A Calm Mind

by Ruairí Cinéad Ducantlin

  “Confirmed.”

  It was another forty seconds before Lucinda and Ragnar walked into the medical lab.

  When the door closed, Ragnar and Lucinda looked at each other and shrugged, palms up in confusion. Corb walked around the table and pulled a defibrillator from a drawer. Pulling back the medical sheet covering Michelle’s body, he stuck the electrodes to the locations marked on the diagram on the wall. Shocked at what was about to happen, Lucinda, reached up to stop Corb.

  “What a are you doing?”

  “I am going to bring her back?”

  “You can’t bring her back, Corb. She’s gone.”

  “Landry will three-hundred volts work?”

  “No, Corb, the Automated External Defibrillator you are holding has a minimum setting for one-thousand volts for one-second.”

  “What? The AED chart right here says three-hundred volts… Fucking military. The chart on the wall is not for this AED. Landry is one-thousand volts for one-second enough?”

  “Corb, I do not know.”

  “You’ve been addressing me as Corb. You have never done that before yesterday. What has changed?”

  “Can we talk about it later? I suggest you start with the one-and-one settings on the AED’s chart. Unlatch the cover and look on the underside of the cover.”

  “Corb, stop. Tell me what is going on.”

  Ignoring Lucinda’s question, quickly reading the instructions, Corb moved the electrodes on Michelle’s body to match the diagram. Finding the line in the small chart corresponding to one-thousand volts for one-second, one-and-one. Turning the dials on the AED, he checked the settings against the chart, and pressed the red button.

  Michelle’s body did nothing. No reaction. No convulsions. Nothing.

  Thinking, Corb realized he needed to reposition the electrodes. Putting one electrode at the top of the slash and the other electrode at the bottom of the slash.

  Corb pressed the red button again.

  This time, the monitor’s heartbeat indicator fluttered, and the blood pressure numbers began to rise.

  It was a full minute before he was sure Michelle’s heart was not going to stop again. Removing the electrodes, pulling up the medical sheet to cover her body, he leaned over and kissed Michelle’s forehead.

  After several minutes of watching the monitors and Michelle, the group noticed her eyes fluttered open. As her eyes opened, she lifted her right arm to shade the overhead lights from her eyes. Looking side to side, without moving her head, Michelle finally smiled and in a gravelly, dry-throated voice, asked a direct question.

  “How long?”

  Seeing the monitor indicating life, they stared at Corb with looks of puzzlement and bewilderment.

  “Three days. What do you remember?”

  “I remember the woman spinning me around, slicing me, falling to the floor, looking up at you, then when I woke up just now.”

  “That is good, it means the medical lab computer kept you oxygenated. You need to rest now. I will be back later.”

  “Wait. How do I control them?”

  “They will create a link. Be patient, it takes a few hours. You will know.”

  Lucinda was in tears. Stoic Ragnar was focusing on the readout and avoided looking at anyone. After they both leaned over and lightly hugged Michelle. Lucinda broke the awkward silence.

  “Will she be alright? How… I mean… Corb, what did you do?”

  “Cassandra, I will tell you all about it later. Now we must take care of some business. I need you both to confirm, Michelle is alive, and not mentally impaired.”

  “Yes, she’s alive... but how?”

  “Landry, please make a video record of the next interaction.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Can you tell us your full name?”

  “Michelle Raye Wilbon.”

  “How old are you?”

  “I am thirty-two. In Earth years.”

  “Do you know why you are in the medical lab?”

  “Yes, I was attacked by a Plentari woman.”

  “Thank you. End recording. Landry, please create a video clip for the Madame Negotiator with no cover or explanation. Do not send it, I will confirm when you can transmit.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Unseal the door and ask NT to join us here in the medical lab. Send a ship-wide notice about Michelle’s recovery. Include the crew of the Marissa.”

  The door to the medical lab slid open.

  “Mister Brooks will arrive in thirty-seven seconds.”

  Walking through the door, NT stopped, stared, raced over, and hugged Michelle. Stepping back, smiling at everyone, NT immediately understood the implications.

  “What are you going to demand?”

  “That, my friend is a very good question.”

  “Will someone PLEASE TELL THE CAPTAIN OF THIS SHIP WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”

  The three men looked at Lucinda yelling and started laughing. Captain or not, the longtime friends found Lucinda’s anger funny. Even Michelle tried to laugh but was too weak to make much sound.

  “NT, if you ever want to see my naughty bits again, start talking.”

  “Wow, you sound like Nick. I don’t know how he brought her back to life, but he did. As you know, the assassin is the Madame Negotiator’s daughter. Because Michelle is, or was, dead, under their laws, we have the right to kill the assassin. Under our laws, we have the right to kill the assassin.

  Now that Michelle is back, and I am not going to ask yet how you did it, we can try the assassin for attempted murder. I do not think the Madam Negotiator would like the idea of her daughter spending the next forty years of her remaining one-hundred and thirty years in a cell on Earth.”

  Ragnar was beaming at the implications.

  “We have leverage.”

  “Yes, Ragnar, we have leverage.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The beauty is unimaginable.

  “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”

  Marcus Aurelius

  “We have everything we bargained for in the negotiations. Why are you going to press the issue? What more do we need? Are you going to decide what to do with the assassin?”

  Everyone was standing around the medical lab table, watching the monitor indicate Michelle’s heartbeat and respiration rate. The assassin was chained to a tie-down on the center of the cargo bay deck. A visual of the assassin was on the monitors throughout the ship.

  “Lucinda, the Plentari believe in constant conflict. It is the core of their culture. They strive to achieve an advantage through quarrels and discord. It has been their way for a thousand years before the first humans walked upright. We, humans, must remain strong and not be intimidated. If we are perceived as weak, we will never receive a fair deal.”

  “Okay, I get that, but Michelle… Do you think she is going to be alright? She has been dead for three days… Life support… Brain damage…”

  Lucinda was fighting back tears.

  “I am right here, and my brain is just fine.”

  Everyone was looking anywhere but at Corb or Lucinda who were in a stare down. Corb remained quiet and waited. NT broke the silence.

  “What was in the box, Corb?”

  “Nanobots.”

  Now everyone was looking at Corb with interest and astonishment.

  “You heard me, nanobots. Very small, self-propelled machines. Microscopic machines that can function autonomously or collectively. These nanobots can reproduce. Well not reproduce, but they can replicate themselves given the right materials and environment.

  Landry, how many nanobots are in Michelle right now?”

  “Ms. Wilbon has three-billion four-hundred ninety-seven million six-hundred…”

  “Stop! Over three billion will suffice. What is their rate of decay?”

  “The AED discharge destroyed just under one billon nanobots near the electrodes. Discounting those, the rate of decay is point oh-four percent.”


  “What is the time period for the point oh-four percent decay?”

  “Human females, in the developed countries of Earth, have a life expectancy of eighty-one point three years. Ms. Wilbon will live well beyond the current human life expectancy.”

  More looks of awe before they focused on Michelle who grinned meekly. Nick, following his norm, was like a dog on a bone with his questions.

  “Nanobots? You have been carrying that box since we were on K’an. Tarunik gave it to you the first time we visited K’an. You, wonder boy, are going to have to ’gee a little more there, bub. Maybe the Enlightened One could enlighten us.”

  “Wait, Nick. Corb how did you know the nanobots will bring Michelle back?”

  “NT, everyone, I can communicate with the nanobots. Not communicate exactly. They do what I tell them… Well they do what I, Landry, or the correct interface tells them is needed. I have been saving them for something important. This was important.”

  “Uh yeah, this was important… but three days… Almost ninety hours… Corb, no one comes back…”

  “Cassandra, Landry directed the nanobots to put Michelle in a kind of stasis when I applied them. The combination of the medical lab computer and Landry kept her breathing steady and her heartbeat constant. She was not deprived of oxygen.

  I thought they were healing her, but I did not fully understand. They were keeping her body from degrading, but they were not healing her. On their own, they lacked the power necessary to effect repairs on the wound and bring her back. Landry and I discussed a hundred options. Nothing seemed to work. Then it dawned on me… Mary Shelley.”

  “You zapped them!”

  “Yes Nick, I zapped them. It gave them enough energy to be able to transfer energy to Michelle’s cells. The question is simple. Was the stasis enough? Would it work? What would be the side effects?”

  “It worked.”

  Everyone looked to Michelle who was smiling up at the group.

  For the first time in three days, everyone’s tears were welcome.

  “I was dead, but I look better than the bunch of you.”

  Lifting the medical sheet slightly, looking down at the scar across her torso, Michelle grimaced.

  “Can you tell the bots to fix the scar?”

  “No, but I think you can. They are part of you now. In a few days you will sense their connection. It is not a point of light like our connections, but you will feel it. Right now, though, relax. Lucinda, keep this ship safe. Ragnar you are with me. Janish, you and Nick get up to the bridge. Lucinda, contact Junell, use her name, not her title. Request you and she meet to ensure the negotiations are complete.”

  “Hold up, who is Mary Shelley?”

  “Ragnar, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus. Instead of lightening, I used a defibrillator.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  What is old, is new again.

  “Out of difficulties grow miracles.”

  Jean de La Bruyère

  Aboard the Jenny

  “Ragnar, we are going to teleport into the chamber. Back to back. I want you to use this.”

  Corb handed Ragnar the laser saber he took from the assassin. They were on the deck of the Jenny’s cargo bay. Lucinda was standing watch over the assassin who was glaring up at Corb with rage and disdain.

  “Anyone comes at us, they die. No exceptions. Are you good with that?”

  “Corb, this is what I live for.”

  A dark beam crept over Ragnar’s face.

  “Lucinda, if this goes bad, she dies. Are you good with that?”

  “Yes, Corb, let’s hope it goes well.”

  “Landry, please translate the last few minutes for the assassin.”

  The assassin was immutable. Hearing Landry’s translation of the orders to kill her produced no obvious reaction. No reaction at all. A true assassin’s mentality.

  “Did she understand?”

  “Yes, Corb, she understood. Her pulse increased, and her skin tone has adjusted slightly.”

  “Landry, when I return, we are going to talk about your use of familiar names.”

  The overhead speaker erupted with Nick’s voice.

  “Junell has agreed to meet in twelve minutes.”

  Mashing the intercom button on the wall next to the door, because he felt like hitting something, Corb issued orders.

  “Leave the cuffs on, behind her back. Place her face down. Stand next to her, put your boot heels against Junella’s side, Ragnar. I will do the same on the other side. We will be back-to back with her between us.

  Lucinda your only mission is to keep the crews and the ships safe. Nothing else matters. Do you understand?”

  “I understand. Good luck.”

  “Ragnar are you ready?”

  “Affirmative.”

  It was Ragnar’s nature to be stoic, quiet, determined, and intense. Corb noticed Ragnar’s redoubled intensity level is a scary thing to be near.

  “Crew we depart in one minute. Remain at alert condition one. Captain Turner?”

  “Yes, Corb?”

  “You have command of both ships while we are meeting with the Plentari. The safety of the crews and the ships are your only concern.”

  “Understood, but I need Lucinda’s confirmation. She is the captain.”

  Lucinda did not hesitate to respond.

  “Captain Turner, if we do not return, Himari will take command of the Jenny and you will take both ships back to Earth.”

  “Roger that. Good luck.”

  Corb, Ragnar, Lucinda, and Junella appeared on a triangular platform in front of the Madame Negotiator. The platform was a few centimeters above the floor and approximately two meters long on each side. Lucinda moved from the trio and stopped on the point to the rear of the platform. The Open Meeting Hall had been reconfigured and looked more like a throne room. Madame Negotiator was seated on a plain throne that was raised high enough to force anyone in the room to look up.

  It required several seconds before the “honor guard” realized neither Himari nor Cassandra had appeared. Two males appearing had humiliated the Madame Negotiator.

  The four members of honor guard attacked in practiced unison. Two lunged for Corb and two for Ragnar. Thinking him unarmed, the two attacking Corb were not cautious. With a sweep of his hands, the attackers were flung against the wall, behind the chief negotiator and crumpled to the floor. Dead.

  The two attacking Ragnar spied the laser saber and took a more cautious approach. Ragnar’s training meant the attackers did not have any chance of victory. The closest attacker feinted, hoping to draw Ragnar’s attention while the other attacker stepped forward with a downward slicing blow. Ragnar caught the second attacker’s blade with his blade, parried the blow, and in one motion sliced the attacker diagonally in half.

  Continuing the laser saber’s arc in an upward motion, Ragnar caught the first attacker by surprise and removed her arms just below the elbows.

  Corb raised his hand and pulled the chief negotiator from her throne. She landed her on the floor at his feet and next to her daughter.

  “Junell, we are not Peek. Nor are we a species you can abuse.”

  Corb had deliberately, and with emphasis, used the Plentari word Peek. Peek translates to dog, or dogs, in English.

  “You killed my mate. You offered your life for you daughter’s life. In our culture one cannot pay another’s life debt. Tell me, Junell, in your culture what is the correct response to this attack?”

  “We do not negotiate with males.”

  “Who is second here?”

  “It is I, Jexnell, who is second.”

  “Jexnell, what is your custom for this situation.”

  “We have no custom. Junell’s actions are not common.”

  “Very well. Jexnell, will you honor the agreement between the Plentari and the Humans?”

  “I will honor the agreement.”

  “Ragnar kill Junella.”

  Without taking his eyes from the
room, Ragnar’s laser saber swept down and removed Junella’s head from her body. Corb’s hand moved in an upward arc, forcing Junell to comply, and rise to her feet. Standing so close, the smell of Junell was nauseating for Corb and Ragnar.

  “Junell, attacks on our people will not be tolerated. You know who I am. You know what I can do. Do you have anything to say?”

  Junell spit a foul looking wad toward Corb’s face. The wad stopped, mid-flight, and fell to the platform.

  Reaching up with his right hand, Corb mimed grabbing Junell’s neck. In an instant her head flopped to the side and she slumped to the floor. Dead.

  Every Plentari in the Open Meeting Hall, including the guards, fell to the floor. Their eyes, and foreheads not visible.

  “Jexnell, stand. It is our custom to confirm an agreement with the touching of hands. I know your culture does not permit males to touch females. It is time, Jexnell, for the Plentari to learn new ways.”

  Realizing this was the emergence of a new era for the Plentari, Jexnell stepped forward and put her hands out, palms up. Hearing the shuffle, the other Plentari remained prone but looked up to witness the event.

  Stepping forward, calmly, Corb reached out with his right hand, gently grasped Jexnell’s right hand and shook it gently.

  “We have started something new today. Please arrange for the new technology to be transported to the Marissa. I will return, when the Marissa returns, to offload the raw materials. Do you have any questions for me?”

  “Yes, Enlightened One, if I may. How did you know?”

  Corb smiled, returned to stand next to Ragnar, and motioned for Lucinda to step over near the two. With a nod to Jexnell, the trio returned to the medical lab on the Jenny. Lucinda spoke first.

  “What did she mean, how did you know what?”

  “Jexnell wanted to know how I understood their customs.”

  “Well, how did you know?”

  “Ragnar, I don’t know how I knew. But, I knew what to do… I don’t know how, but I am going to find out.”

  “Landry, contact Jexnell and send her the video feed. She can use it to prove their customs were followed and to ensure she is elevated to Madame Negotiator.”