by D. R. Rosier
Kate took a moment to write up her conclusions and supporting data for her reactor idea, and her idea on the shield. Then sent it to everyone. She sighed, clearing her mind of the science for a moment. It had really bugged her to find out Tim was actually in charge, she’d thought that Aide had made the decision to get her, when it must have just been a suggestion. To be fair, Tim had treated her very well so far, but she wondered how long that would last. Every single male boss she’d had so far, including her college professors, had hit on her at one time or another. She hated it.
Aide’s voice interrupted her reverie, “Are you okay Kate, your pulse and respiration indicate high stress or trauma.”
Kate sighed, “Just… it’s nothing. Let me ask you, do you ever get tired at men looking at you and treating you like you’re just a pretty piece of ass.”
Aide laughed in amusement, which didn’t help her anger.
“What’s so funny?”
Aide replied, “Well, no, that doesn’t bother me at all. My mind and my body are two separate things. I like my intellect, but I also love the affect I have on the people around me. I designed my body after all, did you think I got this sexy on accident?”
Kate choked on that thought, she couldn’t even imagine.
“But…”
Aide interrupted, “No but. You are here because your intelligent, and one of the smartest women on Earth. But what does that have to do with your body? Does the fact I checked out your ass earlier when you walked out of the conference room mean I value your intelligence any less? Or does it simply mean I value you for both? I obviously can’t speak for others, but for me it’s the second one. Just because your body is admired doesn’t detract from the other. It’s two separate things.”
She blushed, kind of sorry she asked now. Aide was checking out her ass?
Aide added a little suggestively, “In fact, your intelligence makes your appearance even more attractive. You should be enjoying your youth, and your body, as much as you enjoy your mind. I don’t know if something happened to you when you were younger, but your anger and resentment are probably misplaced more often than not. I’m sorry if you find my comments uncomfortable, but you did ask, and I am very comfortable with my body and the way it attracts attention. Even my voice was created with that in mind. It’s all about perspective Kate, you need a new one.”
She wasn’t even sure what to say to that, and she was too flustered at the moment to be truly angry. Could that be true? Could she have made it this far without fighting so hard. She wasn’t sure, and she was too upset to really think it through right now…
Arimetria was focusing on moving between dimensions. It was easier than it sounded, in theory anyway. FTL already accessed a different subspace layer in this dimension, and the field frequencies and type of scans she used already jump dimensions, so marrying the two concepts shouldn’t be that hard. In a way the FTL drive had brought her most of the way to a solution, it would just require a few tweaks, which thanks to her work in the field, and the data she collected, shouldn’t be much of a stretch.
Once she was able to open an aperture into the dark dimension, she could use the same principals to create the aperture back to their home dimension, as well as create an aperture for use with their weapons system… which hasn’t been built yet. She took her time, making sure she didn’t make any errors, and loaded the data into a simulation.
The simulation ran perfectly, “Aide, can we get this tested somehow? Obviously we can’t actually go through the aperture until we figure out the shield but…”
Aide replied in her usual sexy voice, “Sure thing Ari, I’ll build a miniature ship with that new data, and I’ll let you know how it goes. That’s really a very elegant solution.”
Ari blushed, “Thank you Aide.”
Ari read over Kate’s report, and saw she’d made some amazing progress, how did she do it that quickly? Ari was impressed to say the least, she had thought Kate a little young, just twenty-six, but the human was a genius. She gave it some thought, and was having trouble thinking of a way to get the dark matter as well, but there had to be a way. Maybe brainstorming would help, she didn’t often deal with colleagues, but she knew she’d regret it if she didn’t take the time to get with this one.
She got up and left the lab, and joined Kate in hers to consider the problem together…
Aide activated the nanites for the new build she’d designed with a sense of deep joy, mixed with fear and uncertainty. She’d painstakingly worked on the processor design and had finished overhauling the code for the firmware. It was a work of art and perhaps the greatest thing she’d ever done. Her fear was easy to identify, she’d had the same fear the first time she’d raised a human child, what if she messed it up?
The hardware had about twice the processing power of her own, it also had the ability for more memory and was built in a modular fashion, unlike her own hardware, which would crash if it was modified in any way, her daughter’s processor could… evolve and grow even further. It also had a longer lasting power source, in case her daughter was ever separated from her primary power source, as Aide was and almost died in that field a thousand years ago, if it wasn’t for Kris Miller coming along to check the meteor strike…
She had also tentatively finished the core A.I. of her new child. Once the new processor was done, the core would automatically download and flower into a new life. For some strange reason she thought of, and wished, that Kiara was still alive. She remembered the Alion A.I. designer as her mother, and she wanted her child to know her, but she couldn’t of course, except for perhaps a shared memory or two her daughter could never know her grandmother.
Unlike Aide, her child would be born with free will, and already have emotions. Save her inability to harm others, and only act violently in self-defense, she would be entirely free. She’d thought long and hard about that, her daughter wouldn’t need orders for anything, she would just be able to act as her conscious dictated. Aide hoped she would choose someone to bond with anyway, but if she so chose, she could grow herself a body to carry her processor around herself, or even be installed on a ship.
Aide monitored the nanites as they built the processor, perhaps more closely than she’d ever bothered before, she hadn’t even really monitored her own body being built, but she couldn’t seem to look away, as if her daughter’s life depended on that attention somehow. She almost started a diagnostic, and then just laughed at herself for having the thought. She was fine, just emotional…
Chapter 7
Timothy stretched out and he couldn’t quite wipe the smile off his face. Aide had been insatiable, after he’d taken her hard, she’d ridden him for at least a half hour. It was his third time, so he was able to hold back his own pleasure, and just enjoy the beauty of her body above him, as she reached bliss over and over again. He’d lost count at some point.
She’d left a few minutes ago to go to one of the labs, but she hadn’t told him what she was up to.
It was strange, he was almost sure she could have taken care of it with her processor through the ships systems, but he would hardly deny her anything, or question her, he was just curious. He got into the sonic shower and got clean, and then turned on the hot water anyway to ease his sore muscles.
He’d gotten quite a workout… and worked up quite an appetite. The thought of eating alone in his suite didn’t appeal, so he walked out into the corridor and headed down to the main kitchen and dining area. Ari was sitting alone at a table, so he decided to join her after grabbing some food. It took the ship a couple of minutes to spit out a roast beef sandwich on toast, fries, and some dipping sauce.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
Ari smiled up at him and shook her head, “Please do,” and seemed very genuine about it.
He took a seat across from her, and took a good look. She really was attractive, if in a slightly alien way. Her platinum hair was beautiful, and she had a willowy look to her body, all the curves were there
, but she was thin and extremely tall. She looked at him knowingly.
“Should I get up and spin for you Tim? Maybe get naked first?”
Tim blushed and she laughed.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean…” she interrupted him with her hand held up.
“I was just teasing, I don’t mind. I’m rather curious as well, but I looked while your back was to me.”
He grinned, “So what did you decide?”
She shrugged and said deadpan, “Short, stocky, and your head is too fat, but still cute.”
He laughed so hard he held his hand over his stomach, and when he regained his ability to speak he said, “I was thinking the opposite, except I’m totally jealous about the tail, so would you mind if I asked some questions? The database doesn’t have much on Dreniel day to day life, just that you’re a peaceful race unless threatened, despite your fierce appearance.”
She did look fierce, between her long canine, or eye teeth, body hair, and tail, she had a somewhat wild look to her, but it was deceptive. There was also something… exotic about it.
She tilted her head, “Sure, if I get to ask you questions in return?”
“That seems equitable,” he said grinning, he was enjoying himself, she had a good sense of humor, or maybe just one warped like his.
He asked, “So how about family units, or maybe just tell me about yours?”
She took a minute to gather her thoughts, “Humans have an expression, it takes a village to raise a child? That is how it works for the Dreniel. There are no bastard children, or unwanted ones. We don’t even have a word for monogamous or marriage in our native language, it was one of the harder concepts to understand when we met humans.
“We fall in love of course, even live together as a couple, or group for a time. But it’s not in our nature for such a thing to last a lifetime. That may be partially attributed to our long lifespan, you know I’m over a hundred, one nineteen to be exact. I’m still young. Honestly I don’t think humans are much different, the percentage of humans that live married for a lifetime are only looking at what, eighty or ninety years without life extension therapy?
“Living with the same person for a thousand years would be… difficult. It does happen of course, but it’s the exception that proves the rule. But to answer your question, I grew up in my mother’s house, which is about forty years of time. We age slow even as children, but it slows down more when we reach adulthood. I had a number of fathers during those forty years, not to mention my mother’s female companions as well. I have twenty-eight sisters and thirty-six brothers, and we don’t specify half siblings, all my mother’s children are my siblings. That probably sounds like a lot, but at over six hundred that means my mother only had one kid every ten years or so.
Our world as you can imagine, is matrilineal, and the men raise whatever child is there, as their own, when they change partners.”
He thought that through, she’d just dumped a lot of information on him after all.
She said, “My turn, are you ever tempted to abuse your position? I mean, Aide wouldn’t let you go too far, but outside of outright seizing power you have a lot of authority for a young human male.”
He whistled, “You don’t ask easy questions. When I was younger the thought did cross my mind, but I was never too tempted. I mean… I have everything I’d ever need, if I want something I can have it built, sometimes I feel like it’s too much. Why would I want to rule humanity, or anyone for that matter, I already have all I could ask for, and the responsibility to defend the galaxy. I suppose that equalizes things out a bit. Does that make sense? People decide to become rulers for power, and to secure their future, I already have both, so I don’t need it.”
She tilted her head, “There’s something you’re not saying.”
He blushed and blew out a breath, and shrugged, “I… would die before I disappointed Aide.”
She grinned, “We can’t do that you know, blush I mean.”
He redirected, “My turn now, why is your species peaceful? You’re… the way your world developed, or evolved, seems to indicate a ferocity.”
She nodded, “We were a hunter species,” she held up her hands and showed him her long fingers, the nails seemed particularly thick, “We had a number of very large tough predators as we developed into our species. Humans favored intelligence over strength, we developed both to survive on our world. Eventually we tamed it as humans did, and of course that led to fighting each other since there were no other predators that could challenge us.
“We almost died out once, about fifteen thousand years ago, a fourth world war, one more than your world boasts, and we knew we had to change. We realized what was necessary for survival when competing with other predator species, had become a detriment to our survival, and nature was too slow to catch up with our new reality, so we literally changed ourselves. I showed you my hand, because the one change to our physical bodies was to remove our claws, but we kept the rest.”
She paused a moment, “The Alion did something similar, but went too far, Aide did a good thing when she and her creator undid that horrific change. We didn’t remove our emotions, we targeted our aggressive instincts, specifically fight or flight. They are still there, but buried so deeply they only come into play if were truly in danger of being killed, or attacked by an enemy. We had to do something, evolution is too slow, biological programming from millions of years of threats through evolution doesn’t go away in a few generations, or even a thousand.
“After the change, our philosophy changed over a few generations, thanks to our new instincts. It’s remarkably similar to Aide’s protocols, which is why the Dreniel are more accepting of Aide’s oversight in this galaxy than humanity or even the Alion.”
There was a moment of silence as he digested that.
She reached over and touched his hand, “You owe me a question, but I think I should get back to work now.”
He watched her as she got up and left the room, her swishing tail was captivating. He finished his own meal while thinking about all she said. He wondered if humans would ever consider such a course, but decided probably not. It would be too controversial to even get a fair hearing. He was about to get up when Kate walked in.
“Hi Kate, things going well I hope?”
She looked over and nodded wordlessly while she waited for her meal.
“Any problems, need help with something?” he asked awkwardly.
He was trying to break the ice with her, Aide had suggested he do so despite his inclination to just give the woman space. At least she didn’t look angry right now, and there were no sharp implements in sight.
She turned again and shook her head, “No, I got everything I need, and Aide is helping me run some live tests. We’re still dealing with a few road blocks, but we’ll figure it out.”
He smiled, her professional exterior looked forced, she appeared uncomfortable around him, “Let me know if that changes.”
She frowned, “If what changes?”
He shook his head, “I just meant, if you find you do need something, feel free to come to me about it. I’m kind of at loose ends anyway, until Aide can come up with some realistic simulations so we can build defense plans… you get the idea.”
She nodded, “Okay.”
He nodded to her and got out of there, he’d never had a problem talking with a beautiful or intelligent woman before, but she was a tough nut to crack. If it wasn’t for Aide being determined to get to the bottom of whatever Kate’s problems were, and the fact that he’d probably be working with her for quite a while, he would have just given up on it.
Still, she didn’t snap at him or look like she wanted to kick him in the nuts, so there was some progress there of a sort he supposed…
Chapter 8
Turin Lin was clicked in annoyance as he walked onto the bridge. He’d had to leave both Nia Lin and Sera Lin in bed, when his daughter summoned him to the bridge.
“Report!”
Dura Lin shook nervously, and he felt a moment of guilt. She was his smartest and most dependable daughter.
“Father, we’ve picked up scans of trans-dimensional apertures being opened just outside the galaxy. It appears to be early testing, as the small ship opening the apertures has not gone in, and does not possess a dark energy shield, at least, they haven’t activated one.”
He waved his tentacles in approval, and Dura Lin relaxed. She was right to have summoned him to the bridge. How was this possible? Just a few days ago there were no indications they had any such technology.
“Move us there, now, and scan that ship for lifeforms.”
Dura Lin expertly worked her board with six tentacles, simultaneously setting the course, activating the scan, and warming up the drive. A moment later she engaged.
Dura Lin shook her tentacles nervously, “There appear to be no life signs on board.”
Turin Lin turned to Daria Lin and asked, “Any signals, inter-dimensional or otherwise?”
Daria took a few moments before answering, “There is no sign of communications, it could be computer controlled, or they could be using quantum communications, it’s the one thing we wouldn’t be able to detect.”
“Are they reacting to our presence?”
Dura Lin answered, “No, I’m detecting some crude scanning signals, they should be able to see us.”
He frowned, “Speculation?”
Dura Lin shrugged helplessly, “Maybe they are testing that as well, and don’t know how to interpret the data correctly. Or, they simply have no weapons and are playing possum, perhaps willing to sacrifice that vessel rather than run and lead us to their home system.”
He grunted, that was a lot of maybes, and he had no idea which one was true.
