Star Chasers

by Viola Grace

Warmth wrapped around the pod and suddenly her view of the wreckage was very clear. The ship that she must have been on had been torn open. Something had ripped metal into shreds, and there were a few bodies floating around.

  Whatever had happened must have been recent.

  She was moved from the site of the destruction to a base floating in the center of nothing.

  She had seen images of Alliance space stations and this was nothing like it. A sphere with a spire running through it from top to bottom was a strange white-silver that reflected the light around it. The station was getting rapidly larger, and she had to wonder if she was going to be smashed into it.

  The thing holding her slowed down just when she was getting nervous. Part of her mind laughed hysterically that it took the threat of being smashed to make her nervous. She had no idea how many times she had been woken by the maintenance cycle, but this might be her last.

  A door opened in the station and her transport system flew right into it. What had looked so small from a distance turned into a hundred-foot-high doorway that was two hundred feet wide. The hangar inside was mind-boggling, well, the floor was. She could only see what was right in front of her and now that she was being pulled through the space she could admire the smooth polish of the metal that was the same as the exterior.

  The tug of gravity made her glad for the gel restraining her. Even inside the station, the fireball was still flying, and it was a dizzying ten minutes of working toward the center of the station before he set the pod down and rolled her over.

  Ember could hear him humming to himself as he plugged the unit in, and she just about screamed when everything faded to black once again. Fuckity, fuck!

  Chapter Three

  Cross looked into the pod and had to focus to see the creature inside.

  She is not a creature, she is a Terran. I have been waiting for her for some time.

  Cross snorted. “If you were waiting for her, why did you tear that ship apart?”

  They were threatening to destroy her pod. I had to act.

  “You acted them into chunks. There is nothing left.”

  Polarium chuckled in his mind. She is left. I have waited decades for her to arrive.

  Cross peered into the pod. “Are you sure it is female? It looks blue and flat to me.”

  She is in a support gel. Set the pod to release her in two days. That should be more than enough time for the station to fill with atmosphere.

  Cross crouched and keyed in the waking time. Why this particular woman was so important to Polarium was not his business. If the star wanted her, the star would have her. Cross was just how the tremendous intellect and power got around.

  * * * *

  Ember opened her eyes, and everything was different. There was no feeling on the outside of the pod. A chime rang out. “Welcome to your destination.”

  Ember carefully wiggled her left arm over, and when she grazed the controls, the gel released her limbs. The skull jack released, and she hit the pod lid, blasting it free.

  The air that rushed in wasn’t that of a ship or Earth. She could taste minerals in the wrong quantities with every breath.

  Ember released the jacks in her arms and legs. The connection to her groin was removed with a lot of shrieking and cursing, but eventually it was stowed with the others for sterilization.

  Wherever she was, it was silent. There were no sounds, no whirring of machines, no chirps of computers. Nothing.

  Standing up was not going to be an option after all that time, so she grabbed the outer edge of the pod with her feeble arms, and she started to pull.

  Inch by inch, she heaved her body out of the pod. The fall and the thud was almost welcome after the strain of getting free of her prison.

  Ember breathed heavily as her limbs were shaking. “Where the hell am I?”

  “You are on the Polarium orbital station. Security clearance required is level forty.”

  The voice came from the walls themselves.

  “What is my clearance?”

  “Level fifty.”

  Lying on her back, she looked up at the pattered ceiling twenty feet above. “Who are you?”

  “I am the monitor. I have been supplied with provisions and a replication station. Are you injured?”

  Ember chuckled, wheezing slightly. “Can’t you tell?”

  “No. Your baselines were not included in my programming.”

  “Check the pod. It has all my scans.”

  “Ah. Of course. Checking.”

  A moment later the monitor spoke. “I have it. Yes, you have suffered nerve damage and neural interference. I will take you to medical.”

  “Oh, goody. I thought it was just me.”

  A whirring broke the silence, and a hulking bot rounded the corner. It rolled up to her and stopped short, folding nearly in half and extending flat tines similar to that of a forklift. The tines slid under her knees and shoulders, and the bot straightened.

  The change in altitude made her dizzy, but she would be damned if she passed out again. She needed to know what was going on.

  “Based on your scans I am amazed you were able to get out of the pod.” The monitor was surprised. It showed in its voice.

  “I was motivated. I had slept long enough.”

  “I would say so. Barring a few interruptions, you have spent two hundred twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty hours in that unit.”

  She felt dizzy. “What?”

  “You were in two hundred—”

  “I know that. What does that mean in days or years?”

  “How many hours in each of your days?”

  She closed her eyes. “Twenty-four.”

  “How many days in a year?”

  “On average, three hundred and sixty-five.”

  “Just over twenty-six years.” The monitor’s voice was calm.

  It was too much for Ember, she passed out against her better judgement.

  She was naked. That was the first thing she noticed. The light covering on her just barely covered the tone of her skin. She tucked the sheet under her arms and cleared her throat. “Monitor?”

  “Yes, Ember Velar?”

  “Oh, you know my name, great.”

  “Yes. It was in your file. What do you need, Ember Velar?”

  “Um... clothing first and then can you tell me how long I was asleep?”

  “Twenty-six years on your measuring unit. Your clothing is in the cupboard to your left.”

  She swallowed. “Right. Right.”

  She got out of bed, and her body felt better. It was definitely under her control again. She glanced at the port site on her arm and closed her eyes. “How long was I out this time?”

  “Six hours. We have regenerative technology powered by the star.”

  Ember sighed and opened the cupboard. “This isn’t a suit.”

  “You do not need your suit right now. Be comfortable, and you will have the run of the station.”

  She slid the blue and silver gown off the hanger and slipped it over her head. The robe was encrusted with small gemstones, and it hung open. The gown went to her toes, so only her head and the tips of her fingers were visible.

  “Are there any shoes?”

  “They are not necessary for the areas you are allowed until you complete your recovery.”

  She lifted the hem of the gown and wiggled her toes. “I thought you said I was healed.”

  “You are, but you have no stamina. You need to walk slowly in the light until you are able to go on to the next level.”

  “The light?”

  “The light of Polarium. The star’s light is what all of the healing equipment is based on. The frequency is what does the healing, but it is also what rips the holes in space.”

  Ember was moving around the room and looking for the exit. “What?”

  “That is what this base is. I monitor and locate the holes to other dimensions and alert Polarium. The star’s Avatar pushes the wrecked ships back through the h
oles and closes the rifts.”

  “What is... how can someone... how do they even form?”

  The monitor was only too happy to fill in the blanks. “Polarium is a nexus point in space and time. You can see it from a thousand worlds, each in a different universe. Sometimes, there are stresses in that universe that tear a hole in the ether. He patches the ether and seals the breach so that realities don’t collide.”

  “The Avatar?” Avatars had been a whisper of information in the files she had been raiding.

  The monitor paused. “You have not met the Avatar of your world?”

  “We don’t have one.”

  “Odd. The file says you are from Terra. Terra is a sentient world.”

  Ember wished that she had a place to stare. “I don’t understand.”

  “Your world is alive. It has been making matches for its daughters throughout the cosmos.”

  She turned slowly in place. “How do you even know that?”

  “Polarium is sentient. Polarium is linked to Terra, I am linked to Polarium. You are a child of Terra, offered to Polarium. He has offered you to his Avatar, but Cross is interested. He can’t see you when he looks at you.”

  She leaned against the wall and tried to fade into it.

  “That is the situation he has a problem with. When he isn’t using Polarium’s energy he uses his own senses. His senses can’t see you.”

  She blinked. “Seriously?”

  “Yes. Your talents operate on a frequency that is difficult for the Rehalik to perceive.”

  She didn’t want to ask what that was. She moved along the wall of the room and finally triggered a door. She stumbled out of the medical unit and into bright and blazing light.

  “The light of Polarium floods this level at this time. Your eyes were adjusted while you were being repaired. You should be able to see in a moment. Right now, you are fighting reflexes. Let your eyes adapt.”

  Ember squinted, and though the light level should have turned her eyes into black cinders, she could see. “Why am I trusting a disembodied voice?”

  “You don’t have anything else.”

  That was true. If he was right about how long she had been in stasis, her daughter would have had the letter for ten years already. She would be twenty-eight. Numb, Ember walked to the panel letting in the light. Her daughter would be older than she was.

  She stared out at the stars, the wreckage and the darker than dark marks in space.

  “Ember Velar, you are crying.”

  “My daughter grew up, and I didn’t know anything about it. I wasn’t there.”

  The monitor was silent for a moment. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

  She sniffled. “Wasn’t it in my file?”

  “None of the other Volunteers had children. Why were you different?”

  She hiccuped. “I don’t know.”

  She stared into the light, and she wanted nothing more than to be like it. She wanted to be bright, cold and anonymous.

  “The bot will take you to your quarters, Ember Velar. You need a meal and some rest.”

  “I have been asleep for twenty-six years. I have slept enough.”

  “Changes have occurred to your biology that require time to integrate.”

  She was still numb. “There were changes made?”

  “It was in your contract. Changes for adaptation were allowed.”

  Ember nodded. The bot rolled up, and it bowed before rolling along a path, pausing when she didn’t immediately follow.

  “Monitor?”

  “Yes, Ember Velor?”

  “How do you know about my contract?” Ember took slow steps after the bot, and it matched her speed as she followed it.

  “I know it is difficult to accept, but you were requested by this station. The Avatar cannot do his work alone and having a companion from a receptive species is highly desirable.”

  She stumbled and when she straightened she asked, “Right. Do you have a communication’s array?”

  “I do.”

  “Can you contact the Alliance?”

  “Of course, but you are not leaving.”

  She chuckled. “I have gathered that. No, I want to know if my daughter made it to the stars.”

  “I will ask Polarium. If it agrees, I will send the request for information.”

  Ember nodded. “It is a start. Thank you, monitor.”

  “You are welcome, Ember Velar. Rest well.”

  She chuckled and followed the robot until it paused next to an open door. A meal was waiting for her in a dispenser, and the bed looked incredibly inviting.

  She ate the oatmeal-like substance and then headed to bed. She didn’t even bother to get undressed. Natural sleep awaited her.

  Chapter Four

  Cross walked through the station and headed for the control center. “Monitor, do we have increased activity?”

  “No, Avatar. There is a two percent decrease in tears.”

  Cross nodded. “If you say so. How is our guest doing?”

  “She is awake, aware, and upset.”

  Cross chuckled. “You told her that she was a mail-order bride for a celestial being?”

  “Not in those words. She is unhappy.”

  Cross opened the control center and sat in the command seat. He linked his mind with that of the station, and he saw what the orbital body saw.

  The rifts were still appearing, but not at an accelerated rate. It was good. Despite Polarium boosting his energy, Cross got tired.

  “Where did you put her?”

  “She is on the central deck, near the main lift. Right now, she is sleeping.”

  Cross chuckled. “You would think she has had enough rest.”

  “She is being altered. It is tiring.”

  “Altered?” Cross raised his brows. “What are you doing to her?”

  Making her closer to a Rehalik. You cannot do the work here alone anymore, and I am not getting less powerful. I tear reality apart, and you put it back together. You cannot continue alone.

  Cross was astounded. “You ordered a second Avatar?”

  Of course. Your body can barely contain me. Hers has already had a living being inside it.

  “What?”

  Monitor filled in. “She has had a child. Her body is used to alteration and containment. Polarium chose her because of that.”

  Cross was still shocked. “Where is her child?”

  I did not ask, but it was healthy and alive when she went into the pod.

  Monitor spoke, “The files that were transported with her indicate that her child was taken from her and she exhausted her finances to try and get her back. She then enrolled in the Volunteer program.”

  Cross blinked. “That is all in there?”

  “The Ontex who prepared the report was very specific as to Ember Velar’s motivations.” Monitor was clear.

  Cross listened to the tone and chuckled. “One day with her and you are already on her side. It seems she makes friends wherever she goes.”

  “I am a disembodied voice. I am hardly a friend.” Monitor sounded defensive.

  Cross grinned. “I have never heard you call yourself that before and I have known you for nine decades.”

  Monitor was silent.

  Do not tease him. I had him built to help us, not to entertain you.

  Cross nodded at the voice in his head. “Right. Now, where is she?”

  He spun through the internal cams and found her quarters. Oddly enough, Monitor had placed her right next to him.

  The woman didn’t have the glowing grey cast of a Rehalik female, but her curves were all in the correct place and proportion. She had fallen asleep in her clothing, but the fabric outlined every part of her.

  “Hm, I am guessing that I should have gotten to her sooner. It seems a shame to think that she was floating around in the wreckage for fifteen years.”

  Monitor was silent.

  “Oh, you didn’t tell her that. Funny, you are usually so forthcoming wit
h information.”

  Monitor stated softly, “I would like permission to send a contact burst to the Alliance.”

  Cross felt Polarium push forward. “Why?”

  “Ember Velar wishes to know if her daughter made it to the Alliance.”

  Authorization is granted for all communications regarding Ember Velar and her daughter. If contact can be made, we will facilitate it.

  Monitor answered, “Understood. I have sent the information request.”

  Cross’s attention kept being drawn by the image of the woman in a deep and dreamless sleep. Her hair was up in a tie, but it had done some growing when she woke. It formed a rich halo around her features. Her ears were barely visible, but they appeared to be round on the upper arch. Huh. Different.

  Monitor asked, “Avatar, why are you enlarging the screen so that only her ear is visible?”

  “I feel that looking at her now will get me used to her odd features,” Cross muttered. The scanner moved across her forehead, down her nose, and across her cheeks. Her lips were soft in appearance and a darker shade than the rest of her skin.

  You will meet her soon enough. Right now, her tolerance to radiation is not what it needs to be. You must be patient. Meeting you now would injure her.

  “Is she that sensitive?”

  Her species is. Their skin boils, and cells break. Give her some time to grow into the alterations that have been instituted into her body. Monitor says that her eyes are already adapting, so the rest of the corrective measures should come along soon. Monitor will monitor her, and in less than ten days she should be able to withstand a meeting.

  Cross looked down at his hands and the faint glow that he emitted. “Okay, I see your point.”

  Monitor spoke, “Leave her with me, and she will soon be ready for a face to face meeting, but I believe that information from the Alliance would do wonders for her mood.”

  Cross asked, “She’s moody?”

  “She has just learned that physically, her daughter is older than she is. That must be unsettling.”

  Cross nodded. “I can see that. We can’t all be selected because we can withstand radiation. She was chosen for the ability to be transformed into something that can.”