by L M Lacee
Darby swore by it, saying her hair had never felt so good. Heather told them the conditioner doubled as a deodorant, she wore one called Ocean. Darby had selected the one labeled Rose, Melody chose the one called Musk, and Peyton fell in love with the scent of Vanilla. The deodorant or conditioner was different to what they used on Earth but easy to get used to, Heather assured them both, and the scents were subtle. Peyton liked the idea of not having to remember to spray on deodorant or perfume, as she usually forgot one or the other.
Heather explained when Nina and Fern found out the scents were not named. Because the Warriors just selected whatever the selector was set at and gave no thought to what the scent was. She and her sister Fern and a few scientists spent a night smelling the conditioners and voting on a name.
Peyton said, that is what she would have done. Darby disagreed, saying she would have chemically broken down each scent and then named them. Which Peyton told her was just so mundane. That argument lasted until Melody broke it up, which was about five minutes after it started. It would have been earlier, but she was busy checking out the drying tube and fold away toilet and sink unit.
It was a sad reflection on the Warriors or the shipbuilders that the primary color of the ships was gunmetal gray and black. The decor did nothing to lift anyone’s spirits, if you were feeling sad or depressed. It showed the women that the Warrior’s sour disposition occasionally was warranted. Especially if they had to live on a ship of gray and black for extended periods of time.
Heather assured Peyton and Melody the ladies were bringing color into the lounges and shipteens, which certainly would relieve the atmosphere.
Darby told them cabins were being painted, much to the Warrior’s amusement. Hawk apparently was just turning a blind eye to his ships being turned from Warships to family homes. It seemed when he had gently reminded the ladies that the ships were for war. He was just as gently reminded that they were not for the foreseeable future, and then he was asked if he had a problem with colour. He apparently had declined to comment.
FORTY-FOUR:
Four Warships, six Battleships, six transporters, four cargo ships and between one and two hundred one man fighters left Earth’s orbit. Destined for a shielded solar system in a part of a Universe that had no idea the solar system even existed.
The people on these ships would be the first sentient beings to walk the world’s surfaces for over two million years. That thought had kept Peyton awake for most of the previous night.
When morning rolled around, they had placed thousands of light years between Earth and the fleet. Which was Peyton’s first thought on waking as she lay in her new bed, in her new cabin on board a spaceship, and smiled in relief. They had pulled it off and were really traveling through space and toward a future of their own making.
She thumped her pillow and then pulled it over her face and screamed, finally admitting that Esther had been right, when she had suggested the evening before that she needed to make a welcoming speech.
Of course, she had politely insisted someone else could do it much better than her. That was when the three of them, Esther, Brenda and Helen had given her the look, which never failed to reduce her to a schoolgirl and said. ‘No, someone else could not do it.’
Peyton grumbled as she got out of bed, damn it.
She showered, dressed and then tagged Commander Hawk and his second Kerol, as well as her sisters.
Melody said she would tag Netta, Helen, Brenda and Esther. Peyton told her to tell them the meeting would be held in the room Commander Hawk had advised would be the best one to use. The war room. For some unknown reason Melody found this hilarious and would not tell Peyton why.
The war room, she was surprised to see, resembled a large conference room with an enormous table that had at least fifty chairs surrounding it. The walls were not lined with weapons, which is what she assumed. In place of weapons, computers sat on side tables that ran the length of the room. This was basically all that decorated the room, it lacked a personality, but she supposed a room that dealt in death probably should. Although she wondered where the weapons were, she felt slightly disappointed.
Melody strode in with Netta and asked. ‘Why are we here?’
Peyton replied. ‘When everyone arrives. I will explain and thanks for coming.’
‘Weird girl, of course we came.’ Melody responded with a quick smile as she and Netta found seats along with the others who followed them in.
Peyton grinned when she saw the frown appear on Brenda’s face as she entered the room, she bet this room would be next on the decorating list.
Darby was the last to arrive and as she hurried in she apologized. ‘Sorry, last-minute details.’
Peyton nodded as she stood by the table and addressed everyone. ‘Okay, so you are all here because it was impressed on me that I needed to make a speech. You are here as my support team and to remind me of anything I need to say.’
No one said anything, proving she thought they already knew why they were there. So with a nod to Darby, who with a few strokes of her fingers on her tablet, connected all the ship’s communications systems together. A holographic image of Peyton was to be beamed to each ship. Darby gave a nod to show that Peyton was broadcasting.
‘Hello everyone, and welcome to our flotilla of ships and our exodus from Earth. As many of you know, my name is Peyton St. Hill. Recently of Earth, as are all of you, excluding the Warriors who are from a planet called Jenersar. So we finally made it, exciting, nerve-wracking, terrifying and so thankful to be going to our new home.’
She laughed, a bright joyful sound. ‘Well, that is how I feel and hopefully you all will feel some, if not all of those emotions too. I realize it is going to take a few days to settle in or on or whatever one does on space ships. So take your time, do not hurry, we have time. We are safe, we are healthy and we are all out of reach of people who wanted things from us, we would rather not give. Okay, so you probably would like to know where we are headed. A very easy question to answer, we are going to a Universe named Indorino. Which for those of us uneducated in the wonders of astronomy is obviously not the Universe we came from. Indorino is the Universe the Warriors come from, and it seems Indorino has many, many planets that are inhabited, unlike our Universe, or so we were told. It seems our Universe is very populated, but I digress. If you wish to learn more about that, I am sure there is plenty of information on the data stream for you to do so. As you can imagine, we will be as alien to these worlds as their populations are to us. It seems we have a very steep learning curve to overcome. I will give you some information now on what we may find. It seems a percentage of these worlds are technically advanced, years if not centuries beyond what we are used to. Some societies have only one ruler or a family of rulers; other worlds may have elected or unelected Governments. There will be Matriarchal and Patriarchal societies, sentient planets and suns and moons. Yes, I understand the concept of a thinking being having the physical form of a planet or sun and moon can be overwhelming. Stay calm, we have time, we will make time on this trip to learn about everything I am telling you… Stay with me now, stay focused.’
They could hear gasps and animated talking coming through the comms. So Peyton gave them a few minutes to adjust to what she was telling them and then when it seemed they had quietened down a little, she began again.
‘Alright, here we go again. Now there will be sentient beings which can change form, from animals to bipeds as well as bipeds to animal. Also beings that look like nothing we have ever seen before. Entire worlds with only vegetation on them, yet they communicate and trade. There are worlds covered in water with sentient life forms who trade and live and contribute to the Universe. There will be animals that are very different to what we are used to and they will think, feel, and communicate. I know it sounds frightening and overwhelming. Please don’t think it isn’t for me as well. Believe me, I realize this is so far from what we call reality, it seems surreal.’
Again she
heard voices through the comms as Darby paused the connections. Peyton looked around at the women in the room, at their surprise and stunned expressions, she said. ‘Now you see why I needed you here? Is there anything I could have said differently?’
They all shook their heads as Netta said. ‘No way to soften the blow.’
Esther declared. ‘May as well use a hammer and get it over with in one big swing.’
‘Thanks for that.’ Peyton griped as she and everyone else winced at the images Esther’s words invoked.
‘We are here to help.’ Heather told her with a smile.
‘Seriously!’
Melody ordered. ‘Speak, space girl.’
‘Yeah… yeah.’ She nodded to Darby, who grinned and unpaused the comms.
Kerol softly asked Hawk in Coalition. ‘Hawk, did you know our comms could do that?’
Hawk shook his head. ‘I did not know.’ He lifted one eyebrow and nodded toward Darby, saying. ‘I think we are very lucky she is on our side.’
Kerol flicked him a smile as he agreed. ‘You know, I was thinking the same thing.’
Peyton took a breath and started speaking again. ‘I know everything I am saying could give you second thoughts and again I understand. We will have our doubts and our fears, I know as we lay down to sleep at night our imaginations will be working overtime. This is when we could let fear grab us by the throat and choke us, if we allow it to. We will cry, scream, and be angry in our indecision. We may pull our hair out, worrying if we have made the right decision… No Willian, we won’t really hon, it is an expression… don’t worry Brenda will explain it to you. Where was I... thank you Willian… pulling hair, yes an expression I promise.’
Suddenly the airwaves were filled with laughter and for the first time since starting this speech Peyton relaxed. If there was laughter, they were listening and hopefully understanding she was not trying to scare them. Only inform them of the challenges they were going to face. She blew out a breath and prayed she was saying this right; she had spent hours the previous evening writing and rewriting what to say. ‘Anyway, as I was saying, we will want to lash out and worry about whether or not we made the right decision. Truly, we all understand those feelings, you are not alone in having them. I wish I had a magic wand and could make all your worries disappear... No Lukkas, I don’t know if there is magic in the Universes... are you reading fairy tales again...? You are, what did, I tell you... yes, they are made up stories… because I know... I really do… now, what was I saying…? Yes, magic… Thank you Willian, that was helpful. So I cannot magically wave away every fear and worry you may have; it is not possible for me to do so or for anyone really, this we must do for ourselves. We are adults well most of us are. We made this decision to leave Earth and find new lives in another Universe. So I ask you to own your decision. I know you can do this. We can do this. All I will say is yes, this is scary, everything will be new and we are innocents in this brand-new Universe. If we are not careful, we will be snapped up and discarded so quickly, it will make your head spin… No Lukkas we cannot do that... yes it is another expression... Seriously, there are some beings who can really do that, how amazing. Oh sorry everyone, I got side-tracked.’
This time there was more laughter heard from the listening audience. ‘So, as I was saying, we have several weapons at our disposal. What are those I hear you ask, as you should? Well, we have the best of the best technical advisors in the known Universes, and that is saying something… Honestly Darby, your team are that good... no, there is no pressure it’s just a fact... Aww shut up, oops, sorry about that.’
The laughter this time went on for a few minutes longer as Peyton shrugged and mouthed sorry, to a pink faced Darby. She frowned, but they all saw the small smile on her lips.
‘Okay, so that’s one. The other weapon we have is ourselves. We are women from Earth, adaptable, capable, intelligent and determined and more than ready to learn how to navigate this new life. We will survive, was a motto on Earth many years ago, and I believe we still can, and will survive, whatever new adventure awaits us. You and I both know it is going to take trial and error but we will change, we will learn and our home world will be great because we will make it so.
So let’s see; we covered determination and science, we took everything we could ever conceive needing and wanting from Earth. Oh, and just a point here. I would like to say a big thank you to Nina Jones, botanist extraordinaire. Who worked out how to bring and grow coffee plants away from Earth, because unlike some people I know, who swear there is a substitute for coffee. There is no substitute for coffee.’
Peyton smiled widely as she waited until the shouted agreements died down. ‘Lastly, our best and most valued weapon are our Warriors, who will be our shield against ignorance of cultures, societies, languages and customs. Also, we should not forget their physical prowess. To our Warriors, we say a huge thank you, without your help and guidance we would never have gotten this far. Let alone to worlds we didn’t even know existed... Yes Darby, I know without their ships we would never have left Earth. I was getting to that and as Darby has reminded me without their ability to obtain ships, we would still be on Earth. Again, thank you Warriors. We respect each one of you. So now we come to that part in the speech when I impart some practical information, starting with how long our trip will take us. Which will be somewhere between five and eight weeks.
Now for some added technical information. The ships are engine driven and these engines are powered by drives which are called Cassuam drives. Now these drives are powered by crystals and how that works is like this. Light is refracted around and between the crystals. Imagine if you will a drum and covering the inside of this drum are crystals, obviously these are very special crystals. So this drum turns, and the light is re-fractured within this drum. As it spins faster and faster, the light gets pulled tighter and tighter together until it is a thin beam. Then it is pushed into the drives and from there to the engines that power the ships. Now this happens a million upon a million times every millisecond or less. You get the picture, I’m sure. So it is more or less like that.’
Melody leaned near Hawk and asked. ‘Is that how it works?’
He was looking at Peyton with a small smile and amazement in his eyes as he replied. ‘Surprisingly, she is more or less accurate.’
Melody looked at him with horror then worry. Desperately she grabbed his arm and asked. ‘You have had no reports of dismantled drives, or engines, have you?’
He looked at her with concern and shook his head. ‘No, why would I?’
Relief replaced the expression of worry on her face as she casually said. ‘Umm, no reason. None that I can think of, good talk.’
He gave her a suspicious look and then turned his attention back to Peyton, and this time when he looked at her it was with speculation, not amazement. He placed his questions away for later. He, unlike the ladies, did not forget.
Peyton laughed a little as she said. ‘I will be honest with you. I don’t really care how it works, all I know is they drive the ships and move them very, very fast through space. If you wish for a more detailed definition, please ask our technical support team or look it up on your tablets. Which I forgot, I would like to thank everyone who worked tirelessly for the last few days to make sure you all received a loaded up tablet.
I really don’t care if that is the wrong way of saying that... honestly, it won’t matter Darby. People will understand... yes, they will know I said it and not you. As I was saying, the other method of travel is through worm holes or what we on Earth thought of as black holes in space. Apparently the ships have a Comparium engine that allows travel through the worm or black holes. I am totally ignorant about how these engines work, so your guess will be as good as mine. Let’s just say they work, and we are grateful they do. Now using the wormholes would be quicker than using the engines, but would draw attention to our fleet of ships as the Coalition frequents these byways. So we are going to use them sparingly. I should p
robably tell you that if we used neither of these methods of travel, our trip would take over three hundred and sixty-five thousand years.
So even though we are using the Comparium engines as little as possible, we are still taking years... okay Darby, eons, as in a long time off our trip. I wish to state here that the Coalition of Planets is not our enemy. It is just they are not for us at this time; I think in time we will be able to work together. We just have housekeeping to do first.’
Helen started explaining the term to the Warriors before Peyton had finished speaking. She threw her a grateful look and carried on. ‘How they manage their acquisitions of new planets is not in my opinion just or fair. So, as we are of no use to them other than pumping out babies… No Kerol we do not do it like that... seriously was that not covered in your Sex Ed class... Oh, you haven’t gotten to that part yet, well okay looking forward to that! So, as I was saying, we have elected to go our own way for now. Also, they would hand over our Warriors to the Jenersar Emperor, which we will not allow. Now I know you are all waiting with bated breath to know where you are going... yes Willian, that is an expression as well... no, we do not bait people’s breath.
I want to tell you about the worlds we are going to. But first I need to tell you that we the people on these ships will be the first humanoid inhabitants of these new worlds for many years. Yes, I said new worlds there are nine planets that are and can be made habitable. Each planet must be surveyed and assessed for habitation, more on that later. I should say here that as time goes by other beings, people. I don’t want to say aliens because seriously we are all aliens.’
Peyton waited as the laughter she could hear from the comms quieted once more. ‘What I mean is there will be other people coming to live on our worlds with us. Now I think is a good time to introduce you to the governing council, such as it is. This council is small at present, eventually I am sure it will grow. Firstly, we have doctor, or healer Heather Wilson, then we have Commander Hawk Roeah and his second Kerol Naihal as well as General Melody James. Darby Kline scientist and we also have Brenda Wilkson, Helen Merson and Esther Lioni.’
