Cynthia- Empress of the Stars

by James Patrick Warner

  “Whatever it is, you’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

  Later, as people started going home and to bed, Caryn came over to me and pulled me aside. “Cynthia, I need to talk to you. While you were in New York the Admiralty contacted me. They offered me the mission you had been offered, since you hadn’t confirmed at that time you would take it. I found out what it is. They want someone to find out where the Parents came from. They know only our ships are capable of intergalactic range. They know it might be a one-way trip. But they figure if anyone can do it, it’s one of us. And since from their viewpoint we live forever, they think we can do it. But I turned them down. I officially retired. I’ve found my heaven and have no intention of leaving it. Especially since I’m ultimately responsible for the success of this outpost. That leaves you. If you don’t do it, it isn’t going to get done. I’m sorry, sis, but I had to tell you.”

  Caryn grabbed me and cried a little bit as we hugged. She knew at that moment I was going to go and she would be alone again without me, at least until the children were born a few months from now. We didn’t have to say anything. I cried a little too.

  “Daughters, we understand the turmoil you are feeling. We cannot help you very much because our memories do not extend beyond the time we arrived in your galaxy. You should both come see Sassy tomorrow and bring your men. It will be a welcome and we think interesting visit.”

  I always say don’t argue with your Parents. So Caryn retired to bed with Fred and spent many hours talking and planning and making love with him; and I retired to bed with Mike and did the same. I decided I would ask Meph to join me on the mission. I couldn’t bear to take my husband away from our daughter and I didn’t want to threaten Caryn and Fred’s relationship by taking Fred. If I were going to be celibate for some time, I’d rather do it with an alien. I thought Meph would be up to the challenge, especially back in Sassy.

  The next morning, well, we started out late because both Caryn and I were pretty tired, having stayed up most of the night and it was more like noon when we left in the pod for the tour. I had called up Meph and he had left his family homestead on Caryna 4 and joined up with us. I didn’t tell him what it was about, as I thought the surprise would be fun. He was all questions, though.

  “Cynthia, what is this all about? Are you kidnapping me? And you, Caryn, why is it just the three of us? Where are all your husbands and children?”

  I put my finger to my lips to shush him as we got into the pod. We morphed to the dry-dock in the Repair Station and there was the Silver Hornet, now to be officially named Sassy, sitting quietly in dock. She was much as I remembered her. The black parent metal at the front and back and the silver in the middle. But the silver had a violet hue to it, like Merlin. And she looked new. The bulges for the cruiser gun turrets were still there, though the guns didn’t look quite the same. And the engine end looked slightly bigger all around. But her figure was still svelte. Other than the color, no one would guess she wasn’t a standard Scoutship. I felt an immediate attachment to her.

  “Cynthia,” Caryn said, thoughtfully, “I feel a strong attachment to Sassy. Like she was, is, reborn like us. Do you feel it?”

  “Yeah sis, I feel it.” That was an understatement. I could hardly contain myself from running along the old plank and into the ship.

  “Go ahead, daughter. Run if you like. Sassy is expecting you all.”

  I looked at Meph and Caryn, then took off running. The hatch opened as I got to it and I plunged into the cargo bay. Meph and Caryn were right behind, laughing like children.

  “Look at the purple everywhere. What’s with that, Cynthia?” Meph asked.

  “That’s the gift from Merlin to this new ship. She’s as stealthy as Merlin was,” I answered. I loved the color.

  I ran to the bridge, followed closely by Caryn. Meph ran back to explore the battle bridge and the remake of his quarters. The bridge was the same, even Caryn’s old command chair was still there, intact – and not radioactive. I was so taken by awe and pleasure at the re-creation; I didn’t think to say anything to Sassy yet. Meph called up with amazement in his voice.

  “My quarters, my equipment, its all here. Cynthia, why are my quarters here?” He asked at last, with a tinge of suspicion in his voice.

  “Meph,” I called back to him, “I want you to go with me on the adventure of a lifetime. Let’s all meet in the galley and we’ll discuss it.”

  We converged in the galley. I spoke to Sassy at last.

  “Sassy, you are beautiful. You are perfect. You make me proud to be your Captain.”

  “Thank you Captain Cynthia. Pardon me but I’m a little embarrassed. Please let’s talk about the mission I’m going on with you.”

  “Are you sentient?” Caryn asked in Parent on our private comm channel.

  “Yes, Caryn. I am a composite of the Silver Hornet and Merlin. Our programming has been merged.”

  I had been eavesdropping. I smiled a really big smile as we all sat down at the table and I ordered steak, potatoes, peas and apricot juice, my favorite meal.

  “So look girls, this appears to be some kind of coercive ploy to get me to renew my Admiralty commission. That’s what it is, isn’t it.”

  “You’re right Meph. I was offered a mission by the Admiralty. Cynthia was their first choice, but she didn’t get back to them immediately and they offered it to me, but I did not accept. Here it is.”

  “The simplicity of the orders are this ship is to find out where the Parents came from.”

  “That could be in another galaxy,” Meph answered.

  “That’s right, Meph. Caryn and I are the only ones the Admiralty thought could carry this off. And I know your species has an extraordinarily long life span. You were a natural choice.”

  “So you two are going to follow the projected path we discovered for the Parents’ entrance to the galaxy and attempt to find out where that path leads. I turned them down and the job is Cynthia’s. She was given her choice of ships,” Caryn said.

  “And of First Mates,” I inserted.

  “And what if I don’t accept?” Meph asked.

  “Then I’ll call you an octopussy.” Caryn stated.

  “You know I can’t resist this. It’s completely unfair. I’m not even married yet! What do I tell my fiancée?”

  “Tell her you’re going on another hair-brained adventure of a lifetime with my sister,” Caryn said.

  “The mission orders are very simple. You are to travel to Repair Station 3 and ascertain from her where she, and the parents, came from. Then you are to take this ship to wherever that place is and find out what, if anything, is left of them. You are authorized I assume to make any negotiations or treaties needed with them.”

  “Well, we know from our last mission that the origin of the Parents is outside our galaxy. Are we supposed to pursue this to infinity?” It was a good question.

  “No, only to the limit of this new ship’s fuel resources. You are expected to ultimately return alive and report your findings,” I figured she got the info from the Commandant at Caryna 5’s new base. When she finished I joined in.

  “I decided to accept the mission, Meph. Caryn and the rest of the family have assured me that the babies will be well cared for and I know you haven’t married yet. And I really need your help on this. I can’t do a mission like this alone and I don’t dare take any of our husbands along, the children will need them. I’m sort of odd woman out here and frankly, though I don’t want to go, I’m about the only other choice. And you are my choice as First Mate. So you see? This will be an adventure for the books. Or the holos. Or whatever; and you and I have to do it, for the good of our galaxy.”

  “All right girls, I understand the mission. I understand the rationale of one of you, or both of you, going. And I understand the reasons why you can’t both go. But my Parents are going to be furious with me. And how the hell long is this mission going to take, anyway? Will I live to see the end of it?”

  “Oh, don’t
worry Meph,” I smiled, “I’ve never lost a First Mate on a mission like Caryn has.”

  Caryn laughed. But Meph didn’t. “Yeah, you’ve never had a First Mate on a mission. So really, how long will this mission take?” Sassy spoke up out loud to us finally.

  “I have been in touch with several Repair Stations and Libraries, including Station 3 which is the closest operational facility to the entry point of your Parents into this galaxy. She says there are records in her archives that indicate the Parents took three years to make the journey and that their home galaxy is not that far away, in galactic terms. From her information, I anticipate we can make the trip with some fuel to spare to that galaxy and back to this one.”

  “Okay, with some fuel to spare,” Meph answered. “That is an amazing thing to say, since normally your fuel should last many of Caryn’s lifetimes. So let’s go to the battle bridge and connect up all the dots. Caryn, I guess I’ll go along with this, but you must not tell my mother until we are safely away. And give Kornabuta, my fiancée, my love and regrets that the marriage will have to wait for a few years. She’ll be more understanding than my mother will.”

  We walked back to the battle bridge and Meph brought up the galactic map. Sassy put all the known Parent facilities up on it and again plotted the entry and exit points as estimated so many years ago. I was thrilled, as was Caryn. It brought so many good memories back. I expected we would be back before my new daughter would miss me, just a year or so.

  Meph turned to Caryn, “Look Caryn, I don’t mean to be mean, but at this point you are supercargo. Why don’t you say your goodbyes and go back to the family hangout? I think we’ll be leaving shortly.”

  Caryn blinked, possibly fighting back some tears, then hugged Meph, tentacles and all. She planted a smooch on his head and turned to me. I could feel the empathy as an almost palpable force from her. We held hands. I took a deep breath, as did she. We stared into each other’s eyes for a while.

  “Come back, sister.” She said at last. “Your daughter needs her mother.”

  “We will. I love you sis.”

  “Love you, sis.” She turned around and went out the hatch, across the plank and into her pod without looking back. But I could tell she was crying. I was too. I wiped my tears on my sleeve and turned back to Meph. He had been studying some equipment on the bulkhead. He turned back to me. “Ready, Captain.”

  We were ready. My uniforms were aboard, no reason to put it off.

  “Okay, Mate. Let’s get this show on the road. Sassy, take us to Repair Station 3.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” And off we went. I sent my agreement to accept the mission back to the Admiralty, via the Commandant.

  “I’m pleased you have taken this assignment, Captain. You are the most qualified to perform it and return to tell us. I’m sorry I couldn’t see you two off properly. It’s not polite to sneak out on an old friend, you know,” he said.

  “You know very well, sir, that if I had delayed any longer I might not have been able to face leaving. Give my regards to your wife and children, and take care. We’ll see you soon.”

  “I hope so, Captain. I’ll see you get a promotion for this when you return,” he answered.

  “That’s kind of you sir. Signing off,” and with that we were on our way. He would probably be retired for real by the time I returned. I hope he chooses to retire on Caryna.

  It was going to be several days even at Parent ship speeds before we arrived across the galaxy to Repair Station 3. Our orders arrived within an hour of our departure. I placed the crystal cube into the receiver and projected the orders on the large viewer. They contained the verbiage I already knew about the mission and a brief analysis of the time factors of the Parents’ fertilizations, based on known records of human evolution patterns on the planets we had explored. There was an analysis of the projected Parents’ pathway into the galaxy and two possible routes to the closest galaxies to ours along that pathway. The two galaxies were almost in a line, so we decided to just take them in order, depending on what Repair Station 3 had to say.

  We tested every system in Sassy, even the weapons. I wasn’t sure about the special hull material in the center of the ship. She explained it to me.

  “You know that Merlin uses that material to create a cloaking device. That is how we use it. The cloaking generators have been increased in size to encompass my entire shell, even though the material doesn’t show. That special skin covers my entire body, with a second skin on the outside of our nose and tail for additional protection and as decoration. We thought it was a nice touch. Do you like it?”

  “I like it very much Sassy. You and Merlin are the greatest. And that color is a nice touch. Was it your idea or did the Repair Station suggest it?”

  “It was Merlin’s idea.”

  “Well it is just terrific.” I thought about my starship, sisters just like Caryn and I. It was a happy synchronicity that I couldn’t ignore. I wondered how much planning the Parents had made to put this all together. Since they undoubtedly knew my mission before either Caryn or I found out, they had plenty of time to cook things up. I wondered again who the Parents really were and if I would ever see any of them on this trip. I didn’t think I should ask just yet. It seemed like they wanted to keep their history a secret from us human “children”.

  And there was still the question, completely unanswered, about why the Parents spent so much time around the Frbylzks’ system. It was not anywhere near my mission path, but was not too far from the exit from our galaxy the Parents’ probably took. Of course, no one has said if they did leave our galaxy at all. There was only that fleeting reference to an “exodus”, that Caryn and I had assumed meant leaving this galaxy. But perhaps that was a referral to leaving their home galaxy.

  Well, all right, this led me to thinking about what could make the Parents leave their home galaxy. What was I really heading into? Could this trip actually be dangerous? That brought me up short. I had been thinking of it as a long exploratory trip. But perhaps there was more to it. I was going to have to ask Repair Station 3 some pointed questions.

  “Captain, what do you think we’re headed into on this mission?” Meph asked. He had a way of reading our minds. He did it with Caryn and he was doing it with me. It was uncanny. Was I broadcasting that loudly into the ether?

  “Meph, I was just thinking about that. I think we’ll know better after we speak with Station 3, but I keep wondering why the Parents left their galaxy in the first place.”

  “Do you suppose they were forced out?”

  “All I can say, Meph, is I hope to God they weren’t.”

  “Captain, we are arriving at Repair Station 3. I am picking up sensor readings on the star system she is in and am putting it on your screen.”

  “Okay Sassy. Thank you. Can you read the condition of the star system?”

  “Yes, Captain. I was getting to that. The sun has apparently gone nova and all the planets are lifeless. The Repair Station is in orbit around the dwarf star, as her planet was blown to bits. She is willing to talk to you when you arrive.”

  Curiouser and curiouser.

  In only a few minutes we arrived at the burned out star system. There were no planets close in to the star, just a gigantic field of asteroids. Further out there were three small hulks, which appeared to be the remnants of gas giants. Their gaseous atmospheres had been swept away and the central cores, mostly light metals, were all that was left. Repair Station 3 was in orbit beyond the asteroid field and between the second and third planet.

  As we approached I could see clearly that the familiar spherical shell of all the Repair Stations was cracked in several places and a large chunk of one quarter was gone. I could see the black innards from the dim light from the collapsed star. Things looked twisted and melted inside. I wondered why she was still operating and how.

  “Station 3, you have endured one hell of a blast. Was this all from the star going nova?”

  “No, child,” she replied i
n her motherly voice, “this was from an attack on this system. The star exploded long after the attack. I have been unable to move since then, though my power source will continue for a little while longer.”

  “An attack?” Meph asked incredulously. “Who or what could harm you so terribly?”

  “An ancient enemy. You have encountered the only remnant I am aware of when you were trapped by that fuel depot.”

  I remembered clearly the terror I felt when that vampire station latched onto me and started sucking my fuel, my lifeblood, out of me. I remember Caryn and Meph both expressing the fear they had felt and their curiosity as to the cause of it. I remembered the uselessness of my powerful weapons against it and the frustrating impotence of having no way to get free. I shivered and grabbed the back of my command chair. I felt the terror again, if only for a moment. Then it passed and I regained my composure.