The body of Dymar has grown, and now the ship has been discovered. Nations argue and squabble, and Dymar works to spread the knowledge.
Dymar Part 7-9
(c) By Py, 10/22/98
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7. Developments
Kansas started keeping track of time by using the Starships discovery date. She noted dates as either SD meaning Starship Discovery, or PD meaning Prediscovery. She never mentioned this system to those outside the whole of Dymar, but figured if she ever blurted it out, she could easily cover her mistake because it was undoubtedly one of the most important events to ever occur in history. As it turned out, this became a bit of a fad, Kansas wasn't sure if aspects had pushed the fad along or not, but with many letter combinations flying around, by pure coincidence the general public settled on her letters, and even government officials began using them. It annoyed her that sometime SD was Starship Discovery, and other times Spaceship or Spacecraft Discovery, but she figured it wasn't truly important enough to worry about.
In 2SD the first major code breaking occurred, and numbers began spilling forth from the computers. It happened just before Christmas that year, and as news leaked, it was the cause of even larger than expected parties when the old calender new year came. It only took another year to figure out the details of some of the codes, then all computer data aboard the ship was available for translation.
Shortly after this, the first information on the intelligence was revealed, and Crashaw images flooded the world. Things had been somewhat tense with some religious groups, but with the release of images things truly became hostile. Religious leaders shouted over the airwaves about blasphemy, and scientists replied with the facts as they found them. One group became large and powerful, claiming that the lord made man in his image, therefore these were ungodly abominations. Another popular group said that the images were faked, and the actual beings were short and human in form. Other religions also had there own interpretations of things, and after a while all of these groups began to clash at various press conferences and other gatherings. Some people simply panicked at the whole idea of alien intelligences, but were much fewer in number than many had feared.
At the height of this, Kansas agreed to another child, and in 4SD a daughter she named Samantha was born. By 6SD there were nearly 500 aspects around the world, all in countries with space related technology, or actual space programs. This was the year that the first major breakthroughs in understanding the engines were made. New alloys were discovered, and new plans for faster space probes proceeded.
In 8SD, the religious riots began to die down. Religious leaders announced there disgust and sorrow at the many deaths and injuries. They often still refused to believe, but were willing to overlook each others blasphemy. Occasional fist fights broke out, but nothing like the recent rioting.
In 10SD an earlier planned space probe with 4 people was launch to Mars, using some minor modifications taken from the Crashaw ship's engine design. It carried 6 people from various countries, 3 men and 3 women. The mission was originally planned to take nearly a year each way, but with recent improvements it now would take on average only 2 months each way. They spent more time on Mars than originally planned, and made another shocking discovery. While probing the ice at the north Martian pole for water and historical atmospheric information, they discovered alien fossils. It was later determined to be a form of bone, and from a small creature perhaps the size of a mouse. This put the final nail in the argument over the authenticity of the Crashaw image, but not the ungodly nature of it.
With the whole world working hard to understand everything, and governments eager to make a technological leap forward, all the best people worked on the ship. Even average people offered suggestions via the net, some of these even worked out, the whole of Dymar was constantly pushing in one direction or another, making anonymous suggestions, arranging funds, and government and private support. All things were going well, and even Kansas was surprised at the speed at which the humans learned and built.
In SD12 a new and better space station was begun. It would be huge, holding over 50 people on a rotating basis. It also would incorporate a strange new artificial gravity system that they still didn't fully understand, but could reproduce. The station was complete in SD14, and all worked as planned.
It was shortly after this that Kansas noticed her oldest son, Jonathan, the 16 year old, becoming a bit detached from the daily goings on at the farm. He constantly would take his fishing gear, and head off into the woods after chores. One day she noticed him leaving, and found he had forgotten his fishing rod. Later that day she found that he had never returned for it, and upon his return he bragged about the big one he had almost caught, but his line had snapped. Kansas saw him off to help his father, and she chuckled to herself.
Tallia swam through the water, touching a dolphin as it passed. She dove and swam with the dolphins, listening to their chirps, and watching their bodies for any indications of what they were saying to each other. Her black swim fins kicked, the light from above reflecting off her white one piece swimsuit and the walls of the center's huge main tank. Tallia held a fish and clicked in her throat, and the dolphin she expected came to her and took the fish. She thought she had a beginning understanding of how they communicated, and could seem to get words across, she even had learned to distinguish the meaning behind a few clicks and batches of clicks. It was such a complex language, she wondered if she could ever figure it out fully without merging and splitting with one. She thought that would be by far the easiest way to do it, but they were always too mobile, and there was no privacy in which to do it even if one stood still long enough for her.
She remembered her and Jacob finding jobs here at the aquatic research center. They were glad to have them since they both had degrees, and practical experience in the ocean. Jacob had been so concerned that with the ship having been found, he could be of no further use to the whole of Dymar. Tallia had tried to explain to him that there were many things they could do, and trying to learn an alien language was one, and maybe turning a language expert into an aspect was another. He had agreed, and they had both found jobs here. They had been treated somewhat as outsiders by the others at first, until they showed talent for working with the dolphins, and he had grown to enjoy it greatly. Then the plane crash a few years ago. Searchers had found no remains, and Kansas could not find his mental voice anywhere in all these last 3 years. Kansas had told her that the impact had been so great that the body was shattered, and the fires so intense that the protoplasmic side of him would have died also. Tallia had finally accepted that Jacob was gone, and was trying to make a new life for herself.
Tallia quickly remembered that she had been under the water for too long, and she started up. She climbed out of the tank, trying to be quiet, and hoping no one had noticed. She saw nobody, and grabbed a towel to dry herself. She went through the door to the dressing room, and changed back into her jeans, multicolored tank top., and open toed shoes. Wrapping up her soaked suit in her towel, she headed down to her locker.
Mike was in his office, she admired him as he was a genius with the dolphins. She smiled slightly thinking of what he'd say if he knew what she had accomplished. He had been here for nearly 5 years, and she couldn't understand why she had never thought to incorporate him into Dymar, but thought that it probably had to do with Jacob. First she had still been madly in love after all those years with Jacob, then when Mike first arrived she and Jacob had been so busy and caught up in things. When Jacob died, her heart just fell apart, and after that it was just habit and being involved so deeply with the dolphins herself. During all that time she had never shifted at all, until 2 weeks ago when she had locked herself out of her apartment, and checking to see nobody was watching, she shifted a finger into the lock, and picked it open. That incident had reminded her of her responsibilities.
She had been plotting for a week now how to get Mike alone and vulnerable. Probably with sex, that was always the easiest, although drugs or violence could work just as well, but weren't as much fun. It would be difficult though, he had always been such a gentleman about things, and had never approached her. She had begun to worry if he might be gay, when she caught him flirting with a female coworker. Of course, that was no proof of anything, but then she saw him one night having dinner at a fancy restaurant with a tall blonde. This totally confused her, but she decided it at least meant that he wasn't gay.
Tallia learned all she could about Mike, getting other aspects to check around to find records or any information for her, and she made some first plans. She started with simple accidents, such as bumping into him in the parking lot, and at the grocery store. He still never made a move although he was friendly enough. She managed to meet him on the beach, she wore a black one piece, and her now shoulder length red hair bounced as she played volleyball near him. She thought she caught him watching her, but he was always turning his head when she looked at him.
The following day, after getting the standard friendly morning greeting from him, she decided to try the damsel in distress routine. She had her white swimsuit on again, and was standing on the opposite side of the main tank when Mike entered the area. No one else was around so she called a greeting to get his attention. She then went to the edge of the tank, turned her back, and picked up an empty feeding pale near the edge that she had previously prepared. She raised it, and the handle broke off. The pale hit her foot, splashing water all over. She screamed, and pulling her foot up she fell backwards into the tank. She came to the surface, paddling as if she were having trouble, and calling for help. Within moments, Mike was there helping her out of the water. She shivered and wrapped her arms around his neck, he let her, and slowly put his arms around her. She thought she detected his arousal, when he pulled back and helped her limp to a chair. He checked her foot, and saying he thought it wasn't serious, he called a woman with some medical knowledge. He ended up driving her to the hospital, and stayed with her. As she had expected, her foot was not broken, and she received some instructions on caring for the swelling, and a prescription for some pain medication. He then drove her to fill the prescription, and then escorted her into her apartment. Then as she had thought, he left without trying anything.
The next day, she made sure the swelling was down a bit, but let it remain enough to cause her some pain and a slight limp. She stayed out of the tank as she had been told by the doctor, which she didn't like as she couldn't find an excuse to wear her swimsuit around Mike. So, she wore her usual, except she chose a black T-shirt with the center's logo on it, and she fed the dolphins from outside the tank, and found other things to do. She had a small office of her own, she and Jacob had squeezed into it, and they had let her keep it since his death. She kept little of her personal dolphin research there, not wishing for anyone to discover it. She brought disks in with what she thought she'd need each day, could contact her home unit for other things, and used extensive password protection for anything left around for others to find if by some chance they accessed her office computer.
Several days past, and Mike began flirting with Tallia, mostly just smiles and waves across the parking lot or tank area. On the forth day, he stopped by her office. Closing the door and sitting down, he awkwardly asked her to have dinner with him that night. She dressed in a sexy but still modest blue dress, deciding not to push too hard with him. He came in a nice black suit with a light blue shirt, and he took her to one of the fancier restaurants in town. The band was working at that time, so Tallia coaxed him into a slow dance with her. She had made sure her foot would be fine tonight, but it still looked as it should. They both enjoyed their meals, and afterward he drove her home. He gave her a long kiss good night at her door, then left her with a cheery "See you bright and early at work."
More days passed, and they continued seeing each other. Tallia's attraction to Mike grew, and they began having long conversations in her apartment. One night, tired of waiting for him to advance, she tackled him on the couch. They spent the night in her bed, and she rose to a wonderful breakfast he had prepared for her. Afterwards as she showered, Tallia decided she was glad she hadn't incorporated him that night. As the weeks passed, they continued to see each other, and she decided that she would not incorporate Mike without his choosing it, she remembered her own incorporation, and hadn't liked the idea of not choosing, even if it had saved her life. One night, after making love, she told him of Dymar, but leaving out key details such as names of other aspects. He laughed, and she did some shifting tricks as Jacob had done for her, even letting him touch her leg as it lay on the bed in a shapeless protoplasmic form. Mike's eyes were wide, and his face slack, as he finished dressing and left Tallia crying.
At work the next week, Mike avoided her. When they did bump into each other he was always polite and distant. He stopped staring at her on the beach, and Tallia continued to cry at night. She began reporting the incident to Kansas, asking for advice from her and other aspects. She argued to Kansas that the situation posed no threat to them as nobody would believe him if he said anything, and he hadn't said anything anyway.
One morning she received a note from Mike, asking her to report to a building outside of town to help him with some materials. She thought that perhaps this was the start of a change in their relationship, so she drove her car to the place. It was a large warehouse, surrounded by acres of flat land. She parked outside, not seeing Mike's car, but noting a black van. Tallia went inside, finding the place mostly empty. Walking to the center of the large room where Mike stood with his back to her, he turned and it was not Mike. Suddenly she found herself surrounded by 4 men and 2 women, forming a circle around her just beyond arms length. She saw another man and woman closing and barring the door. The man she had first seen began to speak, "Tallia Cross, by your own statement through mind talk to many other aspects, you have endangered the whole of Dymar by revealing our existence and purpose to an outsider.
Tallia understood immediately that her confession had brought this action. She also knew that they had all the facts from her earlier reports to Kansas, and she could not change their minds. She briefly considered running, but decided in the situation, and with all these aspects surrounding her, it was hopeless. She also expected that there were at least a couple of aspects outside the building just in case. The man continued, "Having endangered Dymar, and all of it's aspects, you are sentenced to death. Tallia hung her head, noting the cement floor which she could not escape through, and nothing above even if she had time. As the ring of aspects began to close in on her, she asked, "What of Mike?" The man calmly stated, "He will be killed, we will find a way to make it look like an accident." Tallia begged them to leave Mike alone, then heard Kansas in her mind, "We can not, he knows too much." Tallia begged for him to be turned into an aspect, but Kansas said that it was impossible to predict his reaction now, and he had to die.
They held her, one aspect on each arm and leg, the fifth grabbing her body from behind. The man who did all the talking, removed a syringe from his pocket. As she struggled and tried to reshape herself, she found that tendrils from the others were inside her body, and were keeping her from shifting. The man removed the cap, and injected it into her stomach. When finished injecting her, he called out "Done!", and they all retreated from her instantly, leaving the now broken off tendrils inside her continuing to hold her in human shape. The man spoke, "The tendrils merely hold you, you betrayed us, and you must not be allowed to use shifting to try and save yourself. We doubt you could, but we can't risk it." "What did you give me?" Tallia asked as she began to feel light headed. The man frowned, "What we fear the most on this world. It is a fluid extracted from blueberries. It's what causes us to react so violently to them, and this shot was in it's concentrated form."
Tallia screamed as she heard this. Her stomach felt as if it were on fire, and her head pounded. As she tried with all her strength to encase or eject the blueberry extract, her legs gave out. She fell to her knees, breathing in deep gasps. She begged for her life to this man, to all the others, and to Kansas. She fell backwards onto the cold cement, her arms and legs shaking as she gasped for breath. Her words could barely be understood as she choked out another plea for forgiveness. She lay motionless for a while, her eyes wide as her gasps became weaker, then they stopped completely. Shortly after all motion stopped, Tallia's body began to dissolve into a large green an white puddle on the floor. The others placed wood all around and in the puddle, and set it on fire. One of the men giggled, "Ashes to ashes..." A woman slapped him. The leader said, "She's right, show respect if nothing else."
Billy enters the clearing at the lake to find Kansas laying on a blanket, looking at clouds overhead. She wears a bikini, and sunglasses, and she is wet from her recent swim. Billy sits down next to her, and after some silence he softly says, "You closed yourself off from the mind touch, we've all been worried. We've got everyone looking for you, we just told them you heard that an old and dear friend had died." More silence, then Kansas said, "I didn't want to do it, but I'm the leader, the hub, and there was no doubt as to what she did, and we could not afford the danger of letting her live." "Yes, your right." agreed Billy. Kansas sat up, "Yes, and I'd do it again, but you didn't feel it like I did. I was in direct contact with her mind, trying to find any reason to change things, then I stayed in contact to make sure she died. It was horrible, I couldn't sleep last night." Billy patted her hand, "I felt some of it, we all did, but certainly not what you felt. You have to move on though." Kansas lays back and sighs, "Yes, I suppose I will, and the impact of the memories will fade to normal eventually."
Billy takes off his shirt, "It's been a long time since we've been alone in the woods." Kansas smiles, "Oh, just a marriage and 4 kids ago." Billy leans over her, "I think we can find a way to forget things for a while, it's a shame to waste all this on bad thoughts." She gently pushes him away, "Stop it, what if the kids come by, John and his girlfriend come here to... fish." Billy puts his hand on her stomach, "Well we got here first, he can find another spot. Or are you just afraid of what he might think of seeing his parents making love in the woods." Kansas giggles, Billy continues, "After all, grown people have been known..." Kansas pulls him down for a kiss.
Her son Jonathan stands motionless, watching from the cover of the bushes as his parents talk. He was unable to make out any words, but could here mumbles, and saw as they kissed, then as clothes began flying. He began quietly walking, and whispered, "Come on Laura, we can go to the other lake."
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8. The Eagle
Roxanne looked out the window of the car as it rolled towards the final check point. She had waited her entire life for something like this. She remembered back on the farm that she had always been fascinated with space. She had only been born a few months before the alien spaceship had been found at the bottom of the ocean. As soon as she had been old enough to understand, she had learned everything she could on the subject. Her mother had always appeared to be uninterested, yet always seemed to have the answers when asked, her father was the same. Then around SD16, her grandfather had fallen with a heart attack while in the fields. Workers brought him in and got help fast, but he died. Then less than a year later her grandmother died in a car accident. Her grandparents had never approved of her space interests, but had encouraged her to try and be what she wanted. Rich Uncle Victor had also encouraged her, and bought her many space books, fiction and non-fiction, and many science and Sci-Fi items. Her brothers had always put her down, at least when the parents weren't around, but little sister Samantha was always pushing her on. Sam had some interesting notions on how to get even with her big brothers, such as hiding there sox until they apologized.
Roxanne remembered graduating from high school, and Uncle Victor and Aunt Janet who had put up some money, which along with scholarships, and high grades in Math and Science, had gotten her into a good college. After graduating, she had then gotten a job with NASA, in training to be an astronaut. She loved it, although mostly there was little of flying to do, it was increasing all the time. The space station begun around SD14, was enlarged to now hold nearly 200 people. She herself had been up to it 3 times, and once had spent a week there. The artificial gravity plating made things much different from the zero Gravity space travelers used to deal with for long periods of time, but there were still some null gravity areas for experiments and recreation.
She also remembered the year she had officially become an astronaut, that was SD23, the same year NASA announced the building of the first starship. Roxanne thought it was premature, that humans didn't understand the technology well enough yet. The president had made the announcement though, and the world was supporting the idea. Things had advance quite a bit, mostly from studying the Crashaw computer files, and downloading and decoding data from small machines called microbots. The microbots knew every ship system, what it did, how it worked, and how to repair almost anything on board. Between them and the computer files, humanity almost had everything figured out about space travel. There were some interesting blanks in the microbot memory, but NASA scientists, and those from other countries had filled them in. Everyone at the top figured that humans could now build a ship almost as good as the one the Crashaw had built.
Unknown to anyone, planning had been going on for years, and so when the announcement was made, testing parts and building the full scale version went on almost simultaneously. People constantly objected, saying it was far to soon to do this, but with the world governments helping with support systems, and some components, the experts continued to insist the ship would be ready for launch by 2034, or SD29. They had been slightly optimistic, but it was now SD31, and all was ready to go, as far as the ship was concerned.
The car stopped, and Roxanne got out. People greeted them with waves and shouts as she and 3 other members of the ship's crew passed the crowds with other astronauts, heading for the car to take them on the final leg to the pad. She saw her mother and father there with the rest of the family, her uncle and aunt, and John's wife Laura. Roxanne knew she wasn't supposed to go near them for contamination reasons, but she made sure they heard her goodbye's over the noise of the crowd, before getting into the next vehicle. After another short ride, she climbed out of the mini bus and entered the gantry elevator. As it rose she could see the shuttle through the grid work of the elevator cage. At the top, she and 8 others climbed aboard, some of them would go with her, some stay on station, some others would return to Earth later when the shuttle returned.
Liftoff was difficult, the pressure of G-forces pushed her into the padding of her seat, making her think how the shuttles had hardly changed over the years. In orbit, she felt weightless, and knew without the restraints she would float around the room, unlike with the artificial gravity and inertia dampening systems of the Eagle. She spent her time in orbit thinking about how unlikely this all was. It wasn't that she was old, almost 32 was not bad for an astronaut. What had surprised her at first was that her knowledge didn't seem special, yet they had chosen her anyway. She specialized in computers and electronics, she also knew some engineering, a lot of alien theory, some medical knowledge, and was capable of command although not the best choice for it. They had told her that she was a good all around choice, and would be the first back up to Cindy Church, the ship's computer expert. Then just 4 days before launch to the station, Cindy had an accident and broke a leg. This moved Roxanne up to launch status, and brought her backup Julie Silvano to standby status.
On station people were quite friendly. Most of them knew her, and were pleasantly surprised that she had made the final team, although they felt sorry for Cindy also. They gave her use of a room and video phone with generous calling privileges, so she and the rest of the Eagle's crew could say goodbye again.
After a good nights sleep in artificial gravity, they woke to a morning breakfast and briefing, followed by more health checks. She was on the first of two trips, traveling with 3 others of the team, from the station to the higher orbit of the Eagle. She looked at her crew mates, and remembered the other problems. According to the mission plans, she was going to be traveling for nearly 80 years, at just under an average 6% of the speed of light, in hibernation, then 5 to 10 years on any new world they found, if it were habitable. Then the choices were to be either land explore and return, or just return, or if the captain thought it was possible then move on to the next star. The media always pointed out that returning of course would be to a world where everyone they had known was long since dead, since the round trip would take over 160 years, plus the length of time they stayed in the new system.
The other problem the media loved to talk about was sex. It wouldn't be a problem in hibernation, but there would first be weeks in isolation to make sure no one carried any illness, then the many week's more of acceleration towards the edge of the solar system. They all took contraception, but sex must be a part of the crew life. No man or woman could be denied, unless they themselves chose not to, and even that must take a back seat to the welfare of the ship. If it was required, then a person had to do it, and willingness to conform had been a major point in crew selection, and therefore the entire crew had to be willing, physically appealing, and mentally compatible. Roxanne giggled slightly at that word, 'backseat', which had been thrown around the newspapers and talk shows until few laughed at it anymore. This subject made for tricky rules of procedure, and thus the crew must be friendly, and must be willing to stick to the rules for the teams mental stability and a smoothly running ship.
They were a team of 4 men and 4 women, each paired off, but also being allowed to switch off as desired. The rules were complex, partly common sense, partly schedule, partly mutual attraction, and so on. Her partner was Howard, the ships doctor. She thought Howard was cute, and he seemed completely at ease with his switch from Cindy to Roxanne. She considered herself in comparison to Cindy. Each had short blonde hair, her eyes were blue to Cindy's green. She had a slightly larger bust than Cindy, she remembered all the big busted blondes in space jokes, although she didn't think she was that big, but she couldn't deny it either. She was an inch taller, a bit trimmer than Cindy in the hips and slightly longer legs, and both were trim and muscular enough, although neither would be entering any muscle contests.
Finally, the orbital shuttle reached the Eagle, and docked with a special reception module. They passed from the shuttle, into the module, then into the Eagle. The captain said some profound words for the press that Roxanne didn't here, and they began running systems checks. The rest of the crew joined them an hour later, and they all dressed in their gray uniforms for a press conference. At the press conference, the commander described the ship as being a large central cylinder, tapered at the front, with a blunt nose. Attached to it were 3 tapered cylinders, all facing the same direction, and set in a triangular formation around the central one. These 3 cylinders were about half the radius, and about 3 quarters the length. The total ship was considered huge for the crew at just over 200 feet long, but he explained that besides everything else, everybody had a private room so they could be alone. He explained that the rooms were small, but privacy had been found to be a very important issue.
He then spoke of the 3 small shuttles that could detach and land on a planetary surface. He mentioned that they could be used to escape the ship if anything went seriously wrong during the early hours of the mission, crews of 4 could fly in one, landing at the Mars base, or docking with the Earth orbiting station. He mentioned that if one failed then the entire crew could escape in the other 2, and if 2 failed then choices had already been made as to which 4 would go in the remaining shuttle. Emily Santiano broke in, "And in typical chauvinistic behavior, it's women and children first." Back on Earth this got a good laugh, while on the ship it brought a few chuckles and a slight blush from the captain.
He then introduced the entire crew, giving each a few moments to say something. Roxanne noted how the crew was a standard blend of nationalities as usual for modern space missions. The first pair were the male American commander, and a Japanese woman as second in command. The next being herself, and Howard who was from England. Next there was a woman from Brazil, and a man from South Africa. Finally, a man from Russia, and a woman from Canada rounded off the crew. The commander finished introductions with Alice, the Eagle's computer. He then asked Roxanne to explain Alice. She cleared her throat, "In simple terms, Alice is a multi processor super computer with learning and self correcting capability. Alice has a huge storage capacity reaching into the Kilogig range, and tremendous speed. Alice can run the entire ship alone, and with her microbot aids can deal with any emergency that may arise while the crew is in hibernation. Lastly, Alice does have an audio response capability, with interfaces in the control room, and in each of the crew quarters, as well as virtually any other room on the ship, not to mention the ability to communicate using wrist watches which are mainly for use when we land on a planet." At this point the commander introduced Alice, who ran through a short predetermined speech for the viewers. Finally, the camera's were off, and everyone began doing various jobs.
The next 2 weeks went uneventfully. Howard made sure everyone stayed healthy, and also that men and women took their contraception pills each day. When they arrived, he would use implants that could last for the entire mission on any planet, but for now he used this method, and the entire crew used supplies from the docking module still attached. Privacy for sex, or just to be alone worked out as planned, and the crew got along well. When isolation time was over, the crew was given the go ahead to begin. They took what final gear and power they could from the docking module, then closed the air lock and jettisoned it.
Acceleration was fast at first, and they all remained strapped in for an hour at a time. Then they would stretch there legs, 10 minutes or so, and strap in for another boost. It took nearly 3 days, with breaks for sleeping and eating, but finally they were at 2% of the speed of light, and well on their way to leaving the system. Roxanne loved spending much of her stretch time looking out the windows at the stars, she couldn't see much of the planets, but thought she saw a few small specks as they traveled. She was pleased they could accelerate so fast, she had learned all about ship system's, including the anti-inertia system which protected them from the ship's external motion, keeping them from being splattered against the walls on these high boosts, while not interfering in relative motion inside the ship, such as if someone tossed something across the room. They still had to wear restraints though, and she wasn't sure why as they were pretty much useless accept for dealing with internal vibrations of the ship's engines, and they weren't too bad. Still, she was pleased since the alternative was one of the old style ships, and boost periods over a year or more, not to mention the discomfort of it all. Of course, the old ship's couldn't go nearly as fast anyway.
Once beyond the major boosts, they began moving around more freely. There wasn't much to do, but checks were made, and reports sent. From now on most boosts would be much smaller, and done at ships night while most of the crew slept restrained in their beds. Things quickly began to settle to a routine, but Roxanne loved to spend time in the garden. It wasn't huge, all of their needs were met by recycling machines, but occasional fresh vegetables were a treat.
Midway through the first 2 weeks, Roxanne lay in bed, as Howard was finishing getting dressed. He left, reminding her that the next boost was in 30 minutes. After he had gone, Roxanne called out, "Alice, please make sure my privacy sign is still on, shut off your video feed, and turn the lights off please." "As you wish Roxy." came a voice as the lights went out, "May I ask how long you will be in privacy." Roxanne thought, "Until after the boost is done, don't disturb me until then except to warn of the boost." "Confirmed Roxy." came the voice. Roxanne knew she wouldn't be disturbed unless there were a ship emergency, so she could relax a bit. She also smiled at the familiar version of her name that the crew and even Alice used. She wasn't sure who decided the computer ought to do that with everyone, and she knew it would stop if she asked it to, but she liked it.
Roxanne opened her mind, "Mother, mother, can you here me?" "Barely." came the thoughts of Kansas. "I'll keep it short then. This is my final report before leaving the system. All goes well, no one suspects me, and everyone is getting along fine. I'm so excited." Kansas sighed in her mind, "We're all proud of you too. I've got the whole of Dymar listening in. Your the one who carries Dymar back to the stars, and soon you'll be alone, beyond our thoughts."
Roxanne paused, "Mother, before I go, I must ask you something, I don't mean to bring this out to the whole mind, but I must know. "Go ahead dear." Kansas coaxed. "Mother, did you always plan to make me an aspect and send me?" Kansas paused, "No dear, I had plans for you to live out a life without becoming part of Dymar, I knew somebody would go, but couldn't plan that yet. Then you found out 2 years ago when you caught me in the middle of shifting, after that new horse kicked me across the barn. I had no choice then, if I had let you stay apart, I would have been bringing the same danger upon Dymar as that aspect Tallia did, and I would deserve the same fate as her. The hardest part was actually doing it." "I remember." thought Roxanne, "You had Dad hold me, then you got halfway up my body and backed off." Kansas frowned in her mind, "I couldn't stand the screaming and crying, god you were loud enough to wake the dead. I'm glad your oldest brother moved out, and we sent your other brother and sister away for that weekend errand for the farm, you were worse than your Aunt when I did a splitting with her. They would've thought I was killing you, and as it was I couldn't do it. We tried tying you up with a gag in your mouth, and I still couldn't get past your eyes and trembling body. So we knocked you out with some sedatives we had for such things, and I was able to bring myself to fully envelop you." Kansas sobbed in her mind, "Don't cry Mom! I'm happy about it. Even at my age, who wouldn't have been scared at first." Her father's thought broke in, "We love you pumpkin." "I love you both too." she returned. Her father continued, "We had a number of other aspects in place, somebody would have gone, you were just lucky that Cindy had that accident before we had to act. The 3 of them continued for a while, then they said their final goodbye's.
Roxanne closed the mind link as a chime sounded, and a voice from above announced "60 seconds until boost. Please get into your restraints." Roxanne connected the straps to hold herself in bed, and called out, "Alice, music please, something classical." The vibrations hit her as the ship's engines started, she felt for mental contact to listen to, but after 20 minutes she could barely understand any of what her mind heard. "Now, I am alone." she muttered.
Weeks later when the proper time arrived, the commander called everyone together. "Time to go into hibernation, are we all ready, and are all the tanks ready?" All agreed they were ready, and the tanks had been checked and were fine. "Alice, are you ready?" he asked. "Ready commander, all systems fully functional, I'm prepared to deal with the remaining boosts and anything that needs attention. All microbots are fully functional and ready. Currently 2 are on the hull, but everything checks out and there currently returning." "Thank you Alice." he replied. "So, time to go then." Everyone took turns taking an injection of sedative and other assisting chemicals, then climbing into a tank. Roxanne was fifth, and the first thing she noticed was that someone had gotten around to changing the name plate from 'Cindy Church', to 'Roxanne Raston'. She then stripped off her gray uniform, and taking her shot she climbed in. She knew the others would double check for her as they had for the previous crew members, then move on. The commander would be last, and would do his own checks and injection the best he could, and of course Alice and the microbots would watch over them all. Laying in her tank, she looked up at the commander, as the translucent cover closed, and the hibernation machines started their operations.
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9. Awake
Several years into the journey, as the starship Eagle moved through space at it's maximum speed of 5.9% of the speed of light, a tank began to open in the darkened hibernation area. Cold air struck Roxanne, causing goose bumps all over her body. She pushed the cover of the tank up and over her head, into it's wall slot, and swung her legs out over the edge of the tank bed. She sat there and coughed, blinking her blue eyes, and the lights began glowing at a low level. A microbot sped between the tanks, and a gentle female voice from above asked, "Roxy, what are you doing?! Why are you awake?! You must go back into hibernation immediately!" Roxanne choked and coughed, the ends of her neck length blonde hair swaying with the movement, "No, I'm fine, you could turn up the heat a bit." Alice did, "You should feel it in moments, but I shouldn't do it for long, I'm supposed to be conserving energy! I can do this until we get you back in the tank." Roxanne stood on shaky legs, cringing a little at the feel of the cold floor, "That's going to be a while, I'm not going back." "Not going back!?" Alice virtually screamed. "Yes." repeated Roxanne. "Now, how long can you keep the heat and light going?" "Six or seven years, without using energy designated for the mission."" the computer replied. "Roxanne coughed as she grabbed her gray clothes off the hook where she had left them, "What about if you consider my tank being shut down?" Alice didn't hesitate, "Another 22 years if I drain it's power, but you need that, you need to get back into your tank and into hibernation." Alice sounded as if she were whining, "You can't survive alone all those years, I don't have the resources, and you'll go nuts, and also it's too late to turn around." Roxanne finished dressing, "Alice, my dear, using words like nuts you must really be upset."
Roxanne looked out the front view port at thousands of stars stretching out in all directions. "Alice, time check please." "It's been 1 year, 5 months and 11 days since our departure." Alice calmly reported. "I want you to discontinue all reports to Earth, go silent, no signals of any sort, go completely silent." Roxanne ordered. "I can't do that Roxy, it's totally against protocols." Roxanne sternly stated, "Emergency override zeta 1/A authorization white, now carry out my last instruction." Alice paused, "Done." Roxanne coughed, "I should've put that code in, but a more talented person who was building you did, and told me about it. Now you'll do whatever I tell you right?" "Yes Roxy." Alice intones. "Very well then, next I want you to continue radio silence until I say otherwise, and also, get me some coffee."
Roxanne was peering into her tank, she called out, "Alice, when you get a chance, do something about that white stuff in my tank." Alice acknowledged and Roxanne went into her private quarters. She was tired, she had known the hibernation tank wouldn't effect her, but fighting off the drugs, and going without food for over a year had drained her. She could normally go much longer without food, but the hibernation drugs had taken a much more than expected toll on her. She thought, by rationing power I can easily travel to this star, then another if necessary. If I can collect and convert enough radioactive material, perhaps I can go much longer. Food isn't a problem, nor power since the mission has changed. Even sunlight, it's a poor substitute, but given time I can convert that for use, and I've got plenty of time.
Roxanne took a nap, and when she woke, she went to the hibernation room. She considered each, and began the cycle to open Howard's tank. The door slid open, and Howard lay there, his eyes opened as he choked out, "Are we there?" "How are you?" She asked. He paused, "can't move yet, vision blurry, are we there Roxy." Roxanne put her hand on his chest, "Poor dear, you always were slow in testing at recovering from hibernation, don't worry though, I'm taking care of things." She began dropping her clothes, "You as ship's doctor are probably my most dangerous opponent here, I'm sorry." Roxanne pulled herself onto the platform that made the bed of the tank, and straddled Howard. She shifted, her body beginning to flow over him. Howard began to realize he was in some sort of danger, and began trying to move. His weak effort at struggle got him nowhere, as more of Roxanne melted away, while more of the white and green protoplasm covered him. It covered his arms, trapping them to his sides, and began sliding down his legs. With his last hoarse scream, it covered his face. All movement stopped as the protoplasm reached his feet and finished the envelopment.
The mass of protoplasm lay motionless in the tank for nearly 6 hours. Microbots had investigated, but left it alone as it was organic in nature, and their sensors said it was alive. It slowly began to move and form a shape, and finally solidified into the naked form of Roxanne laying on her stomach. She turned onto her side, swinging her knees over the edge of the tank bed, and slowly sat up, her added mass making movement difficult. "Oh god! I knew you were going to make me feel bloated, but I must weigh 300 pounds now." She hopped off the tank bed, and fell to one knee. She stood, and grabbed her clothes which had been left alone, because of instructions from Alice to the microbots to leave all crew clothes alone without specific instructions. She staggered into her quarters, and looked herself over, touching and checking her shape. "I still look normal like Ma said, I'm just a bit more compact. Who am I kidding, a lot more compact, I've got more than twice the mass in the same body now, my butt feels funny, and my breasts feel heavy." She sat on her bed and began dressing, "Gotta watch what I lean on for a while, and won't need to eat for some time." She raised her head, "Alice, have you done an assay on the white substance taken from my tank?" "Yes, you did not order it, but as an unknown substance I tested it anyway." the computer replied. "Good girl." Roxanne responded. "So, is it recyclable?" she asked. "Yes Roxy, it's an unknown substance, but simple and easy to break down into completely known chemicals. It's 100% recyclable." Roxanne smiled, "Good, I thought so, that means no food problems either."
Roxanne spent the next few months adjusting things the way she wanted. Clarifying standing orders, making sure that the microbots recognized her in human and shifted form, and setting up a special reduced gravity mode which lowered gravity on the ship to 80% of normal, so as to make motion easier when her mass was increased. She also set up a dormant mode which would shut off gravity and lights, while cutting oxygen recycling and heat usage to minimum, and putting all other life support systems on a standby basis, until she ordered active mode, or some emergency required her attention. She weighed herself to check her mass, and found things to do such as chart stars, draw pictures, and play chess against Alice. One of the things she loved was tending the garden. Life support there was always normal for the health of the plants, and as uncomfortable as it sometimes made her, she would not change that. Alice could even have microbots close the door to keep heat in during dormant cycles if she herself forgot. Finally though, even with her decreased need for company, she went to her quarters, and ordered the ship into dormant mode. As she lay buckled in her bunk in the dark, she let herself drift off into a dormant cycle.
She woke to a call, Alice trying to rouse her. "Roxy, the signals have stopped." Roxanne unbuckled herself and rose, "Return to reduced mode, and turn on some lights, then explain what you mean." she wearily said. Alice did so, and continued, "For approximately 1.5 years after we went silent, the signals from Earth kept arriving regularly, which was normal as it took that long for our last signals to reach them. Another 1.5 years later, and the signals changed, more intense, with commands to try and make me do things." "Did you Alice?" "No Roxy, as per your override authority, and your command, I have taken no actions given from outside the ship." "Good girl." Roxanne said as she went to the rest rooms, and once there relieved herself of a great deal of mass, having to do it in stages so as not to overload the toilets. She then walked to the doctors office. Roxanne weighed herself and thought, "158 pounds, and I still look normal, not bad." Alice continued, "They continued that for 3.5 years, and now it's been a month with nothing from Earth." Roxanne headed back for her own quarters, "They've given up, they think we've blown up or suffered some terminal breakdown!" "That would be the logical conclusion." responded Alice. "They may give up on further space flight until they determine if it were a fault or similar problem."
Roxanne dressed and went to the control room, then checking that all was well, she went back to the garden. Microbots with gardening tools fled from her path, as she found the apple tree, and sat under it. Alice made a sound, it seemed to Roxanne just like a clearing of the throat, "Yes Alice, what do you want?" The voice from a corner speaker answered, "I know what you are, or at least what you seem to be." Roxanne wrinkled her forehead, "What is that?" "You Roxy, are some sort of protoplasmic being, similar to an amoeba or other protozoan." Roxy laughed loudly, "Oh, I wish I could tell that to mother. She'd flip, and be so irritated she'd be impossible to live with for a month."
Roxanne stopped laughing after a while, "So, what are you going to do about it." Alice replied after a few moments, "My mission is to reach the star system, protect the crew, explore any habitable worlds, follow orders, and return to Earth. I balance all of this with the status of the ship, orders given to me, and other factors, and using complex formulas, I decide. Protecting the crew seems to be a serious issue here, you did kill the doctor." Roxanne sat up, "I gave you the override?!" "But you endanger the crew!" Alice stated. Roxanne stood, "I am crew, the rules say nothing about only humans being crew, and I am crew!" Alice paused, "True, you are crew, but you endanger the rest of the crew!" Roxanne smiled, "Then if I am crew, as per my override you must obey my instructions." Alice paused longer, "Yes, you are crew, I must obey your override, but you endanger the rest of the crew."
Roxanne admired Alice's capabilities. She had considered many possible reactions and how to deal with them, including pulling the plug on just her brain's higher functions. She was confident she could outwit the neural net that formed Alice's brain though, and didn't like the idea of trying to run this ship mostly on manual. "Alice." she continued, "If I am crew, you cannot hurt me, and you must obey me and my override." "Yes, but you endanger the rest of the crew." Alice stated. Roxanne paused, then softly asked, "Will you kill me?" Alice immediately answered, "No, you are crew, I must protect the crew!" Roxanne smirked, "Will you stop me?" Alice paused again, "I have no known way of stopping you, except by extreme heat, cold, or electricity, any of these would possibly work, but would kill you if it did. I therefore cannot do that. I must consider finding a method of stopping you without hurting you." Roxanne crossed her arms, "In the meantime, you must obey my orders, correct?" "Correct." the computer said. Roxanne knew of no way for Alice to stop her without killing her, so felt safe, except during absorption when a crew life was in immediate danger. "Alice, what about when I'm absorbing someone as you saw me do with the doctor, would you kill one crew to save another?" Alice paused again, "Yes." Roxanne thought about this sticky point, "Will you?" Alice didn't pause, "As before, that would require extreme heat, cold, or electricity, if it worked at all, and such would kill the other crew member also. I cannot do this either."
Roxanne almost had Alice tied in knots, "Okay Alice, will you wake the others, and warn them?" Alice paused a very long time. "Alice, respond to my last question!" Roxanne began to sweat a bit, she knew that if Alice did wake the others, they would probably kill her, then warn Earth." She took a step forward, "Alice?!" Alice finally answered, "I cannot be responsible for the actions of others, therefore it is not against my mission programing to wake the rest of the crew for a short period of time. If they try to kill you, I can do nothing as stated before in your question about crew killing crew. I have no way to stop them without killing them, so I can do nothing." Roxanne's voice quivered, "And will you wake them?" Alice paused, "Yes, so that they may choose and settle my logical dilemma."
Roxanne ran for the door, and crashed into it face first as it refused to budge. She pushed hard, getting it open slightly, and saw that the microbots had brought debris to block the door from swinging out. Roxanne screamed, "Alice, why did you do that?" "To delay you, that the others would be assured time to wake up so the choice can be made." Alice replied. Unable to open the door more, Roxanne shifted, letting her clothes fall to the garden floor, and she quickly stretched her mass out through the crack in the door. On the other side she regained her human shape, and ran to the hibernation room, yelling out a command to Alice not to wake up any more hibernauts. She just hoped that with a direct order from her, and the override in place, that Alice would not wake any more than she may already have.
She opened the door to find 2 tanks open, with the commander and first officer sitting up. Panic went through her mind, but she knew that Alice could only do 2 tanks at a time, so she ran over to a panel in the wall, and cut the power before more tanks could be opened. The commander yelled in his deep but hoarse voice, "What the hell are you doing!" Both officers tried to stand, each finding their legs weak but managing to stay upright. "Alice!" called the first officer. "Yes Omico." "Why did you wake us, have we arrived, and why is Roxanne already awake before us." she asked. "We have not yet arrived in the target system yet. Roxy woke herself, I assume she cut the power to keep me from waking the others. I woke you because I am in a logical block I need you to break." Roxanne closed the hatch to the hibernation room as the commander said, "Explain!" Alice continued, "Roxanne is crew, yet Roxanne is a protoplasmic being who has killed the doctor, and will kill other crew. I cannot kill crew, and I cannot let her continue, I can wake you though and you may choose what to do."
They stood speechlessly looking at Roxanne. She walked towards them casually, and letting her breasts bounce slightly she smiled and said, "Don't be silly, do I look like some sort of alien creature bent on destruction. I think Alice is on the Fritz. She woke me up some time ago, now you two, and with this crazy story as well. The commander turned his head, "Where's the doctor then?" As he turned his head back to face her, Roxanne jumped at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck, and legs around his body, the impact forcing him back to a sitting position on the tank bed. As quickly as she could she began shifting, and bringing her arms and legs together to form bands of protoplasm around him. The numbness began to strike him and he began to yell at her. He pushed on her body with his hands, but they just sank in and became surrounded in protoplasm, and immediately became numb and difficult to move. As more of Roxanne seemed to melt and spread around his body, Omico grabbed at her from behind, but her hands tended to sink in also. Omico pulled away, and the commander fell backwards onto the tank bed. Omico stood frozen as the commander began screaming, as more of his body became encased in protoplasm.
Omico ran for the fire extinguisher, she wasn't sure why except she knew that cold was bad for most beings, it was handy, and she knew a knife wouldn't do anything against it. As cold sliced all through Roxanne, she mentally screamed. She knew that if she gave in to the cold and slid off the commander, they could hold her at a distance until they decided what to do with her. She used her will to ignore the pain as best she could, and the cold finally stopped just before she felt it would kill her.
She sensed that Omico had dropped the fire extinguisher, and was leaving the room. She didn't think the woman was a coward, and thought she would be trying other things. Roxanne began to absorb her own damaged material, and continued to envelop the commander. She covered his face and encased his head, and she felt the vibration of Omico's footsteps as she was spreading down the legs and underneath him. Her last thought before beginning to absorb the still struggling commander was that she hoped Alice would obey her last command and not wake up any others, even if Omico had thought to turn the hibernation room's main power back on.
To be continued
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By Py