Cynthia- Empress of the Stars

by James Patrick Warner

  “Smythe, you are trying my patience. Now you have committed an act of overt aggression against my sister and me. Come to your senses, man, before you ruin your career! You are in my star system. The claim has been recorded officially. You are clearly the aggressor, as any court in the universe will acknowledge when they see my recordings. Give it up now before you do something really devastating to yourself and your men.”

  It was a good little speech and I applauded from my chair. But it fell on deaf ears.

  “Rub them out,” he ordered, not even bothering to turn off the screen.

  Maybe he wanted to watch. I dispatched the entire recording of the conversation, including everything which had transpired on the Hornet and including the arrival of the fleet, on our hyperspace channel back to Hamarabus, to Last Chance, to the Galactic Database at the University, in Caryn’s personal “to be opened at death” file and as a last inspiration, to Fred on the Falcon. We had kept track of him with the Witchcraft’s star chart as his mission progressed this last year. Then we sat back and watched what the idiot Vice-Admiral would do.

  First, all of his ships began firing with everything they had at us. Meph’s shields and reflectors made mincemeat of the attack. Most of his ships had overheating screens within a minute from the reflected energies.

  However, the larger fleet of ships reached us and moved into an attack cone. Caryn decided she had enough. It was time to go and think over what all this meant to her career, her love life and my future.

  I had up to this time thought I would go to the Academy and become a Scoutship Captain like her. But now I wasn’t so sure. Besides, I would really miss her. After all, I had known her all my life, even though half of it had been as her starship.

  So while the fleet moved in for what they thought was an easy kill, even though the Vice-Admiral by now realized it wouldn’t be, we decided to fade out, center stage. But where to go? We were now officially in a state of war with the military arm of her human civilization. What were my options? We had to think. So after we talked it over, Caryn decided to return to Hamarabus for a quick chat with her old friend the Commandant.

  We faded out before the rest of the fleet could fire. A last glance at the Vice-Admiral before we broke communications showed an image of growing astonishment creeping across his face as he realized that we were effortlessly escaping. Let him mull that over for a while.

  On the way back to Hamarabus, Caryn decided to find a better, safer place to plan. What we needed was a place like Caryna, but uninfested by Admiralty. Someplace like, oh! What was the name of that planet explored by Fred?

  “Cynthia, do you remember the planet where we rescued Fred and Mike?”

  “Sure. Want to go there?”

  “We need a safe space to plan. It’s the best place I can think of. What do you think?”

  “I liked that place when we were there. Very weak magnetic field, if I remember. Conducive to thought.”

  “Really? I didn’t know a magnetic field interfered with thinking.”

  “Think about it, Caryn.”

  “Well, since your mind and my memories were both some sort of electromagnetic phenomenon, then, it follows that absence or weakening of magnetic fields would ... okay. I’ll buy that. Let’s go.”

  So we went. I told the Witchcraft the coordinates and we were there. A quick scan showed we were totally alone. No emanations of a technological nature as far as our sensors could reach.

  The few minutes it took us to travel between Caryna and, uh, since I still didn’t know its name, if it has one, I’ll call it Fred’s World, Caryn and I spent working out our battle plan. We were going to have to capture the Commandant and have the talk here. No way was she going into the clutches of the Admiralty until this was cooled off a bit. And it was certain that I, without any identification or computer record anywhere (except as deceased) wouldn’t be able to get along just yet in polite “society”. We needed an ally and the Commandant, being an ex-Scoutship Captain, was just the man for the job.

  As we arrived in the system, the Witchcraft picked up an unusual call.

  “Caryn, Cynthia, I am receiving a garbled message from the Falcon. It seems your Captain Fred has gotten himself into more trouble. From what I can decipher, he has sent a message back to Hamarabus stating that he is being pursued and fired upon by Admiralty ships and wants to know what’s going on. His ship is on its way here and is due in about two days. Perhaps less if the Falcon can maintain its present rate of warp speed. Station 47 is in the area and relays to you that a scan of the Falcon indicates no damage to either ship or personnel. Apparently the pursuing ships are several hours behind and losing ground. The Falcon is very fast.”

  “Caryn!” I looked at her with concern and understanding in my eyes.

  “It’s okay Cynth. Fred’s a big boy now and is going to have to live his own life. I can’t do it for him.”

  “Of course. But I know how you feel about him. I can’t help feeling some of it too, you know.”

  She stared at me again. But saw no trace of anything she didn’t like. Just concern for her sister. I seemed to be so attached to Caryn now, it was still a bit unreal what was going on between us. I had never been so close to another person in my life. Oh, this wasn’t a sexual thing, although I would be a fool to ignore her physical attraction. After all, she was a perfect specimen. And I wasn’t particularly inhibited about whom I kissed when I was happy, just like her.

  “Witchcraft, please monitor all transmissions and let us know what the Admiralty says, if anything,” she said.

  “Is this the construction supervisor on Caryna 6?” I called out, testing my new implant.

  “Yes. Can I help you?” the ‘droid answered immediately.

  “I would like a progress report.”

  “There are no other ships in the system and fuel is being placed in storage tankers for eventual shipment to Caryna 5.

  “What is your estimate of completion of the project?”

  “Another month of production,” it said, which I considered very optimistic. Then I remembered that a month on Caryna 6 was equal to about four Earth months, which brought things back into perspective.

  Caryn was conversing with the Repair Station on Caryna 5, which had been revived and was anxious to catch up on the current scene. She and Station 142 were filling in all the blanks, including, she noted with some chagrin, her own claim to the entire system. They all had a laugh on that at her expense. She turned a bit red, I guess. But what was a silly human to think? At any rate, she understood very well the big picture now and was working on creative partnership, not ownership. Let the rest of “civilization” think what they would.

  Caryn and I toured Witchcraft’s weapons stores, looking for something that might be useful to lure the Admiralty ships away from Fred’s World. The planet we were orbiting had a moon, large enough to hide our ship and there were several military-style shelters aboard that could be used on the planet and which would be undetectable by the Admiralty’s ships. These would work nicely, but we had to get the Admiralty away when they arrived. Then I found a bunch of parts for a target drone. Apparently the gunners and targeting systems used drones for target practice. They were all gone, but there were sufficient parts to manufacture one or two. I took to the task with a vengeance. Caryn watched with curiosity.

  It took me two days exactly to finish one of the drones. It was sitting there, a six-foot long dark gray cylinder in the hangar repair shop and we both were admiring it.

  “What can we do with it?” she asked.

  “Well, it has a great deal of electronics designed to make it a good challenge for the gunners of these ships. I didn’t bother installing most of that stuff, as then it wouldn’t even appear on the Admiralty ships’ scanners. But I did put in an ID circuit which should fool them into thinking it is the Falcon, if the Falcon is shut down when this thing takes off. As you can see, there are all sorts of devices to make it appear bigger, smaller, and it has a power pl
ant to make it go just about any speed. Unfortunately, the power plant will only last for about a month, so it isn’t going to buy us a lot of time; but it should be enough to find out Fred’s loyalties and hide the Falcon in a more secure place if the need arises.”

  She nodded. “Sounds good. Say, let’s go down to those ruins the boys were looking into earlier. I liked that spot. If I recall, there was a nice clearing there just right for a picnic and a campout.”

  “I remember it! Last one to the pod is a spoiled egg!”

  “Rotten egg!” she yelled at me as she sped down the hall a few steps ahead. Funny girl.

  Arriving breathlessly at the pod we laughed our way in, didn’t bother to strap into the seats, and just said “GO!” in unison. It was around noon and I hadn’t eaten since the encounter with the Vice-Asshole. When we arrived planet-side we ordered some sandwiches and juice from the pod’s food unit and tumbled out onto the grass.

  The light gravity made Caryn feel like a kid again. And I was jumping, running and generally behaving just like her. We finally collapsed in the middle of the clearing, covered with grass and dirt stains and thoroughly happy.

  We were panting heavily, like a couple playful puppies, when I grabbed her. She lay there in the grass with her face a few centimeters from mine, staring intently into my very wide-open eyes. She could feel what I wanted to do. She was a little bit in shock, I guess and it showed.

  “I’m sorry if I have upset you. I just love you so much.” She blushed; I blushed bright red. She gave me a perfunctory kiss which thrilled my body and I gasped.

  “Oh Caryn, you don’t have to be bashful with me. All this is new to me, after all and anything I do is new, no matter how many of your memories I have. I just want to build some of my own.”

  “Okay, but enough of that. You need a man!” I hugged her to me. I was making her new and she could never thank me enough for these feelings.

  We set up a shelter from the pod. It was much like the one she had used from the Hornet. The top was transparent and there were tables, chairs, cots and survival gear for any climate. It was even capable of being an airlock and had life suits in a duffle-like trunk for work in a hostile atmosphere.

  We put the table outside, set up a couple chairs and began our discussion. First and foremost, Caryn had to establish her position with the Admiralty. It was possible the Vice-Asshole was acting on his own initiative, or that he was acting on orders, or there was a third party involved. So we set the Witchcraft to monitoring all military communications and recording anything with her name, the Hornet’s name, Fred’s name, or Caryna in it. That done, we could go on with real plans.

  “Fred, are you receiving me?” Caryn called.

  “Caryn? Is that you? How the hell are you calling me, we’re at high warp?”

  “Magic. Look I have to tell you guys what has happened. I may need your help.”

  “Of course. What is it?”

  She told him what had recently transpired. She needed to know how he would react and if she could count on him as a friend when our time of need arose.

  “Caryn, I don’t know what the Admiralty is up to, but that was pretty rotten for Smythe to do. It was a clear attempt at assassination and I just can’t ...”

  And just like that, our comm link was gone.

  Chapter 7.

  The First Plan

  “Excuse me, ladies, but the Falcon has just entered normal space in this star system and resumed communications. I have Fred on hold, but he’s understandably anxious to speak to you, Caryn,” Witchcraft informed her.

  Well, now the shit would hit the fan.

  “Hello Caryn. Whatever is going on, I have this strange feeling that it is somehow connected to your quick exit from Hamarabus.”

  He sure didn’t beat around the bush. She liked that about him.

  “Right. Hello to you too, Fred. Give our regards to Mike. You’ve caught me. Come down to the planet and we’ll talk. We have a few days until the rest of the party arrives.”

  “Some party. I almost got blown to bits. This had better be good. And by the way, where is the Hornet? My scanners don’t pick up any ships around here. Did you sell her for scrap?”

  I grimaced. This was going to be fun.

  “No, the Silver Hornet is now in the hands of Vice-Admiral Smythe of the Intelligence Bureau of the Admiralty. Most likely she is undergoing a rather extensive dissection.”

  “That’s a shame. Okay I can understand that, from the other things that have happened. Where is your base? I need coordinates to land.”

  “Witchcraft, give the Falcon the coordinates for the base we set up down below, please.” I said.

  “Fred, before coming down, would you please put your ship in a synchronous orbit at the back side of the moon? Or better yet, land it there if possible.”

  Caryn and I took the pod down to the structure we had set up. Fred’s lander arrived a few minutes later. We stood around waiting for them to come out.

  “Caryn, I can feel them staring at me. Do I look all right?”

  “All right is an understatement, to be sure.”

  I was wearing her light blue dress, the one she embarrassed herself in when she met Meph. It made my hair glow. Or maybe that’s just the way I was in sunshine.

  Caryn was wearing a black bolero and pants getup. I think we were something for a couple space-bound horny fellows to stare at.

  We were both barefoot. Caryn just couldn’t bear to wear shoes on the beautiful grassy loam here and I wanted to feel everything “humanly” possible.

  The boys came out of the shuttle, a little sheepishly, commenting to each other as they approached. Caryn and I just waited patiently. When they were a few yards away, she couldn’t stand it any longer and ran to Fred squealing and threw her considerable femaleness all over him. He responded in a most satisfactory manner, staggering and then kissing her warmly.

  “Uh, Caryn, who is the beautiful woman with you?”

  I walked toward them. I had been taking the back seat, not wanting to interrupt their meeting.

  “Hello Fred. I feel I’ve known you all my life. My name is Cynthia ...”

  “Yes, this is my sister Cynthia. I’ve told her all about you,” Caryn cut in as I approached Fred. She didn’t want me to let the cat out of the bag just yet. We shook hands and Fred held my hand a moment, looking closely into my eyes.

  “Haven’t I met you before?” he asked. “You seem somehow familiar.”

  “Well, we can talk about that over lunch. What do you say we go inside?” I replied. I picked up Caryn’s intentions quickly all right. I adroitly allowed her to take Fred’s arm and I took Mike’s. Together the four of us walked into the shelter where Caryn and I had prepared carefully for this meeting.

  If I told you that it went well it would be a blatant lie. Both the guys were not happy about being shot at by their own Service and the initial pleasure of our company rapidly vanished as we told them about current events.

  “This is all quite a story, but what I don’t understand is why you didn’t just turn in the Hornet at Hamarabus and get a brand new ship?”

  “Fred, the Silver Hornet had extensive modifications as you know. What you don’t know and what is likely to be a really big secret, is that the latest modifications were made using Artifact technology.”

  “What? Why did you give it up then? That much operational Ancient technology is worth, uh, jeeze! I can’t imagine how wealthy you would be!”

  [It just gets better and better.]

  “There is another, more important factor, Fred.” He still didn’t know. Turning to me, she told him, “You may or may not know that the Silver Hornet was a brainship.” She paused for effect, “This, Fred, is the Hornet.”

  It was classic. His jaw just went slack and fell open. He was totally, completely speechless. They both were. I spoke up after a couple moments.

  “Yes Fred. I was there when Caryn rescued you from the Pirates. I was there when you met her on
Hamarabus and I had to warn you both about the raid on your love nest, I am now, as I have always been in fact, a human, at least, for all practical purposes, I am human. I have all of Caryn’s memories in addition to my own. And of course, since I became sentient again, I have my own personality, so stop sitting there like a fool and kiss me.”

  I stood over him and bent down with my beautiful face right up against his. This apparently brought him around, because he reached up for me and gave me a real good kiss. And of course Mike insisted on sharing too and his kiss was even warmer than Fred’s. Caryn didn’t even mind.

  Later, when the guys had recovered sufficiently to carry on a normal conversation, Fred asked, “I don’t get it. How can a space ship, a complex hunk of metal and plastic, chips and so forth, become alive?”