by Saxon Andrew
The three-warriors lifted Gem easily with their armor and rushed him through the front entrance and turned right. The took him into the bath chamber and carefully lowered him into the tub. They saw the water had a silver color and Gem disappeared under it. “Get out!” Ana ordered and stood beside the tub.
Gem’s body triggered the silver film and it bubbled furiously for a minute before it stopped, and turned clear. She waited and saw Gem force his head out of the water; he was no longer a brunette.
Gem’s eyes were closed, and he released a huge sigh, “Thank you!”
“What’s going on, Gem!”
Gem lifted his arms over the sides of the tub to keep from sinking, “While Gregor was communicating with the King, I discovered a shiny film on the chair I’ve been using to talk with the King. I scraped some of it into a container and analyzed it. It’s DNA replicator and it was converting all the internal human DNA in me to Insectoid DNA. He was doing it without my knowledge.”
“How do you expect me to believe this?”
Gem looked up at her and shook his head, “I don’t. I just refuse to convert back to my insect body and pose a danger to you and our children. I’ve been following his directives without questioning them and that stops now.”
“Your species has no choice but to follow the directives of Royalty,” Ana commented.
“He knew that and used it against me.”
“Gem, this is entirely too convenient to come up with this story now.”
“I know, Ana. I’ll leave and not come back.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going back and kill him!”
“Never happen.”
“I can do it. I can get close enough to make it happen.”
You might have done it in the previous body, but he’ll immediately see your DNA has been changed back to human. You’ll never get close.” Gem looked down at his arms and saw they were heavily muscled. He raised a leg and it was also powerfully built. He looked at Ana and she shrugged, “I was kind of tired of the slim gymnast look. I chose a packet with a different look.”
Gem fell back in the water and sighed, “You’re right. I’ll be killed on sight.”
The door to the bath facility opened and a doctor stuck his head in, “Madam Director, I’ve completed the analysis of the scans you sent me.”
“What did you find out?” Ana asked.
“The principle areas that have changed are areas of the brain that control decision making. There have also been some changes in the lymphatic system, which controls emotions.”
“Thank you, Doctor. You may leave.”
Ana turned to Gem and heard him say, “They never stopped me loving you.”
“Gem, how can I trust you again? Even with this evidence, how do I know you didn’t willfully cause this change. I found the Insectoid DNA packet you had hidden. This could all be a sham and you’re still working for them.”
“Do you remember when Gold was working with us back when Leonidas was planning to infiltrate the pirates.” Ana nodded. “I tried to convince him to change his DNA to human, so he could go with us. I told him I had a DNA packet to change him back to an Insectoid once that was done. That packet is the one I planned to use on him.”
“Why didn’t you destroy it after he refused?”
“Where did you find that packet, Ana?”
“It was under the bottom lining in the packet box.”
“Ana, I didn’t put it there. It must have slipped under the lining somehow. Did you notice if the bottom lining was loose?”
Ana stared at him and exhaled slowly, “It was.”
“It wasn’t when I used the box. I didn’t do anything to loosen it, either. I don’t have any idea how it could have possibly gotten under that lining. I’ve not opened the packet box, since I originally changed my DNA.”
Ana closed her eyes and turned around. She walked to the door, stopped, and came back, “I’ve been in the box numerous times.”
“Why?”
“I told you I looked at all the packets to see if there was another body I might want you to use. I lined them up in the order of their beauty.”
I thought you only did that one time. That’s what you told me. Once would have never loosened the lining.”
Ana blew out a breath and sat down on the floor. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “I did it at least a hundred-times.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Gem, you can never underestimate a woman’s fantasies.”
“Then you should have seen the Insectoid packet.”
“I discarded any that didn’t immediately strike my fancy, Gem.”
“How did you discard them, Ana.”
“I threw them into the back of the box.”
“Where was the lining loose?”
Ana rolled her eyes, “At the back of the box.” Gem lowered his head and slowly shook it. “What are you thinking, Gem?”
Gem looked up into her eyes, “Even with this evidence, I know it’s not enough to make you trust me. You’ll think I put it there and the lining came loose when you went through the packets exposing it. After what I’ve done, there’s no way I can get your love and trust back.”
Ana stared at him and took one of his hands in hers, “I might know a way.” Gem’s eyes narrowed, as she went to a closet and pulled out a robe. “Put this on.”
“What are you going to do.”
“Just put it on and come with me.” Gem took the robe, put it on, and followed her out of the bath facilities.
Chapter Eight
Gamgel looked at Gem, “You know I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t blame you. However, I want to thank you.”
“For what? I caused your exile.”
“You protected my wife and family from me. You came up with a way to neutralize the damage I caused, and I’ll forever be in your debt for that.”
Gamgel stared at him and said, “This is a mockup of the bridge of the ship that Gregor took to the Royal Planet. Stay directly in front of the filament communicator and the King shouldn’t see a difference.”
Gem nodded and Gamgel stepped back. Directly behind him were three-warriors with shoulder blasters pointed at Gem. Gamgel lowered his head and said, “You can still call this off and go into exile.”
“No!”
“It’s your funeral. I have a special computer that will detect any lies spoken by you or the King.”
“You may not believe this, but I’m glad you do.”
“Ok, make the contact.”
• • •
The King was yelling at an underling when his filament frequency pinged. He pressed a button and saw a human on the monitor, “I don’t believe I know you.” Suddenly, the King’s huge eyes glowed.
“Yes, I am on one of the ships that you recently had a visit from.”
“Who are you?”
“Don’t you recognize me, Gold.”
The King’s expression showed his shock, “GEM?!”
“Yes. I’ve made a visit to pay you back for what you’ve done to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I found the film on my chair.” The King stared at the Human and was silent. “Why did you do it?!”
The King sat back on his throne, before saying, “Your mother and I never agreed about you changing your DNA to human. You were next in line for the throne and you turned your back on the Kingdom.”
“YOU KNOW WHY I DID IT!!”
“Love is not one of our emotions, Gem. It was a bad reason to leave us.”
“SO, YOU DECIDED TO CHANGE ME BACK WITHOUT TELLING ME!!”
“Would you have agreed to the change?”
“Never.”
“You left me no choice.”
“Did you think I’d never find out?!”
“By the time you did, the change would have insured you followed my commands. How did you find out?”
“I discovered
the film on my chair. I took it to my ship and analyzed it.”
“So now you’ve gone back and changed back into a human again.”
“I have.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“That’s the problem with being human, Gold.”
“What is that.”
“You have been my best friend for my entire life and I grew to love you, as a human. I will not harm you, but I will never have anything to do with you or your species ever again.”
The monitor went dark, and the Prime Advisor asked, “Do you think he was acting to fool the humans?”
“No.”
“How can you tell.”
“Because he said ‘you and your species’. He no longer sees himself as part Insectoid. He’s lost to us.”
“Should we attempt to remove him?”
“Let me think about that.” Like the King said, love wasn’t an emotion he possessed.
• • •
Two-weeks later, the King received a recording from Ana Romanov of Gem’s trial for treason. He was found guilty and his wife ordered the blasters fired at him during his execution. He saw the blaster burn through Gems abdomen, when the beam hit him, and he shook his huge head; so much for this thing humans called love. He had to admit he would have executed him as well if he had committed treason against the Kingdom. He contacted the assassins and called them off. Gem was no longer a threat to the Kingdom.
• • •
Gregor and Elena stared at the Principal in silence and she laughed a musical sound, “Please, come in and let’s discuss this.” They followed her back to her desk and two-chairs came out of the floor in front of it. Gregor now knew where the technology was hidden. “Please sit down,” The Principal said, as she walked around the desk to her chair. She looked at them and smiled, “You’ve led quite the interesting life Gregor.”
Gregor nodded slight and replied, “I suppose.”
The Principal laughed, “Relax. My name is Madellee and I’m not here to challenge you or try to stop you.”
“How do you know about what I’m planning?”
“I need to share some history with you to explain that; I’ll need to share it regardless, and I hope you don’t mind me taking time to do it?”
“Take all the time you need,” Gregor responded.
Madellee smiled, “Most beings I encounter are too impatient to have a good discussion. It’s refreshing to find someone willing to listen.” Gregor nodded. Madellee smiled, “What do you think about my world, Gregor?”
Gregor tilted his head, “It’s incredibly beautiful Principal.”
“Call me Madellee. It’s incredibly expensive to build it like this and I suspect you’ve seen that.” Gregor nodded. “You also think that Cartia has more than enough wealth to do it.” Gregor nodded again. “We aren’t near as wealthy as you think, Gregor.”
Madellee paused and Gregor smiled slightly, “You’ll forgive me if I don’t agree with you about that.”
“You think the revenues we collect from the traffic fines we impose across the universe would make us wealthy beyond reason,” Madellee observed.
“I’ve been told how much Romania pays in fines for a month and it’s a staggering amount.”
Madellee laughed, “Romania does have a huge number of ships, but its fines are in line with all the other civilizations based on the numbers of ships they have traveling the filaments.”
“That would still make you incredibly wealthy beyond anyone’s wildest estimates.”
“It would if it weren’t being spent.”
Gregor stared at her in silence and looked around the room, before remarking, “On what? You could buy millions of planets with that much revenue.”
“Planets are not what we desire, Gregor.”
“What do you desire?”
Madellee changed the subject by asking, “Have you ever wondered why of all the civilizations in the known universe, it was Cartia that went out and mapped the filaments?”
Gregor shrugged, “I think the undertaking was too large for anyone else.”
“It was also too large for us to do it, too.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“We were compelled to do it. When we started mapping the filaments, it was almost an insurmountable task. We’d send mapping vessels out that would drop buoys outside each intersection we encountered and then our ships would follow the filaments from that intersection to another intersection. They’d drop a buoy outside the next intersection and continue the process. Many of our buoys were destroyed by aggressive civilizations, which required us to send another one to replace it. All of our economy was totally developed to map the filaments. This went on for more than two-thousand-years.”
“Why did you do it, then?”
“Gregor, if you had to describe my civilization in one word, what would it be?”
Elena spoke up, “That’s easy.” Gregor and Madellee turned to her, “You’re cartographers.”
Gregor nodded, “I agree; you are map makers.”
“If you asked any Cartian what they were, what do you think they would call themselves?”
Gregor smiled, “Obviously, mapper is not the correct term, or you wouldn’t be asking this question.”
Madellee laughed, “You’re right. If you asked a Cartian what word described him he would respond that they are a historian.”
Gregor and Elena’s heads went back together as Gregor said, “Historian?”
“Yes! My species has always been driven to delve into the past to better understand the future. When we discovered the existence of the filaments, we were driven to go out and explore the universe to learn the history of all the civilizations out there. We craved their history and how they had become what they were.”
“If that’s the case, how did you end up being the universe’s traffic police,” Elena asked.
“That was an accident.”
“Do tell!” Gregor replied.
“We shared our initial maps with the civilizations around us and quickly found that accidents happened at an incredible rate. The ships flying the filaments were constantly colliding and the death toll was climbing at a staggering rate. If a rare metal was discovered on a new planet, the rush to get there led to hundreds or thousands of ships ramming into each other. Sometimes, it was deliberate. At that point, we stopped sharing our maps.”
Gregor smiled slightly, “And once you completed the major map of the filaments, you imposed traffic control on those you shared it with.” Madellee nodded. “But…”
Madellee interrupted him, “We didn’t do it for the wealth, Gregor. We did it to save lives. But once the wealth started pouring in we had a realization; we could now afford to send ships out to study other civilization’s histories.”
“You collected that history with the traffic controllers you assigned to the various planets,” Elena commented.
Madellee smiled, “That’s an astute observation, but yes, that’s how we collect historical data.”
Gregor looked to the side of Madellee’s desk and smiled, “You don’t have a traffic controller at Bellingham; where did you get this globe of Bellingham?”
“We purchased it from a trader who bought it on Bellingham. That’s where the vast majority of our funds go, Gregor. We purchase historical artifacts to learn about a planet’s history. I had this globe of Bellingham on my desk because I knew you were coming.”
“When did you purchase this globe?”
“My family purchased it more than fifteen-hundred years ago.” Gregor and Elena were silent. “We knew that Bellingham was going to play a role in future events and we’ve been watching your planet for centuries.”
“How did you know about my plans to go searching for the civilization that created the filaments.”
“If you’re asking if someone told us, that didn’t happen. We didn’t need anyone to tell us what it meant when you said you were going out to do some mapping. We’ve watched you
for years and knew what you intended to do.”
“I don’t believe you know that much about me.”
“We’ve collected records from your fight against the Movement on Earth and know that it was their killing of Emmett and your mother that drove you to destroy them. We’ve watched your alliances with the survivors from the destruction of Heaven, to the Pirates on Fellowship. There’s very little about you that we don’t know, Gregor. We know your warrior spirit will drive you to make this search. We’re surprised you haven’t attempted it before now.”
“I have a family.”
“Even so. We projected that not going was probably driving you crazy. Did it?” Gregor snorted slightly and then nodded. “So, when you asked for a meeting to discuss mapping activities, we knew you were going to start your search.”
Gregor’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Are you intending to try and stop me?!”
“Quite the contrary, we intend to assist you.” Gregor’s head went back. Madellee continued, “You have to understand that the history of these filament makers is something we want more than anything else in this universe. They are the ultimate unknowns to us and we’ve hoped for the right one to go out and collect data about them.”
“Just how are you going to assist us?” Elena asked.
“We’re going to give you something that we would never, ever, consider doing, except in this extreme circumstance.”
“What is that?” Gregor asked.
“We’re going to give you a copy of all the data we’ve collected from the start of our efforts to map the filaments. We only ask that you keep it secret and return it to us when you no longer need it.”
Elena smiled, “When we signed that shuttle driver’s helmet, he told us that you know everything about anything.”
Madellee’s head tilted, “You say you signed his helmet?”
Gregor nodded, “He said he wanted it for his son. I didn’t think Arepians were that close to their families, but I guess I was wrong.”
