"Maybe as much as five thousand. What's worse is that I won't age until the last few years and then the aging will be incredibly rapid. I'm always going to look like a recent Academy graduate, until my end is near."
"And that's bad?"
"It's wonderful from a female vanity standpoint, but I'll be treated like an inexperienced officer by anyone that doesn't know me."
"Not much chance of there being anyone that doesn't know Jenetta Carver, or at least about you. And you haven't told anyone about this non-aging thing yet?" Billy asked incredulously.
"I didn't want to become a lab rat. And this would be just the kind of information that they'd use to take Eliza for study. They'd try to justify their actions by insisting that she's just a clone. Besides, we have no proof that our age is extended, just that we're changing. I've grown six inches since the process was started, and the doctors predicted that I'll, we'll, grow at least an inch more. You can't tell anyone about this, Billy."
Billy just nodded. The changes that Jenetta's body had undergone during the past year and a half were proof enough that something radical had been done to her. The discussion had sobered the festive mood they'd felt at first, so Jenetta changed the subject and told them about the things that had occurred after Eliza had left for Vinnia.
Jenetta's entrance at the reception was greeted by loud applause. Eliza was welcomed warmly enough, but the officers that hadn't met her before couldn't stop staring at her. It was as if they were trying to spot something abnormal. She and Jenetta had discussed it before leaving Jenetta's quarters, and she had prepared herself for the awkward moments. By the end of the reception everyone had begun to accept her, and treat her just like Jenetta.
Billy returned to his ship with his fellow officers after the party, but not before sharing a long goodbye hug with Eliza and Jenetta. All three knew that it might be a long time before they saw each other again. Billy's ship was scheduled to leave orbit in a few hours.
Certain that once they reached Vinnia they would be split up, Jenetta and Eliza decided that, for the time being, they would share Jenetta's quarters.
Jenetta wasn't scheduled to resume her bridge duties for three days, so she and Eliza fell into a routine of exercise in the morning, followed by work in Jenetta's office for the rest of the day. To occupy their time, they had begun developing a report outlining the history of Mawcett from the information and news reports that they'd found in the facility's computer. By the time Jenetta was to begin her first watch since returning from the planet, the report had grown from a simple digest to a treatise.
As was her custom, Jenetta arrived on the bridge ten minutes early for her watch. Commander LaSalle, who hadn't been at the reception because she'd had the watch, greeted Jenetta in her usual brusque manner.
"Congratulations on surviving in a sewer for two months. You came out smelling like a rose— as usual."
"Thank you, ma'am, but I hardly smelled like a rose after two weeks without bathing. The sewer itself dried up twenty thousand years ago and the only moisture was from the facility that we were occupying. But I'm glad I was able to take a quick shower before coming back aboard."
"You seem to attract trouble like a magnet. Why is that, Lieutenant Commander?"
"I suppose it's the job, ma'am. I certainly didn't invite the Tsgardi to attack us and attempt to steal the equipment that I had been charged with safeguarding."
Lowering her voice so that the rest of the bridge crew couldn't hear, LaSalle said, "That planetary assignment should have been mine. As second in command I should have been left in charge of the base while the Prometheus went off on a wild goose chase. I know that you have the Captain wrapped around your little finger, but don't think for a second that your latest escapade entitles you to any new privileges up here." Raising her voice up to a normal level, she said, "You have the bridge, Lt. Commander."
"Aye, ma'am."
Jenetta settled into the command chair and adjusted the right-hand command console viewscreen in front of her as LaSalle left the bridge. She knew now that there would probably never be anything more than a formal relationship with the first officer since LaSalle was clearly jealous of her. Jenetta was grateful beyond words that LaSalle hadn't been the one put in charge on the planet. One LaSalle to deal with was quite enough, thank you. Of course, with LaSalle in charge, things could have turned out very differently. She didn't speak Dakis, but she may have realized that Doctor Vlashsku would have switched to Dakis when tired or frustrated. She could have even employed his help in learning to interface with the computer. But if she had blundered ahead, not wanting to involve him so he couldn't share in the credit for solving the problem, the equipment and all of the personnel could have been lost. As far as the jealousy went, Jenetta felt that LaSalle's paranoia was her own biggest problem.
Responsibility for safeguarding the planet and staffing the base established by Jenetta fell to the captain of the cruiser Mentuhotep when Space Command SHQ ordered the Prometheus to proceed immediately to Higgins Space Base. Jenetta made one more trip down to the surface to visit the facility and say goodbye to the scientists before the Prometheus left orbit.
Arriving at the Mawcett base, Jenetta saw that it had been restored to reasonably good order. The perimeter sensor network had been reestablished and marines were patrolling again. The tunnel leading to the facility had been cleared of debris, making the damage to the walls outside the facility entrance that much more obvious. The roof had been reinforced to prevent collapse. Jenetta smiled when she saw that someone had erected a crude makeshift sign above the entrance declaring it to be 'Fort Carver.'
Walking though the facility, she made sure that all the materials prepared for shipping had been moved out. She also noted that the stores had been restocked in preparation for turning the base over to the Mentuhotep staff. A Marine stood guard over the sewer entrance now, even though a locking tritanium hatch cover had been installed below the marble slab. Motion sensors in the tunnel below made passage without detection impossible. Alarms would sound if anything larger than a sewer rat tried to breach the tunnel now.
Before returning to the Prometheus, Jenetta stopped by the archeological staff's camp. Doctor Peterson actually greeted her with a smile. It was probably because he was so glad to see her leave, she thought.
"Ahh, Commander Carver. Getting ready to leave for your home port I understand?"
"Yes, Doctor. We'll be leaving orbit this evening."
"Well, good luck and thank you for everything. I realize that I was a bit rough on you for the first few weeks, and I apologize."
"I accept your apology, and I understood your resentment. I would have felt the same way if I had discovered something significant only to have someone else come in and push me out of the way. We really had no choice though. I shudder to think what would have happened if the Raiders had gotten their hands on the cloning technology."
"I shudder to think what would have happened to us if you hadn't been here. I also want to thank you again for providing the complete list of symbols that you prepared. I've circulated copies to all the other camps on the planet and sent a copy to our warehouse on Anthius. When do you think you might have a basic dictionary available? I'm sure it will prove to be of immense value to the researchers once we can begin to develop translations beyond those you were able to ascertain."
"I'm glad I was able to help. I can't give you a date on the dictionary just yet, but I'll forward a copy as soon as I can. My sister, Eliza, and I are working on a report that will present the history of the planet from what we've been able to piece together during our stay here."
"Eliza?"
"You knew her as Three. She's decided to take the name of Eliza Kathleen, our great grandmother's name."
"I see. And where did your research information come from."
"The facility's computer contained some historical documents, reference information, and media reports. Once we were able to communicate verbally with the computer, we
were able to examine the contents."
"You established complete interlingual communication?" Doctor Peterson asked excitedly and clearly in awe. "Commander, we must have access to that information! It will help us translate all the textual matter we've uncovered during our years of effort on this world."
"You will, Doctor. After Space Command SHQ has approved its release, I'll forward a phonetic analysis of the symbols and a complete dictionary with text translation documentation. The original files will naturally be made available to you and anyone else interested in researching them once Space Command ascertains that no other banned technology is included."
"You mean that we have to wait?"
"Doctor, the planet has been deserted for almost twenty thousand years, and you're facing the prospect of a lifetime of work here. Another year, more or less, isn't really going to make that much difference, is it?"
Doctor Peterson mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, then said, "No, I guess not."
Jenetta decided to leave before Doctor Peterson had a chance to get excited again. "Doctor, good luck with your archeological endeavors. Goodbye."
"Good-bye, Commander."
Turning to walk back to the shuttle, Jenetta was stopped by Doctor Dakshiku Vlashsku, his assistant Glawth Djetch, and their fourteen clones. All touched their closed hands to their chests and dropped to one knee as they bowed their heads.
"Please stand and raise your heads, Gentlemen."
Doctor Vlashsku stepped forward and said, "My associates and I heard that you were in the camp and we wished to thank you once again before you left."
"You're very welcome, Doctor. I wish all of you success in your endeavors here on the planet."
"We're most sorry for the loss of your clone, Azula."
"Thank you. We haven't given up hope of recovering her yet. I'm referring to her as my sister now, rather than as a clone. Her new name is Christa Marie Carver. It gives her more of an identity that way."
"I see. A wise decision," Doctor Vlashsku said as he glanced over at his own clone group.
"Gentlemen, it's time for me to leave. Goodbye."
In one voice the group said, "Goodbye, My Lady."
* * *
Christa sat up on the foul smelling cot in the brig aboard the Tsgardi ship and looked around at the dingy grey steel walls. She believed that she'd been aboard the ship for about six weeks now. She couldn't be more sure of the time because Tsgardi days are just shy of thirty-three earth hours long and she was trying to keep track of the days in GST time. So far, she'd only been able to learn that the ship's name was Boshdyte.
Despite daily interrogation visits from the captain, she had divulged very little. Her uniform was cut in places, and clotted with blood from daily whippings. She had begun to suspect that the visits from the baboon-like alien were just an excuse for the captain to fulfill his sadistic proclivities. She also suspected that the ship had left planetary orbit, because the meal routine had changed more than a week ago and the captain was no longer interrupted with messages during the interrogation sessions.
The Tsgardi didn't use the prisoner restraint bands that were employed in the Raider detention center where Jenetta had been held. Instead, they used plain old-fashioned steel handcuffs and leg irons, and Christa's wrists and ankles ached continuously where the steel gripped her tightly. A short length of chain attached between her leg irons and the rear wall further restricted her movement in the brig. At least her clothes hadn't been taken away from her, and the mind conditioning that the Raiders had performed on Jenetta enabled her to easily withstand the pain inflicted by the Captain. The DNA modification performed by the Raider doctors had her wounds healing almost as quickly as they were imposed. The gruel she was served daily tasted terrible, but since the Tsgardi themselves had healthy appetites, the quantity was adequate to keep her sated.
Christa knew that the Tsgardi captain expected her to be wearing down so she pretended that her strength was almost gone, despite the fact that she felt fine and exercised each day to the limits allowed by the shackles. Since he arrived each day at exactly the same time, Christa finished up her exercises just before then. The fatigue that she genuinely felt added to the effect that she was trying to convey. She had just completed a long series of pushups and was resting when the Captain entered the brig. Christa sat up on the edge of the cot, and hung her head in pretense of weariness as he entered her cell.
"So, Commander, are you ready to talk to me today?"
Christa just sat there looking down at the floor.
"No smart answers today?"
"What's the use? You never go where I tell you," Christa said.
She heard the swish of the whip a full half-second before she felt the blow on her left arm.
"Perhaps you're not telling me the right things. I want you to tell me how the cloning equipment works."
"I've told you before. It works very well."
Swish went the whip again and a blow landed on her right arm. "I want to know how the process makes the clones. Smart remarks will only earn you more pain."
"I don't know how it works. I'm an astrophysicist, not a medical doctor or researcher."
"You spent weeks working on the equipment. I know that you know more than you're saying. You were left on the planet to disassemble the equipment for transportation."
"I don't know anything about how the equipment functions."
Swish; another blow landed on Christa. This time the whip curled around her and the pain was felt on her back. With the third lash, her pain receptors deadened and the ache faded quickly. She would actually feel better with each new lash after this. Pain made her stronger, thanks to the mind conditioning that the Raiders had performed when they were brainwashing Jenetta to be a masochistic slave at one of their kinky resorts. Christa had acquired the same mind conditioning as a result of the cloning process. The attempt by the Space Command psychiatrist to remove the conditioning hadn't been completely successful, fortunately, but he had removed enough so that she didn't experience any sexual urges as a result of the torture.
The interrogation went on for the usual hour with Christa saying little more than usual. By the end of the session she had again told the Tsgardi captain several times where he could conceal his whip on his person between torture sessions, and repeatedly suggested a reportedly warm place where he should plan a permanent stay.
As soon as the captain had gone, Christa reclined on the cot. She could feel the whip marks and cuts already beginning to heal, and there was virtually no pain. In fact, she was feeling mildly euphoric from the beating. Despite the sense of well-being, she knew that she had to get out of the brig. As a prisoner of the Tsgardi, she would eventually be turned over to the Raiders, and she knew that Mikel Arneu would delight in wiping her mind and sending her off to one of the company's whore palaces as quickly as possible. She wasn't at all sure that her incredibly recuperative body could restore her knowledge and memories.
* * *
Chapter Fourteen
~ April 19th, 2270 ~
During the month long trip to Vinnia, Jenetta and Eliza continued to work on the Mawcett history, and by the time they reached Higgins SCB, the digest that had become a treatise, had evolved to become a book. All mention of cloning and advanced medical testing had been omitted, of course, as they concentrated on the planet's societal evolution with emphasis on religious overtones, and the increasing separation of the population along fundamental canonical precepts.
By linking the retrieved computer core to the ship's main system, Jenetta produced a complete dictionary of the language used on Mawcett at the time its population perished. The file would reside in her computer until she felt the time was appropriate for its dissemination.
Jenetta had also recorded and sent a personal vidMail message to the family of each Marine killed on Mawcett. Although it was Marine Captain Greene's job, and Jenetta knew that he had sent his messages, she felt an obligation to do so as well becaus
e they had been under her overall command at the time they died. Although Space Command personnel and Space Marines had died at the Battle of Vauzlee, while she was the acting XO of the Prometheus, this was the first time that people died while exclusively under orders issued by her. It saddened her enormously to think that she had sent them to their deaths, and even more so that if the war with the Raiders continued, many more under her command might perish. She did her best to put those feelings aside for now as she recorded the messages to the families. In each, she spoke about how the company had been on a routine assignment when attacked by the Tsgardi Raiders and how the Marine had fought bravely in defense of comrades, the civilian scientists, and the dig site laborers. Through it all, Christa's fate was never far from her immediate thoughts.
* * *
Higgins Space Command Base, a massive space station floating in synchronous orbit above the planet Vinnia, dwarfed the enormous battleship sidling up to the assigned docking pier. The station, easily visible to the naked eye from the planet below, resembled an oval-cut, blue opal gemstone, surrounded by a huge silver necklace. The necklace was the station's docking ring, where numerous ships of Prometheus' nearly two-kilometer long length could dock with the station simultaneously. Access tunnels, connecting the base to the docking ring, appeared like spokes in a wheel.
During the Battle for Higgins, the station had been seriously damaged. When Jenetta had last been here, the docking ring had been left almost useless, and great sections of the station had been open to space. They'd had enough of a warning to evacuate all civilians and non-combatant military personnel, but casualties had still been high. Although work continued inside almost two years later, the station was fully pressurized again and the exterior of the base had been returned to its previous magnificent appearance.
After docking, all crewmembers assigned to the base on Mawcett were ordered to report to the hospital for complete physical examinations. The doctors aboard the Prometheus had already completed full examinations of all personnel, but orders are orders. Eliza was included in the group, although her status in Space Command was still undefined.
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