“Don’t worry, we will,” said Kodo.
“And trust us; you will know if we’re in the neighborhood. Unexpected solar eclipses have an unsettling effect on most people,” Kalaya added with another of her bad jokes. Drik grinned, and tipping an imaginary hat to the hologram, stepped back.
Max silently strode up to Kodo and firmly shook his hand. That accomplished, he glanced over at Kalaya and smirked, “Last chance to dump him and run away with me. You know you want to!”
Kalaya smiled sweetly back at him and then covered her mouth with her hand to shield her remarks from the others. “No, what I really want to do is knee you in the groin, but sadly, I can’t accomplish that at the moment. But if you are willing to wait a minute or so, I’ll send over a torch drone that will have you singing soprano like a seven-year-old girl with flowers in her hair in no time!”
Max winced. “Umm, no thanks, I’m good.” He wisely backed away and picked up one of the duffels, trying to look unconcerned as he held it uneasily in front of him.
Now it was my turn. I so much wanted to hug them both, but I settled for a lame excuse of a phrase, “Well, I guess this is goodbye,” as I tried to keep from bawling like a kindergartener.
“Possibly,” Kalaya said, real concern showing in her eyes. “But I have a feeling our paths will cross again someday.” Deep down, I knew she was just saying that to ease the pain of separation, but even that was endearing. I had no other friend who would bother to do such a thing. A few more days of digging out, fixing the engines, some hasty patching, and these two would be out of my life...hell, out of my galaxy forever.
“I’m really going to miss you both,” I stammered.
“Come now, in a few weeks, this will all be behind you and be like a dream. But just so you don’t forget us too quickly, Kodo and I took the liberty of sending a few souvenirs that shouldn’t get you into too much trouble.” She leaned in and caressed my cheek with her tingly touch. “One of them is a coffee maker and enough freshly ground beans to make a few hundred gallons of my special blend. I’d have sent you a chicken as well, but as kind-hearted as you are, I’m sure it would just become a pet. Your Captain strikes me as more of a cat person anyway.”
I couldn’t help chuckling as I imagined a bird stalking the halls of the Jeff, Yeah, I don’t think Captain Kumeiga would go for that. I wrenched my gaze away from my best friend and focused on Kodo, who was, of course, being his usual silent self. I couldn’t help myself; I threw myself into his arms, whispering in his ear, “Last chance to come with us.” He returned the hug somewhat stiffly and then held me back at arm’s length, his face wreathed in a genuine smile. “I appreciate the offer and everything you have tried to do for me, Laree, but I will be staying here. These two ladies,” nodding at Kalaya and the Aurora in the background, “are my life. And to be honest, I knew when I was building her that this ship would be my home for the rest of my days. I accepted that then and I still do now.”
“Laree, it’s time to go already!” Max called out from the ramp of the shuttle. He and Drik had already loaded all our gear and were shaking hands with some of the crewmen inside.
“You know he’s right for a change,” Kodo said softly, a measure of sadness in his own voice.
I looked up into his eyes. “Thank you, Kodo, for saving my life and well…everything. You are a good man, one of the best I’ve ever met, despite what you might think of yourself. Take good care of him for me, Kalaya.”
“I will, don’t worry,” she whispered, wrapping one of her two-dimensional arms around Kodo’s back and hugging him tenderly.
I stood back and took in one last breath of clean air, looked around and listened to the birds in the nearby trees. I could almost feel the life coursing through the dirt beneath my feet. Finally, choking back any further words, I turned and dashed the short distance back to the boring, meaningless life that I had left only a week earlier.
Chapter 17
The flight back to the Jeff didn’t take long at all, despite all the commotion going on in the cabin. I guess finding aliens and a ship like the Aurora has an energizing effect on people. I didn’t want anything to do with the hoopla. All I did was hold on tight in silent remembrance to the best gift anyone had ever given me.
Despite my reticence, the Captain had a few more questions for us, as did the medical team that was onboard to check us over. “Verify that they are not harboring any pathogens or parasites before we dock,” he growled. “Once docked, I want them to go through a full medical workup. Leave nothing to chance.”
“Yes, sir,” the lead doctor responded promptly. Her name was Hannah and, coincidently, she and I had transferred to the Geoffrey Laird on the same day, even arriving on the same shuttle. I ruefully considered that, despite the relatively small size and close quarters of the Jeff, she hadn’t said a word to me since that day. Of course, since we were semi-celebrities now, she was cattily all smiles. Still strapped in her chair, she started running a portable scanner over me as I distractedly clutched my pixie figurine like the mental lifeline it was.
“That’s a lovely statue,” she gushed. “Did ‘they’ give it to you?”
I nodded. “Kalaya gave it to me, yes. It came from her private collection.”
Her eyes lit up for a second. “You mean that absolutely gorgeous woman out there? And here I thought you had found yourself a man on the planet.”
“No, there are only the two of them and he isn’t interested in a relationship like that.”
Hannah snorted rakishly, “Hmmm, well I bet I could make him change his mind on that. From what I saw, he looked damn hot. No offense, Laree, but you aren’t exactly a glamor player where men are concerned. Perhaps he just needs a woman with a bit more…confidence,” she said, taking a deep chest-expanding breath and adjusting her light brown curls.
Wow, she as much as just said I was the preeminent loser on board this vessel. Miserably, I tucked my pixie back into her bag and clutched it even tighter to my chest, mumbling defensively, “You can try, but I don’t think he will go for it.”
She looked positively shocked for a second, then leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, “He’s not some sort of psychic vampire alien that’s only interested in Earth girls’ minds, is he? Does he have tentacles instead of legs under those pants? Ooh, that could be interesting…”
“N…No!” I stammered, shocked. “Kodo is more human than most of the people I know on this ship, and he’s my friend.”
“Then I don’t see a problem, unless those two are a bonded couple or something.”
“No, not in the way you’re thinking, at least. But he is very loyal to her and she worships the ground he walks on.”
“Well then, I’ll just have to bring my ‘A’ game,” she chuckled as she continued to scan me. A few seconds later, her handheld chirped a few times and her face became serious as she tapped the sensor on the wall a few times in frustration. “Why is it we always get the leftover junk in the med bays. Hold on, I’ll have to run a diagnostic.”
“Problems?” questioned the Captain from his own flight chair, his attention attracted by Hannah’s obvious issues with something.
“No, sir. I mean, yes, sir. These reading are off.”
“How so? Is she contaminated? ”
“No…” Hannah dithered, furiously punching buttons on her unit. “Quite the opposite, actually. She is clean, like impossibly clean, and that’s not all.” She swiveled her seat around to face me and looked directly into my eyes. “Laree, our records show you broke your fibula when you were eight years old.”
“My leg, that’s right, Max and I were horsing around on some bleachers behind our school. I fell and…”
“No, you didn’t,” Hannah interrupted then glanced at the Captain with an almost frightened look on her face. “There is no trace that you ever broke that bone; no misalignment, no shadow where re-growth occurred, nothing. It exactly matches the undamaged bone on the other leg. And those wisdom teeth that we
re removed when you were eleven? They’re back! It’s like you were remade from a fresh set of genetic blueprints.”
“Is she or the crew in any danger?” Captain Kumeiga asked urgently. Yes, I would really like to know the answer to that, too.
“No…no, I don’t think so. It’s just extremely odd. Her current readings are all within normal human ranges, just spot on to the perfect side of those ranges.”
“Captain,” Drik interjected from farther back, “in my report, I mentioned that Laree was injured and received medical attention from the aliens. I failed to mention they had to put her through their decontamination system as well as put her on a course of healing drugs. I was informed something like this might happen.”
I was what? Wait, that never happened. I distinctly remember that Kalaya said she never gave me any of their drugs for fear of hurting me. Unless…they didn’t tell Drik and Max they used nanites on me. Clever girl, very clever.
“Is this true?” the Captain asked me.
“Honestly, sir, I don’t remember, I was unconscious during the whole episode.”
“Yes, I remember reading about that. Very well, what about the other two?” he asked, gesturing back over his shoulder.
Hannah accessed readings from the other medical techs seated farther behind us. “Their readings are normal for a returning surface mission, sir. Nothing a pass through the decontamination chamber won’t fix.”
“Very good, I’ll want a full check on each of them once we dock with the Jeff…”
“Captain!” interrupted the shuttle pilot over the com system, “The Jeff is receiving a priority transmission from the fleet. Your presence is required on the bridge ASAP!”
“Acknowledged,” he said, then turned back to us. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from them so quickly, but I suppose I should have known better. You three had better join me on the bridge right away; they will most likely ask for you anyway. Pilot, dock us at the forward airlock.”
“Yes, sir.”
The rest of us adjusted our seats into the fully upright position as the pilot steered the Jeff’s shuttle in close and lined up on the docking clamps. Minutes later, the hatch opened up into the drab, familiar passageways of the ship. Strangely, there was a lot of traffic in the corridor as passersby craned their necks to get a glimpse of what all the fuss was about. From what I could gather from the whisperings, they all wanted to see the crew members who survived the first encounter with an alien race.
The Captain marched forward scowling, and the foot traffic miraculously thinned and spread to the sides. “You three with me, the rest of you get back to your stations. Doctor Bissett, I expect a detailed report about your scans by the end of the hour.”
The medical staff snapped a quick salute and gratefully sped off in any direction that wasn’t taking them along with the red-faced Captain. As we reached the bridge, I took a few seconds to look around, mentally comparing it to my recent experiences. I had only visited the Jeff’s bridge once in my time on board and that was a general tour on my very first day. Now I looked at it in a new light, and sadly, it was a much dimmer light than I remembered. When I was first assigned to the Jeff, I was assured that the research vessel was state-of-the-art, but now… It’s almost scary when compared to the Aurora, and by extrapolation, the other space-faring races I now know to exist.
The Captain took his seat in the command chair as the three of us positioned ourselves behind him. Instantly the main view screen came to life with the image of a fit, middle-aged man in uniform filling the scene. The bridge behind him was bathed in red light, and several manned action stations were arranged around the circular back wall. The uniformed station holders had their backs to us, but they were all wearing helmets plugged directly into the consoles where they sat. That was something I had only seen before in vids as no company or civilian ships are allowed to use direct interface technology.
The man dominating the screen looked up from a pad he was holding. “It’s about time, Kumeiga. I was beginning to think you were avoiding this discussion. “
“Not at all, Captain Urduja, I was merely delayed in returning from our shuttle bay,” our Captain said stiffly. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your transmission?”
“Skip the pleasantries, Captain; I’m pretty sure you know the pile of shit the Jeff has stepped in. Admiral Kittson is waiting in his office to speak to you. I would advise you to find a more private location to chat, this isn’t a social call.”
Captain Kumeiga’s face lost a few shades of color at the mention of Admiral Kittson, but it didn’t seem to affect his resolve. “This is a civilian corporate research vessel, Captain; we have nothing to hide, and there is nothing that you or the Admiral could say that I would want to keep from my bridge crew.”
“It’s your funeral, Captain. Transferring you to the Admiral’s quarters.”
The next scene displayed was that of an older, gaunt-faced officer sitting behind a table. I couldn’t tell exactly, but he seemed tall judging by how he loomed over his workstation. There were no distractions in the background; everything was focused on him. He wore a flawless Terran military black dress uniform, and even a scientist like me knew what those four pips on his collar represented – power.
“Captain Kumeiga,” he said, acknowledging our presence in a harsh, clipped tone. “The Third Fleet is currently on course for your location at flank speed. We should enter orbit around the planet you call Fleece within 96 standard hours. At that point, we will assume control of the situation. Until then, the Geoffrey Laird will stand down from all operations and you will remove and lock down the cores from two of your three reactors.”
“Lock down our reactors? Why? It will take us a week or better to get back to full power,” the Captain started to protest.
“Exactly.” Kittson smiled, and it wasn’t a pleasant smile by any means. More like watching a snake I had seen up against the glass on a school field trip when I was thirteen, cold and devoid of emotions. “Also, you will make no transmissions to the surface, use your shuttles, or attempt to contact the aliens in any way, shape, or form. Your ship is quarantined.”
“Quarantined? I don’t understand…”
“Your ship and crew have had contact with an extremely dangerous humanoid alien race, Captain. I find the fact that you did not immediately report this contact to us…disturbing.”
“Contact has been minimal. I only learned of the aliens myself last evening, Admiral. Besides, why bother to file a report when you obviously are monitoring everything we transmit anyway?”
“And if we hadn’t, we might never have discovered the duplicity of you and your crew. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had failed to mention the contact altogether until you reached your corporate masters back on Earth, bringing the alien menace to our civilization’s very doorstep!”
Kumeiga chuckled nervously. “I hardly think one individual who wants nothing more than to be left alone constitutes a threat to Terra. The alien and his shipboard AI have been very kind to our crewmen and have not shown any hostility toward us.”
“And what if they are just playing you for fools, Kumeiga? Looking over your records, I fail to see any xeno-diplomatic training in your background. I have read your reports and logs and have even verified your recordings, and I doubt you have any concept of what you are dealing with.” The Captain twitched visibly at the last statement. He had probably suspected that the Jeff was being monitored somehow, but hadn’t known to what extent. What good are our scientific recordings to the military anyway?
“And so your intent is just to storm into this system and do what, Admiral? That doesn’t sound very diplomatic to me.”
“I don’t like your tone, Kumeiga. You corporate types are all alike; you put profit before the welfare of civilization. Well, this is a new era. A few more technological jumps and mankind will be ready to throw off the shady oppression of the corporations once and for all.”
“And return Terra to a military junta-ba
sed society? Because that worked so well in the past?” He snorted and changed the subject. “I still say these aliens should be treated with respect and offered our friendship. If what my crew members tell me is true, there are more powerful forces than the Quetanae out here in the stars. They might make a valuable ally.”
“And humankind might also make valuable serfs, Captain. In your discussion with this Kodo individual, he admitted that the Quetanae were a threat and that, with sufficient numbers, they could drive our fleets from space in a few years. If we are to defend ourselves against threats like the Quetanae or these other mysterious bogeymen lurking in the outer reaches of space, we need the Aurora’s technology, and I aim to obtain it by any means necessary.”
“Admiral, if you were listening to our communications, then you also know the Quetanae have stated that they will destroy their ship and take this planet with them if they feel threatened.”
“You let me worry about that, Captain. In my experience, few men are willing to go to their maker so easily; it’s undoubtedly a bluff. We’ll surround their ship, both on the ground and in space, cutting off their retreat. Once they see the situation is hopeless, they will fall all over themselves to cut a deal, mark my words.”
Seriously? Now I was glad that I hadn’t been able to bring myself to include Kodo’s personal history in any of my reports. Let them think they are dealing with a simple tool-carrying engineer and a fancy computer. I toyed with the idea of letting them know just who they were dealing with, but then I realized that this admiral wasn’t going to budge in the face of mere facts. My opinions probably counted as less than zero anyway. Ninety-six hours? I would need to warn my friends somehow. My thoughts were jarred back into the present when I heard Kittson say my name.
“Captain, as soon as we establish orbit, I will send a shuttle over to the Geoffrey Laird and take custody of the three crewmen who spent time on the planet, Scientists Drik and Laree and Specialist Maxwell, I believe. We will need their memories of the Aurora’s layout and defenses to plan our operation.”
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