Cynthia- Empress of the Stars

by James Patrick Warner

  Finally with all of her energy transferred to holding the box in place, we faded out and faded into the cargo bay. The box stayed outside, for now. I could still hear it. We were going to have to do something about it fast, or it would drive me crazy. I tried communicating with it.

  “What do you want?”

  “I am for Colleen McDowell. You are Cynthia McDowell. Take me to Colleen McDowell immediately.”

  “No.”

  No sooner had I uttered that word, than all of the alarms went off in the WitchCraft. There was a tremendous explosion in the cargo bay as the box ripped through the hull and stopped next to the pod. The emergency force field surrounded the cargo bay, keeping the atmosphere intact. This thing was serious! What could it want with my human daughter?

  “Cynthia, I don’t see that we have any choice. We have to give it to Colleen or it’s going to destroy this ship and us with it, then go to Colleen on its own anyway,” Bill said.

  I grabbed the box out of the air. I tried to open it, but there was no seam indicating a lid or anything. I shook it. No rattling. I tried biting it. It was tough. That was all the human monkey kind of things I could think of. We were stuck with it.

  “WitchCraft, open a channel to Colleen’s phone. I have to warn her.”

  The phone rang and rang and finally a slightly wavery Colleen answered. She sounded tipsy. I wondered what she was doing now that she was free of parental supervision.

  “Colleen, I’m sorry to disturb you, but we have an emergency. Some alien device is demanding to see you and we can’t get rid of it.”

  I heard laughter in the background, a male voice and then some smooching sounds. Oh well, that confirmed her relation to me.

  “Uh, mom, can’t you tell it to wait until morning? I’m kind of busy right now.”

  I could just imagine. “I’m really sorry hon, but this thing is threatening to destroy our ship if we don’t take it to you.”

  She seemed to sober up a bit at that. “Destroy WitchCraft? Can anything do that? Come on, mom.”

  “Look hon, screw his brains out or whatever you are going to do. I’m going to be there in a half hour.”

  “All right!” I heard the male voice say in the background. “Mom!” she wailed and then the line went dead. Whatever. She was a big girl, woman, now and could take care of herself. I had made sure of that.

  I grabbed the box and put it in the personal pod. Then I got in with it.

  “Bill, you better wait here, in case she’s, you know...”

  “Yeah. Right. Okay hon, whatever you say.”

  “That’s a sport. I’ll be right back, or not. Whatever.”

  I closed the pod and went back to the Academy grounds. I knew the room Colleen was supposed to be staying in, but suspected she was not there right now. I told the pod to locate her. It did. She was in a house just outside the Academy grounds and there were at least 12 people in there. We scanned the floors and I found her making love to a young man in a bedroom on the second floor. The way they were going at it, there was no doubt she was my daughter – and was apparently not a virgin any more. I waited until they finished, then took the pod to the hallway just outside the room. I got out of the pod and sent it outside, the box followed me and I knocked loudly on the door.

  “Who the hell is that?” the young man said. I could hear the rustling of people rapidly dressing. I was patient. If this was a meaningful relationship I didn’t want to squirrel it too badly.

  “It’s probably my mom,” she said in resignation. I could hear some kissing and giggling. “Stop it. She can hear us, you know.”

  I opened the door and stepped in, the box following. He was just pulling his hand out of the front of her jeans. She hadn’t gotten the rest of her clothes on yet. He did have his pants on, however, and he was extremely good looking and muscular and virile.

  He was shocked. “This is your mom? Not your sister? You look like twins!”

  I decided to finish the scene as Colleen finished getting dressed. I walked up to him, put my hands on his hips and gave him a McDowell kiss. He sat unexpectedly on the bed, his mouth open, moving but no sounds coming out.

  “Yeah, I’m her mom. You’ll do.” I turned to Colleen who was just finishing pulling on her top. What a lucky ass this guy was and he didn’t even know it. Yet.

  “I’m really sorry about this, hon. Really I am.” I grabbed the box out of the air and handed it to her. She looked at it in wonder.

  “What’s the big deal?”

  “We put it in a tractor beam and it broke free and smashed through the hull of WitchCraft.”

  “Oh my god!”

  “WitchCraft? The WitchCraft? Who the hell are you people, anyway?”

  The boy was quick; I’d give him that. I turned away from Colleen, who was trying to figure out how to open the box.

  “Yes, plebe. The WitchCraft. I am Captain Cynthia McDowell of the Starship WitchCraft, Empress of the Stars and Co-owner of the star system Caryna. And you have been making love with my daughter.”

  He sat there another moment, his mouth again falling open. I thought he was handsomer with it closed.

  “I’m a dead man,” he groaned and fell back on the bed. I chuckled. Colleen looked at him for a moment. He wasn’t moving from that bed, it appeared.

  “Mom, there is only one thing this can be: a technology superior to the Ancients’. That means that when this thing turns on and does whatever it’s programmed to do to me, you all better be out of here.”

  My girl was smarter than her boyfriend. The way she looked at him, I could tell she had feelings for him. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the bed. He meekly allowed me to shove him out the doorway. I didn’t let go of his arm, though.

  “Colleen, honey, I’m really sorry for this. I’ll take care of - what’s his name anyway?”

  “Craig. Thanks mom. I hope I see you soon...”

  “Oh my god,” Craig said, looking back into the room. The box was starting to light up with an intense white light. I had seen something like it before. I didn’t want to stay around and find out if I was right. I pushed Craig in front of me and down the stairs, he was taking two at a time and I was right behind him.

  “This is Captain McDowell! Everyone out! That’s an order!” I yelled, continuing to push Craig in front of me as fast as we could go.

  “WitchCraft, set the pod in front of the building, I’m going to try and make it there before this thing goes off.”

  “Aye, Aye, Captain.”

  I heard the pod pop as it arrived in the street just in front of us. Kids were streaming out of the building now, as the white light began to shine intensely out the bedroom window. I prayed to the Parents, to God, to Caryn, to everyone, that I was right and that she would survive. We reached the pod and I shoved the boy in and jumped in after him. My breasts were nearly smothering him, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  “You’re really her mom?” he mumbled into my chest.

  “Yeah. I know. It’s a long and complicated story.”

  “Take us to WitchCraft,” I told the pod.

  The pod left the scene. When we arrived on board I jumped out and ran to the view screen. I could see the city below and the house was glowing with the white light. It seemed to shine through the structure, through the boards, but didn’t damage them. But for blocks around the lights of the streets and other buildings were going out, in a circle from the house. Bill ran to the window and grabbed me and held me tight. Craig was watching, slowly becoming conscious of the phenomenon.

  “We’ve got to get back there. Colleen could...” Craig couldn’t finish the sentence. There was a ball of incredibly bright white energy suddenly expanding from the house. Most of the city was dark now. Nothing was moving.

  “We will, Craig, as soon as the explosion is finished.”

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ve experienced it before. It didn’t kill me or my First Mate, who was a biological life form. But he wa
s pretty badly injured. We’ll call medical teams and everyone when we get back there.”

  “Hey, you’re one of the McDowell sisters, aren’t you?”

  “Yes Craig. Are you in love with my daughter?”

  “I don’t know; I think so. I’m really fond of her. I’ve known her since high school.”

  “It figures. Okay. The light is dissipating. Let’s go. Bill, take Craig in the other pod.”

  We left WitchCraft together. I could see she had ‘droids repairing the hull already. This was the first time I knew of anything penetrating the hull of a Parent ship. My suspicions grew. We landed in the front yard of the house. There were bodies strewn all over the yard and street surrounding the house. Some were groaning. Some were sleeping. Some were probably dead. When power was restored it wouldn’t take the authorities long to get here. I wanted to have Colleen in hand and on the way to the hospital before they arrived.

  We rushed up the stairs with flashlights. The house was intact. The bomb didn’t affect ordinary matter, as I had already experienced before. It was purely electronic. I was sure every computer and phone in the place was fried. The lights I could see were also fried and there was glass all over the hallway from broken bulbs.

  We got to Colleen’s room and I burst in. The box was sitting on the desk, growing dim. She was lying on the floor in a crumpled heap. I grabbed her up and lifted her into a fireman’s carry. God she was heavy - and tall. Just like her mother, but not as much meat on her bones yet. It would come, I was sure. The men cleared the way and Bill helped us down the stairs with Craig running interference. He was obviously a football player. Looked like it with his physique. He was about the same size as Bill – and Fred, for that matter. Well over six feet tall.

  When we got to the yard some of the kids were starting to get up, dazed and lost looking. We rushed into our pods and headed to the WitchCraft. I had decided we needed to go to Caryna and the Repair Station, not to the human doctors here. I suspected she would need specialist care, maybe from Meph’s doctors. I would take her to the Parents and find out. As we faded out the police began arriving at the scene. There were about 30 cars, lights flashing and sirens wailing. What a mess.

  “Take us to Caryna 5, WitchCraft,” I commanded.

  “Aye-aye, Captain,” she responded immediately. The trip lasted only a couple minutes.

  Caryn and Catherine met us and we all went to the Repair Station.

  “What is it?” Caryn asked, peering at Colleen as we rushed to the surgery.

  When Bill brought Colleen inside a medical ‘droid covered her in a protective casing like Caryn had when she was all shot up. Colleen was taken into surgery immediately. We were not allowed in with her.

  “I don’t know, sis. I think it’s something like what Meph and Sassy and I experienced, but on a smaller scale.”

  Caryn and I stood with Craig and Bill at the door to the surgery. Watching what would be done.

  “We have examined your daughter, Cynthia. She is alive and sleeping. She has survived her ordeal, as we suspected she would. Her genome is stronger than Meph’s. You were correct; the EM device was directed at her. Her nervous system has been altered, much as yours was when you returned from your extragalactic mission. We do not understand how this was done, as it is beyond our technology. However, though frightening for you, it is not apparently hostile in intent.

  “Colleen will recover in a day or two and can probably be returned to her school. She should not perform any hard labor or exercise that might hurt her head, as her brain is going to be very tender for some time. But we do not find anything of lasting peril. Come back tomorrow and we will release her to you.”

  “Has she spoken to you yet?” Caryn asked.

  “No, she is still comatose.”

  Craig came up to me politely, fidgeting with his hands. He seemed like a nice boy, actually. My daughter has good taste.

  “What is it, Craig?”

  “I was wondering if you were talking to the Parents. Is she alive? Will she be all right?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. We were rude. Yes I was talking to the Parents. They say she will be fine, just tender in the head for a while. Would you like a tour of the Admiralty base?” I changed the subject. He looked around the Repair Station, curiosity practically bursting from his pores.

  “Is this the Admiralty star base?”

  “No, this is an Ancient Artifact, a repair station for Ancient starships. But it has a very well equipped hospital as well.”

  “Jeeze! Uh, are you an Ancient Artifact, sir?”

  “Do I look ancient?”

  “Hell no, you look, uh, terrific. You know, but, uh, how old are you anyway?”

  “I’m old enough to be Colleen’s mother. That’s all you need to know right now.”

  “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to pry. This is just all so, uh, big.”

  Oh boy, you don’t know the half of it, I thought. “Do you know Caryn’s story?”

  “Only from the holo show I watched as a kid.”

  And you’re still a kid, young man, I thought to myself.

  “Okay, I have a surprise for you. Come with me.”

  “The Library?” Caryn asked.

  “Yep.” I responded. I took him with me to the pod. We warped to Caryna 4 right next to the entrance to the Library. He couldn’t stop staring through the pod at space, then the planet, then the landscape. No sign of motion sickness or nausea. That was a very good sign.

  “Where are we going, sir?”

  “I’m going to take you to school. But school like you’ve never experienced before and might never experience again.”

  We went to the Library.

  “What is this place, sir?” he asked as I led him through the doorway toward the large padded chair.

  “This is what is called a Library. It will teach you all about this planet and our family history here. Have fun,” I said.

  Then I left and the Library took over from there. I knew from experience that he would be busy for the next 12 hours or so. I joined Caryn, Fred and Bill at Caryn’s place and we all sat around a nice warm fireplace and talked about what had happened to Colleen.

  “So sis, what was that explosion?” Caryn asked.

  “It was an electromagnetic pulse of some kind. I think it was like the one that hit us in the Hornet, but smaller,” I answered.

  “Do you really think there is a connection?” Fred asked.

  “Yes. Not only that, I’m sure it has changed her in some deep and at present unfathomable way. That’s what scares me,” I said.

  “You were given the ability to communicate in hyperspace without a Parent implant. Do you think that’s what happened to her?” Bill asked me.

  “We don’t know, Bill. This is a new thing for us. The fact that it didn’t kill her, however, is a very promising sign.”

  “But sis, this was on Earth, not in another galaxy!” Caryn exclaimed.

  “Right. It begs the question who did it, and how and why they picked Colleen, and of course what they intend by this. Questions I hope we will find the answers to soon,” I said.

  There were a lot of questions we thought of asking and no answers, except I knew there was some relationship between the gigantic EM bomb that had sent the Hornet reeling and the bomb in Colleen’s room. The light was the same hue, just not as big.

  “So look sis, you know more about this than any of us. Who do you think is doing this? Who might be capable of doing it?” Caryn asked.

  “And why? What do they want?” Bill added.

  “What I think is that this explosion was in some way related to the one that hit Meph and me in Sassy. It was smaller, so I would guess it was more personalized somehow. As to why, Bill, I have absolutely no clue. But since Colleen is my clone, maybe it has to do with me genetically. Sis, I know this sounds screwy, but I think something or someone in that furthest galaxy is doing this somehow. That’s all I’ve got. I hope the hell she wakes up.”

  “But why just y
ou and your clone, then?” Caryn asked.

  “You know you guys, I did get that message from something on the hyperspace line about me, or us, being the Parents now. Maybe this is related to that in some way.” I added

  “You are the parents? You mean, maybe our family is the Parents now? That’s as screwy as anything. Maybe they’re going to bomb everyone in the galaxy,” Caryn proposed.

  “I wish I could talk to Repair Station 3,” I said.

  “What is repair station three?” Bill asked.