by James McEwan
On the bridge, Eve and Captain Wesson watched as the Damocles pulled away from the Ralnai scout ship, and when they reached a safe distance Wesson said, “Okay commander fire.”
The tactical officer said, “Aye, aye Sir.” They watched as the Damocles fired two of its large MAG (Magnetic Assisted Gun) guns. Two solid slugs, the size of a small car, smashed into the little ship, destroying it in a flash of brilliant light.
Eve turn to Wesson, “You know it took me two weeks to make that thing livable.
“I’m sorry about your ship, but I have standing orders,” was his reply.
“I’m not,” Wesson looked shocked, “Two weeks of hard cleaning and it still smelled like Ralnai piss in there,” she said. The bridge crew laughed.
That night Eve spent the evening with the Captain, while Thad spent the time with twins in the mess hall and taking a tour of the ship with the first officer. He was a tall blond man from “Earth, Santa Cruz California,” he said more than once if he was trying to make sure they knew where he came from. It was late ship time and Eve still had not been seen so Thad returned to his quarters and turned in for the night. The twins did as well although they were quite disappointed to be sleeping alone.
It was not until after breakfast that anyone saw Eve again. Freya found her first, “So missy where you been all night?”
Eve smiled, “Oh can’t a girl have her secrets?”
Freya laughed, “Not from me sister, now spill it.”
“The Captain is a very charming man and reminds me a lot of Doctor Hammer. He was a perfect gentleman. His company was a refreshing change from the Untors. Don’t get me wrong, they were great, but not well read or refined,” Eve said.
Freya could tell she was trying to avoid spilling the gritty details of her evening so she pushed her, “So you were gone all night and most of the morning, did you do it?” Not sure, what she meant by doing it, Eve gave her a puzzled look. Freya rolled her eyes, “You know, the horizontal mambo, bow-chica-bow-wow, ride um cowgirl, bumping uglies, knocking boots, the wild monkey dance, you know making whoopee, trying out the new hardware?” Eve stood there with a puzzled look. “Gee’s sometimes you are so thick! Sex, girl did you sex up the handsome captain?
Eve giggled, “Oh that, yes I did.”
“So how was it?” Freya asked.
“Well as I’m an AI in a robot body, I would have to say it was amazing. There are sensors in this body so the robot can respond to her lover, and their input is truly amazing. I felt every little touch and the emotions that came with them was, well mind-blowing to say the least. I have been spending half my processing time trying to understand them all,” Eve smiled.
They giggled like schoolgirls until Fiona found them in the hallway, “Hey what’s so funny?” Fiona asked.
Freya put her arm around Eve, “Our girl here got busy with the Captain.”
Fiona hugged her, “Good for you, it was about time, but don’t you think it was a little fast. I mean you just met the man.”
Eve said, “I guess I never thought of that. For me, there is no moral argument or impediment, as I’m a computer program and therefore have no soul that can be thrust into Hell. I feel no shame or guilt. I saw something I liked and I went after it. I don’t see a problem with that.”
Fiona laughed, “I don’t either girl. Just do me a favor and don’t ever tell me you have no soul. Who knows what really makes up one and what I have seen of you convinces me you have more soul than a lot of flesh and blood people. As far as I am concerned you have a soul, and you are certainly no less than anyone else I have ever met.”
Laughter had turned to tears. It was Eve that was crying. She hugged both of them tightly, “Oh I love you two like you were my own.”
Freya said, “That is great Eve, but I think Fiona is turning blue and is going to pass out.”
“Oh sorry,” she said, as she released them, “I got so caught up in the moment I did not process how much force I was using. I wonder if I’m malfunctioning.”
Freya patted her on the back, “No dear, I think your emotional software is running just fine. You are just acting human.”
The moment was broken when Thad yelled down the hallway, “There you guys are. I have been looking all over for you three. We are at our drop off point. Captain Wesson is going to shuttle us down to Sky’s End City personally. We are expected in the shuttle bay in ten minutes so get your gear and get moving.”
“Oh you are so sexy when you bark out orders,” Fiona said teasing him.
Thad walked up to Eve, “You sure made an impression on the Captain, not only is he going to shuttle us down, but his is using the Captain’s yacht.”
Freya draped herself over her husband, “Oh, she did indeed.”
Thad, with his hands on her hips, “And what does that mean?”
Eve looked shocked at him, “Gee’s Thad sometimes you are so thick.” He shrugged. “You know the horizontal mambo, bow-chica-bow-wow, ride um cowgirl, bumping uglies, knocking boots, the wild monkey dance, you know making whoopee, trying out the new hardware,” she repeated what Freya had said early as if it was her own words. Thad looked at her, “penny in the air,” she said. Then Thad’s face conveyed his understanding, “and the penny drops.”
“You didn’t?” He paused looking for her to say something, which she didn’t, “You did!”
Fiona grabbed Thad by the hand pulling, him free from Freya, “Yes she did.”
“Well no wonder we are getting the presidential treatment, but really we need to go.”
Twenty minutes later, they were on the ground at the space dock in Sky’s End City. Thad and the Twins were offloading their gear while Eve and Wesson talked. “I know it does not look much, but there is enough space traffic here you should find a ride out of here. I just wish I could do more for you, but with the Ralnai reaching out deeper and deeper into our space, I would lose my command if I left my patrol area for too long. I was able to get this little trip approved because my boss at Fleet command owed me a favor and she thought it was great you killed the crew and took their ship,” Wesson said to Eve his hands in hers.
“Daniel, it is okay, I appreciate everything that you have done for us,” Eve said, giving his hands a little squeeze.
“Will I ever see you again?” He asked.
“I know what ship you command, and I will keep tabs on you, and when my personal business is completed I will find you. Just make sure you get some leave time,” she said.
He pulled her close and kissed her, “I will promise, until then safe travels to you and your friends.”
Confused she asked, “Don’t you mean crew?”
“My dear I have been a sailing the black a long time and I can tell who is a crew and who is a family. You are no more ship captain than I’m a housewife. The real one in charge is Thaddeus Hammer,” he said.
For the first time she felt the feeling of panic, he knew Thad’s name, “But how do you…”
“Know his name?” He said finishing her question. She nodded, “I’m a Captain of a Federation ship, and it is part of my job to keep up with the wanted list. It is updated daily and your boy there has been on the top of the list for a long time. As soon as I saw him I knew who he was.”
“I don’t understand why didn’t you arrest us as soon as we came aboard?” She asked.
“I thought about it, but if I had, would we have had the evening we did?” He waited for it to sink in.
“Me?” She looked shocked. She had never thought a human would fall for her, but Captain Daniel Wesson may have been the first person in the universe to fall in love with an AI in a love bot body.
“Yes you, my dear, you had me spellbound from the moment I laid eyes on you,” he said looking deep into her green eyes.
She thought this is great! Too bad, he doesn’t know that I am not a real woman. She couldn’t do it to him, she thought he had to know. “Daniel there is something you should know about me...”
He stopped her
with a kiss then said, “What, that you are an AI in a love bot body?”
That floored her, “But, but how did you know?” she stuttered.
He smiled as she looked deep into his soft gray eyes, “It was your smell.”
“My smell?” she was perplexed.
“Yes, your smell, you smell like flowers, and during our love making you did not smell of sweat, just of sweeter and sweeter flowers and I knew it was a love bot body, the rest was easy to deduce. You are too human to be a love bot. Love bots have limited knowledge beyond sex and sports. They are usually programmed to react to the needs of the owner. You had to be an AI because you knew far too much and acted too human to be a robot.” He smiled at her.
Floored by the information, she asked, “And you are okay with it, I mean you still like me even though I kept information from you?”
He laughed, “Now what fun would a woman be with no secrets to discover? Course I’m okay with it. I think I’m in love with you.” He kissed her again. “Besides you are the perfect woman, smart, beautiful, a great conversationalist, mind blowing in bed, and you can never get a headache.”
Eve laughed, “Well that is true.” She was floored by this man, and she had to admit she had fallen for him as well, but she still wanted to know why he had let them go. “Daniel, I really would like to know why you did not arrest us and why you are letting us go.”
He stood up straight and looked her into her soft green eyes, “I didn’t start my career as an officer. In fact, I was a seventeen-year-old, on the run from the law, when I joined the Star Guard. You see, my father was a drunk who like to beat my mother and me. One night he beat her to death. When I came home and found her body and my father passed out drunk in his chair, well I lost it. I taped him to his chair and set the house on fire,” he paused and looked off into the distance as he recalled the memory. “After the fire, I was wanted for double homicide, so I changed my name and ran as far as I could. When I ran out of options I joined up as a Marine.”
“I see,” Eve, said thinking she understood.
He held up his hand, “No you don’t, not yet at least. You see I was just a young marine when we were called on to go to a shit hole of a planet to get some scumbag pirate. The mission didn’t go as planned. Things went bad when two of our retrieval shuttles got shot down, but they really got bad when the Dreenoi showed up.”
“Ah yes, the first time that the Guard had ever gone up against the Dreenoi in combat. I remember reading about it,” she said.
“It was the first time any humans had ever seen them. We gave them a good spanking, but in the end, we had to pull out and they overran the planet. Even though we fought with everything we had we still lost a lot of good people that day.” Daniel’s eyes began to tear up as he relived the events of the day.
“Eighteen wasn’t it?” she asked softly.
“Eighteen Marines were killed yes, but not one of the one hundred sent in got out without being wounded, myself included. I was hit pretty badly, took a full blast of plasma to the left side of my chest and arm. My armor had been melted to me and the field medic did all he could for me, but I and many others didn’t think I was going to make it.” He paused again. “But I did make it back to the ship. The Epsilon was her name, good ship, but I digress. The ship’s chief medical officer at the time not only saved my life but because of some groundbreaking medical procedures he had pioneered, he was able to restore me to full health without leaving any scarring.”
“Amazing,” Eve said.
“Yeah it was, and I promised that doctor I would someday repay him for all that he had done for me. Well, I never did get the chance to repay him until now,” Daniel said, with a smile.
“That was Doctor Hammer?” she asked.
“Yep, he was the doctor on that ship who saved me. At the time he was still a young doctor eager to all he could for the betterment of mankind.” He said.
“Wow, I never knew. He never let me have access to his personal records. Sure I could have broken the encryption in a nanosecond, but I respected him so I never did,” Eve said.
“Well you could image how I felt when I found out he was gone now and I would never have the chance to repay him.” She nodded yes. “But when I first laid eyes on his son I thought a debt is a debt, and a promise is a promise. I knew right then and there that I would let this one go. Now I can rest easy knowing the debt has been repaid.”
She pulled him close and kissed him gently, “I’m thankful that you did.”
He returned her kiss, “Me too.”
Thad and the twins watched Eve say her goodbyes to Wesson. Freya said, “Oh look at that. I think she has a boyfriend.” They all nodded in agreement. Once Captain Wesson was back on his ship, Eve rejoined them.
No one spoke as they grabbed up their gear and headed out to find some food first, then a ship going to Nova Texas. Sky’s End City was larger than Nome, but not by much. It had a few more places to eat and a big stroke of luck that they needed; it had a shipyard. As they walked down the street looking for a place to eat, they passed a strangely familiar looking fuel tank bar. Thad laughed and pointed to the building, “Huh, another Bob’s, must have been a chain at one point.”
“Yeah, but I bet their food is nowhere near the quality of Carl’s,” Freya said. They all got a good laugh out of that. After passing on Bob’s they settled on an outdoor café to get some food and make plans.
Sitting around a table, they ordered food. Thad took charge as if they were having a business meeting, “Well ladies, we can’t try booking passage again. Any kind of commercial transport is bound to be full of problems.”
Fiona took a sip of her wine, “So what do we do then?”
“We buy a ship and fly to Nova Texas on our own. I would have done this in the beginning, but there were no ships to buy on Nome, but Sky’s End City as a shipyard. We should be able to find something.”
Sitting across the courtyard was Rankin Riffrost, a black man with deep dark skin and his eyes darker than his skin. He tall and well built, not an ounce of fat on him. He was dressed in old style blue jeans, soft brown leather boots, and dark purple shirt. Over his shirt, he wore a black leather vest and over the vest, long black leather coat, hiding many secrets. His bald head was covered by a wide brimmed matching black hat with ornate silver decorations. Mr. Riffrost was not your everyday man-on-the-street sitting in a café, but a bounty hunter. He liked to sit in places like this and watch for wanted people to come through. His efforts paid off today. He was looking over the newest bounties posted on the net when low-and-behold; he spotted the biggest fish of all.
Everyone was enjoying the meal when Eve spoke, “I found a used shipyard not far from here, and it is the only one that sells working ships. There are a couple scrap yards around that have hulls and other parts.”
Thad laid down his fork, “What is the name of the yard?”
“Story Johnston’s Starship Emporium,” Eve replied.
“Alright, I will check out the shipyard and see what I can find. You three should go have some fun, do some shopping, I’m sure after a few months of living in the trees you will want some new clothing,” Thad said, knowing they had more clothing stored in the DDSD then they could wear in a lifetime, but he wanted them to relax and have some fun. He wanted them to feel normal, even if it was just for a few hours.
Thad went to find transport to Story Johnston’s Starship Emporium while the girls went to the fashion district, at least what passed for one. The fashion district consisted of four clothing stores of which one was a man’s store and one shoe store.
“Can you believe this place, only one shoe store?” Fiona said.
“I know my dear sister it is a barbaric place, but it least it has one, Nome had none,” Freya said as she threw her arm around her sister’s shoulders.
“Good point,” Fiona said with a laugh. Riffrost was not far behind them. He had chosen to follow the girls. He thought they would make good leverage if Thad became a pr
oblem when it was time to grab him.
Thad caught a hover taxi, and after the short and wild ride, he found himself face to face with Story Johnston himself. A fat man with beady eyes, large toothy smile, and shaggy sandy blond hair, Story held out his meaty hand for Thad to shake, “Welcome friend, I’m Story Johnston and if you are looking for a small starship that can not only jump between planets as well as land on them, you have come to the right place. No one has better ships at better prices than me.”
Thad shook his hand, “Smith, Mr. Smith.”
“Well, Mr. Smith what can I do for you?”
“I’m looking for a small fast ship, but one that is nice on the inside. I’m traveling with some ladies and they really don’t want to travel on a piece of junk, if you know what I mean,” Thad said.
Story let out a laugh, “I know just the ship, come this way.” He followed Story to small hover cart. They both piled in, Story took the wheel, and the cart listed to left under Story considerable bulk. He looked at Thad, with his toothy smile, and off they went at a break-neck pace.
The girls were having fun for the first time in a long time. Being raised mostly in space, they never got the chance to shop like normal planet dwellers. This was new and exciting. “Freya, what do you think of this?” Fiona asked as she stepped out of the dressing room modeling a little black dress she had picked out.
“It’s cute, but I think it needs to show a little more cleavage, don’t you?” Freya replied.
“It wouldn’t hurt, I guess,” Fiona went back into the dressing room to change. There was a man standing there waiting for her. He held a gun on her. With his finger on his lip, he motioned for her to stay quiet.
Riffrost whispered to her, “Stay quiet and I will not hurt you. Do you understand?” She nodded yes. “Good, now don’t you worry, I’m not some freaky dude here to get his rocks off. I’m a bounty hunter and my dear, you and your friends are worth a lot of money to me. Now we can do this the easy way or if you like, the hard way.”
