard? Jamie jotted that down on his list.
“…you can see plasma energy too. Well, after a while you’ll be able to ignore it unless you bring it back into focus…”
Now that was interesting. Ara could see what only two others could see, and they were the two she called for: Korbet West and Kavela Istonia. He knew Kavela was part of a Pure-Gen pair and he bet that Korbet was fabricated with another as well. Sure enough, Korbet said something about his brother, Aki. Aki and Ara. Korbet and Kavela. Seriously?
“Please let this not be the pattern!” Muttering, Jamie half listened to the rest of conversation and noted the male’s exit. The transportal had a strange signature, which Jamie logged. Shortly, the new family cycled through the hatches.
“Aven, before you go, did the other baby make similar connections?”
Aven checked and nodded. “Yep … rather, Maya made the connections. Is that significant?”
“Don’t know but keep feeding me data like that.”
Ara watched as her blue strings followed the man into the black hole. But she saw brown strings too and they went with him. What did he say? Another body? Why did he have two? He had two names Korbet/Randall so that made sense to her. She waved her tiny hand and wondered why she thought it was tiny.
Within her mind a male said, “I’m Trickster. What are you doing, little baby?”
“Habah.”
He “smiled” back at her.
Ara locked that signature away, inside her mind, along with the time with Korbet in her special place. Maya tried to connect to Korbet but Ara wanted her special place to be just hers. Trickster helped her when she showed him Korbet had some kind of wall in his mind, and he had labelled it “Inner Guardian”. So Ara told Trickster she wanted her Inner Guardian like that too, aware the male was close by and accessing the Cardinal Unit’s mainframe.
“Oooh.” Trickster, she saw, made sure the plasma lines split properly by checking with the complex Cardinal Unit database. Maya was like a big neural hub, connected to everything and everyone in Aryan Space by plasma nodes and lines. The Cardinal Unit was where Maya resided and used the CU to “do” things.
Ara identified the other energies that came as waves of excitement entered the nursery. Mechanisms on the hub opened and closed. Eventually, she heard voices. By their pitch and volume, the arrivals were happy. They reached her pod and peered in. Two adults, male aged 689 and female 786, and two older children, male 256 and female 278, one younger male 123. The Maya told her they were her family. The older female was pregnant at around 3 months. She waved her arm in the viscous fluid and saw more facial contortions, not just smiles, appearing on their faces at different times as they looked around and at her.
“She’s smiling at us, Mum.”
Ara liked the curly, red hair, bright green cat eyes, and almost “v” shaped eyebrows.
“She’s very special, Sacha. We’ve been chosen by the Cardinal Unit…”
“Goo, gah, gah, ooh.”
“Maya, Pen.” The voice was deep. “Inferor Aryans don’t call the Maya the ‘Cardinal Unit’.”
Inferor? That meant low matter and energy levels. Ara watched as they hovered around the pod.
There was muffled laughter as Pen put her hand over her mouth, and then shook her head, looking at her daughter. “I thought the baby might have cried seeing you, poppet.”
Sacha sighed. “I’m a beautician, Mum. I have to practice on myself. Besides, I think she likes it.”
Mum grumbled in annoyance.
The cat green eyes met Ara’s. “I’m going to make you a little…”
“No you will not, youngling.”
“Daaad!” Sacha left the pod’s side and started moaning about something but then returned finding something on a bench.
�
��Is that the instruction pad?” Sacha was smiling at her but holding up a rectangular device and waving it around.
“I think so. We’ll read it on the ranger.”
Ara watched them move around the nursery taking out blankets, a bath, adding water, and they readied the room. Soft music played, the lights were dimmed and they opened the pod.
“What’s Maya doing, Terance?” Pen asked, her voice deeper with concern.
“Injecting nutrients?” Terance responded. “Just wait for a moment.”
Ara felt no fear now and with her new connection to Korbet, she could pulse little sounds of content to him. Her mind grew foggy. Memories of “Ara Honeybee”, Valan danger, and warm, brown eyes remained firm in her neural pathways. Trickster was like a “smudge” in her mind. But her guardian was strong still, she liked his heartbeat.
Ara’s new father gently took hold of the womb and her new mother punctured it. She felt the fluid wash away, and the gentle rubbing of her back encouraging her lungs to clear. She gave a wail expelling leftover fluid and then felt warm water wash over her body. All the faces were smiling down at her. Waving her arms and legs made them laugh as she splashed. Hands wrapped her in a soft blanket, her arms carefully tucked in. She grizzled with that.
“Mum, leave her arms out.”
Pen adjusted the blanket. Ara smiled again, trying to talk, gurgling noises followed by “gah-ing”. Her new family stared down at her.
