“There has to be some extra clothing around here somewhere,” she said, moving on to the other side of the room.
She finally returned with another cotton shirt and something that looked like a one-piece outfit made of pants and a shirt combined. I recognized it as what most of the shipboard people were wearing when I arrived today… or whatever day that was.
“Have you ever witnessed a baby being born?” she asked, drawing the blanket away from me while I started getting dressed.
“Yes, I had to help the lady who lived across the road,” I said, “Quite an experience actually.”
“Well, then you know that the baby wasn’t just made in that instant. Were you present when her water broke?”
“No, but I helped wipe up the mess,” I replied, getting the outfit on finally, but having problems searching for the buttons.
Diana reached down to my knee and tugged something upward, closing the outfit as she went. I felt the metal notches that somehow meshed the thing together, then I offered her a smile as a thank you.
“That’s pretty neat, though it’s still freezing in here,” I said, taking the blanket and wrapping it around both of our shoulders.
“Well, what I was getting at was this - these people have figured a way to create babies that are identical to whomever they want and these babies aren’t contained in the belly of a woman. They grow these people in a placenta tank, keeping the person unconscious while they allow the person to reach whatever age they desire. It’s pretty disgusting and insanely selfish if you ask me, but who am I?” she said.
I pondered everything she’d told me. As impossible as it all sounded, it seemed to agree with my situation. I was now in a cold, dark room with a woman who had aged at least twenty harvests in the matter of a single luna. I really didn’t know how to respond or really even what I should do.
“So I was naked in a jar of liquid when you found me?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“And I was dressed somewhat when I woke, so…”
“Yes, I woke you and dressed you as best as I could,” she stated, not flushing with embarrassment as I’d have expected.
“Wow, that’s a bit unfair.”
“Unfair?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You’ve seen mine and I haven’t…”
She slapped me, but I knew deserved it. I was just trying to bring some sanity back into our situation. She dropped the blanket and stood up.
“For the record…” she said, opening the door and turning back to me, “I saw yours and you saw mine many times over the course of almost ten harvests.”
I gasped loudly; I’m not ashamed to admit. In fact, I think I may have released an embarrassing whine, wondering in jealousy at the memories of that other Braxton. I clearly remembered how beautiful she once was and actually how beautiful she still was if I cared to admit it.
“They stimulated all your muscles in utero, so you should have no problems getting up. If we stay on this ship, we’ll be dead in about two more six-lunes I imagine. The oxygen and electricity are nearly depleted,” she said, waving me toward the door, “But if we head to Legacy, which is really our only option, we still risk the chance of being killed.”
I stood up and wondered for a moment whether or not it was an act of cruelty for her to ‘revive’ me as she called it. I wasn’t sure if this was a curse or a blessing.
“Why is this ship empty and why would we be killed?” I asked.
“Now that is a long story that covers some thirty-one harvests,” she said, motioning again for me to join her in the hallway, “But I’m not quite sure if you really want to hear it all.”
“Try me,” I replied.
43rdLuna – Harvest Season –986
We have decided to start the USSC Embassy Log today, 43HS 986, since this would probably be considered our first official day with a fully established USSC Embassy on the planet Legacy. In reality, this is the official date of our first ever USSC Embassy on any other planet. I imagine that this date will be celebrated as a holiday in years to come, so we might as well begin documenting it all today.
As with all Embassy Logs, this will remain an anonymous log even if the writer shifts from “we” to “I” throughout the log. There will be no notoriety for any individuals now or for years to come. We are the USSC and that is all that matters.
The colony of Legacy measures their years in “harvests” which like Earth, is the season of reaping each year. Although Legacy doesn’t experience a true winter in the sense that we understand it on Earth, it does have a season marked by its aphelion of about 14 Earth-weeks known as “rest” or “resting season” and a perihelion spanning a comparable 14-week span known as “growth” or “growth season”. The others, of course, being “harvest” and “planting season”. And if you do the math, you’ll understand that they have a fifty-six-week year using Earth-comparable dating. It’s actually 55.1 Earth-weeks in the truest measurement.
As we are now living on Legacy, we will abide by their calendar and we’ll respect the laws they have in place. Although the planet has four continents, the colonists are only aware of two of them. They have titled these Green and Blaze. There are actually around 200 people living on another unnamed continent, but we have no real information on them. The USSC Embassy is located on the Green Continent and we are currently in the process of building an embassy on Blaze.
We haven’t received any messages from the USSC on Earth since their last direction to establish a ground base. We will continue efforts to build relations with the people of Legacy until further instruction come from the USSC.
11
Diana
USSC Foothold
Braxton was managing fairly well for someone who experienced no passage of time between his scan over thirty harvests ago to his arrival into a derelict ship today. I’d expected more disbelief that I was actually getting from him.
“The people of the Foothold were eventually welcomed quite well in Green. It wasn’t an easy transition by any means, but once our people saw what they had to offer in knowledge, technology, and medical advancement… well, it didn’t take a whole lot of convincing after that,” I said, pausing a moment in the dimly lit corridor as I tried to remember which of the two sets of stairways led to the shuttle bay.
“How about Blaze? I imagine the Earthians never received a welcome there,” Braxton said.
“Earthlings,” I corrected, recalling suddenly that the last time I corrected him on this; I was many harvests younger, “Sorry, they go by either Earthlings, the USSC, or more recently, Footholds.”
Our hall offered two stairwells branching off to my right and to my left. I peered down the dark stairwell to our right, wondering if this had been the one I had climbed to get to Braxton.
“Are we lost?” he asked.
“Many of the corridors are completely dark now. I’ve found my way up here by locating all the best lit passageways. I’m fairly certain this one leads to where we’re going,” I replied, leading the way down the stairs.
“And where are we going?” he asked.
“To the emergency escape pods,” I replied, “Luna has made several trips around Legacy since the last shuttle left this ship. Our only chance of survival is in the escape pods.”
“What the heck is going-“
I turned quickly and pushed him against the wall, shoving the palm of my hand against his mouth. He grasped both my arms in his hands, but didn’t seem intent on fighting me.
“We have a very good chance of dying today and that chance increases if this ship doesn’t appear to be as abandoned as the Aussies think it is. I said for you to whisper and I mean it,” I whispered, “Do not raise your voice and do not make any unnecessary noise. You’ve heard the echoes yourself.”
Those deep black eyes of his were locked on mine. I raised my eyebrows, looking for any confirmation that he understood. He gave a subtle nod despite my hand still covering his mouth.
“It all started during growing season, four harvests past. There was a skeleton crew on the Foothold at the time another unidentified ship arrived in orbit. More than half of Foothold had already established homes and new lives on Legacy with no intent on returning to Earth,” I said, lowering my hand from his mouth and taking a step back, “The rest of Foothold was still working for their leadership whom they called ‘the USSC.’ Those people spent their time either building a shuttle port on Green, training people in medical techniques, and as you had hoped, they were training people on their metallurgy,
“The unidentified ship refused to answer our hail. I say ‘our’ because I was a member of that skeleton crew on this ship. I’m sure it doesn’t come as a surprise that they were training me in their electronics and communications technology. I spent more time up here than on Legacy.”
“Was that ship from another planet besides Earth or Legacy?” he asked.
“No, the crew here recognized the model of that ship and besides, its shuttles were the exact same as the ones we had,” I said, nodding toward the semi-dark hall ahead of us, “It’s this way. Anyway, two shuttles descended from that ship onto the western portion of Blaze. We had called the Embassy in Blaze to warn them, but both of our surviving shuttles were away. One was scanning the New America continent for future mining while the other was up here on Foothold.”
“Western Blaze,” he repeated, “You mean the Goldwaters?”
“Yes, the unidentified ship was a ship of villains or ‘pirates’ as Captain Reiss called them. The shuttles raced through the Goldwater villages killing everyone in their path. They came out of the shuttles with cutters to slice away all the Goldwater’s plumbing and to cut all the spouting off their buildings. I don’t know if you traded much with them, but all they ever wanted in trade for their fruit was gold. I doubt they made anything from iron, tin, or copper.”
“Yeah, we’d fought them for a long time when they tried to take our land from us,” he said, “We lost three of our five gold mines to them before we halted their progress.”
We continued onward down the passageway, then I led him down another flight of stairs.
“I think I remember hearing about that. Well anyway, those villains took care of almost all the Goldwater population and left no gold whatsoever in their land. By the time we got a crew together up here to go after them, they were already ascending,” I said, “We could have fought them on the ground, but these ships aren’t really equipped for battle. We have four plasma cannons on the outside of the shuttles, but those can’t do any real damage to another ship or shuttle.”
“So then what happened?”
“They got what they came for and they left. Not a single word was spoken from the pirates,” I said.
“I’ll bet that hurt relations between Earth and Legacy,” he said, shaking his head.
“That wasn’t the only other ship that visited. We had another guest visit our planet the following planting season,” I said.
“Please tell me they weren’t going to start attacking our world all the time,” Braxton said, “If so, I think I’d rather you have never brought me back to life.”
She stopped next to a door and turned to me as she pushed a blue square next to it. The door slid slowly open.
“That’s definitely not the Braxton that I knew. The Braxton I knew would want to seek revenge,” I said, stepping aside so he could enter the room ahead of me.
“Revenge? I’m not all that upset about the Goldwaters. I know it sounds cruel, but my people never really-”
His eyes finally took in the planet beyond the domed windows of the starboard observatory. It wasn’t hard to see that the planet in the windows was nothing of the planet we first looked upon over thirty harvests ago.
“We’re not at Legacy anymore?” he muttered.
“This ship hasn’t gone anywhere since you were last standing here in the observatory. That’s Legacy,” I said, making a point to tap my finger on the glass near the northern portion of Green, “That gray cloud was a ball of fire the last time Green passed us by. And look at this.”
I’m sure I didn’t need to point out these brown or blackened areas, but I needed him to feel what I felt. I needed him to be as disgusted as I was. By the sound of his breathing, I was quite sure he was feeling my pain. I reached into my pocket and drew out the thing I’d been holding onto for many harvests. I touched the small pieces of metal imbedded into the soft, black leather. Then I held it out in front of his view.
He looked at it, then looked over at me. It was times like this that I wished I was still my younger self. The innocence in those deep black eyes made me want to kiss him like I had so many times in my life. Two heartbeats passed and in that time, I was almost sure he was going to lean in and kiss me, but it didn’t happen. He reached out, placed his hand on both the glove and my hand, then took the glove.
16thLuna – Resting Season – 991
Although I have no reason to truly suspect anything malicious coming from the USSC, the fact that all Tachyon Communications have halted really causes me worry. I’ve wracked my mind with excuses such as power outages or even overall Relay failure, but none of these explain years of no contact. The USSC could rebuild a Tachyon Relay in a matter of a few weeks if the something major had somehow shut it down. This is not to mention the relay on the Titan Base or on at least two other USSC cruisers that I personally know of.
The fact is, there’s absolutely nothing I can think of to warrant a complete “radio silence.” I’ve taken measures to make sure our own relay is fully operational, and it is. Given all these circumstances, I, Captain Chris Reiss, as acting leader of the USSC on Legacy, have authorized the defensive training of any Legacy personnel who are willing to participate. I know it was agreed that this log would be anonymous, but I had to identify myself and my reasons for authorizing something typically unorthodox and outside of USSC regulations.
I’ve authorized not only training on our plasma rifles and ion pistols, but I’ve also authorized intimate training on the technology and the building of such weapons. The USSC has built a good relationship with the people of Legacy and we believe unanimously that we should arm these people against any “enemies of peace” which we already know even exists on Earth. We cannot risk these people being infected by another race that is superior to them in all forms of technology lest they be exterminated in the way the American Indians almost were.
If this is a wrong decision, I take full responsibility and do not lay any blame on my fellow leaders. We have come to Legacy as guests and not as conquerors. This is the stance we will maintain even if future generations from Earth have other intentions.
12
Braxton
USSC Foothold
“What kind of battle are we looking at?” I asked, touching the spot on the glove where the rivets once attached it to my wrist, “And did you forget that I’m not properly trained in the Mystic Arts?”
“I have many harvests experience of working with the people of Foothold and during this time, you and I became close friends. While I was learning their sciences and technologies, the biologists of Foothold were studying you. You worked with them because they expressed a desire also to help you control your power,” she said, “Prior to any attacks from Earth, the people of Foothold started offering our people training in defense. Basically, they were helping us build a worldwide military that could stand up to a technological race such as that of Earth,
“I’m betting they knew the type of people that lived on their planet and expected they wouldn’t all have the same peaceful intents as Foothold. When the Mystics came to be trained also, Foothold saw an opportunity to take what they already had and make it better.”
“Better than what I did to their shuttle?” I asked, “I have to be honest, Diana. I would have rather they studied me and worked on a method to take the power away.”
She turned toward the window, then gestured toward the planet.
“Wha
t, so you could fight with plasma rifles like those people down there? So you could fight like the Goldwaters, using their primitive weapons against the pirates? The Goldwaters refused to have anything to do with Foothold or their training, and you heard how quickly they got wiped out,” she said, reaching out and taking the glove back from me, “You’re still down there on Legacy fighting for your mother, for my mother, and for our son Chase, but you’re not using this glove anymore.”
I was taken aback for a moment, stunned by her statement. It took me two heartbeats to fully comprehend her words.
“Our son?”
“Yes, you and I were married for several harvests,” she said, looking down at the glove in her hand.
“Were married? As in, not married anymore?”
“Yes,” she said, pausing so long that I thought she would offer no more explanation, “I loved you and I loved Chase, but I was never really much of a wife or mother. My mom could even vouch for the fact that I was never much of a daughter either. I was married to the influx of sciences, physics, electronics, scanners, radars, and everything else that Foothold had to offer. Our lives slowly went in separate directions and since you spent more time with Chase as he was growing up than I did, it was natural that he stayed with you.”
I just shook my head, still trying to imagine myself as a father. I couldn’t even imagine myself as a husband, though if I had to envision such a thing, Diana would fit in as a reasonable wife.
“I’m not as utterly horrible a person as I sound. I never stopped loving you or Chase, though I imagine it must look that way. There’s no way to even explain the pain in my heart at being stuck up here with… with no knowledge of…” she said, swiping at the tears in her eyes, “I have no idea if you or Chase are even alive right now.”
She covered her mouth, capturing the sob. I saw the rivers suddenly trail down her face just a heartbeat before she turned away from me. I put my arm around her, not really sure if this was alright. It must have been though because she turned back to me and buried her face in my shoulder. I held her for a long time, wishing I knew what it took to make things right. I couldn’t even offer the false consolation that Chase and his father were probably still alive because I didn’t even know those people.
The Mystic Saga Omnibus (Books 1 - 5) Page 15
