The starship is on it's way, and Dymar's aspect on the ship has been discovered. How will Roxanne continue, or will the humans win out.
Dymar Part 10-12
(c) By Py, 10/22/98
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10. Pursuit
After slightly over 8 hours, the protoplasm reshaped itself into Roxanne, "Ugghh, heavier than ever now. Merging won't help with Omico, different body, same mass problem, and splittings no good, one must start the new unity, not two. I admit two would be interesting, but it would be that much harder to go undiscovered in the early stages among any intelligent forms we find. She climbed off the tank bed, first noticing that all the hibernauts were still in their tanks, and then picking up a fire extinguisher off the floor, "Empty, lucky me." She then checked the hibernation tanks main power lever, finding that Omico had indeed turned it back on. "Alice, did Omico ask you to wake more crew while I was..... taking care of the commander." "Yes Roxy." Why didn't you?" she asked. "Because of your last order instructing me not to wake up any more hibernauts, your override compels me to obey you regardless of my reasons. So, I'm right back to having the conflict unresolved. Unless of course, you kill Omico and the rest of the crew, or one of them kills you." Roxanne didn't want to think of Omico killing her, she called out, "Alice, as per my override authority, you will accept no further orders from Omico, and discontinue any standing orders from her currently in place. Please confirm." "Confirmed Roxy." Alice stated.
Roxanne went onto the main deck, "Alice, has Omico managed any changes to anything?" "Yes Roxy, she managed to slow the ship, break into my lesser computer systems, and basically pulled things apart looking for weapons. She found she couldn't get at anything cold except fire extinguishers, and nothing hot except things in the kitchen which are not portable." Roxanne scowled, "Alice, did you tell her of your ideas about heat, cold, and electricity, being harmful to me." Alice sounded pleased, "Yes, she asked me for all I knew about you, which admittedly isn't much." Roxanne snarled, "Thanks, did she do anything dangerous to the ship or reaching the target star system?" Alice sounded hurt, "No Roxy, I wouldn't let anyone do that?" Roxanne folded her arms, "Where is she, and has she set up any traps." Alice calmly states, "She's in cylinder 2, section 1, and I don't know if she has set up any traps or not." Roxanne mutters, "Waiting for me to come in, or I could just wait for her to come out. She'll sleep in there if she has a trap set up. She'd be on guard when she comes out, I'm not likely to get her then. She could sneak up on me as I sleep, and kill me with fire extinguishers before I could react. Last time I was lucky because it ran out. She chuckled, "After all the ages, all the technologies, all the great minds, to be killed by a naked woman with a fire extinguisher."
Roxanne was waiting in the control room, when Alice reported Omico in the kitchen. Roxanne headed there, and ordered ship's gravity off, but just in time to see Omico scamper past her carrying items. Roxanne was still naked to speed the process of capture and absorption, but Omico was dressed in what appeared to be a bathrobe with pockets full of items. The gravity went out, and Omico sailed through the air on her momentum, grabbed the door to cylinder 2, and pulled herself in. Roxanne shifted, and began extruding long thick tendrils from each of her fingers, each tendril about 2 feet long and nearly as thick at the base as the finger it came from, and she used them to move about by grabbing things and pulling herself along. She entered the less roomy area in section 3. Roxanne saw Omico heading forward, and used her tendrils to close the hatch behind her. As she moved forward, she noted the cramped surroundings which measured only about 14 feet across and 12 feet high, smaller than the main section, and she knew it became smaller in Omico's chosen direction, bigger in the other. She chuckled at the choice, since with her tendrils and other shape shifting tricks, it would be easier to capture Omico in a smaller area, where a large place would make things somewhat more difficult. She also considered the zero gravity effect. Omico may be the zero G champ back on Earth, but once she had a tendril around her, Omico would have no leverage to escape. As Roxanne entered section 2 she thought, "Even without fully shifting first, capture and absorption in zero G would be easy, not nearly as difficult as trying to work in gravity. She passed through section 2, and noticing the hatch closed, she asked, "Alice, did she leave through the hatch in section 2?" "No Roxy." came the reply. "Access hatch 2 has not been opened."
Roxanne reached the hatch to section one, and peering through she saw a space about 10 feet across by 8 feet high, with no way out except this single hatch, and Omico cowering at the far end. She smiled, "I don't want to do this, I really hate it. I'd much rather leave you alone, or turn you into an aspect of Dymar." "Why don't you then, whatever that is?" Omico spat out. Roxanne talked calmly, "Because there must be just one Dymar on any new world." "You mean more of you?" she said with wide eyes. "Yes. sorta." Roxanne said as she stroked her blonde hair with a tendril. "I can absorb you, which means your dead, and just food and mass for me, or I can merge, which means Roxanne dies, and Dymar merges with you, or I can split, which means I merge then split, and then we are both here as aspects of the same being, Dymar. Actually, I should choose a new name, Dymar is back on Earth, I'm separate now, the new unity, once I find a home world." Omico paused, "So why can't you split, make me your first aspect?" Roxanne thought, "Technically nothing's stopping me, but it's harder to spread unseen on a new world if we start with 2. It's more complicated to hide, double the chance of discovery. For example, when Dymar met the Crashaw, It arranged an accident to hide from view, to cover It's first merging, and spread in secret from there. The Crashaw thought the alien died and dissolved into a puddle of my excess mass. If 2 had disappeared that way, it would've looked suspicious, and the Crashaw would have figured it all out." Roxanne brought herself fully through the hatch, "It has worked this way for so many thousands of years, I can't remember ever doing it differently, so why change, one Dymar aspect arriving at one world. I guess you could say it's a tradition."
"Merge then, make me Dymar!" Omico said with a sob, her long dark hair swinging and floating as she cried into her hands, "I don't want to die!" Roxanne felt a tear form, and wiped it with a tendril."I don't want to die either, I wasn't even supposed to be an aspect, but I accidentally discovered my mother, and she made me an aspect rather than kill me. She had no choice, enveloping someone in gravity is far from easy, and discovery means our doom." Omico cried, "I'll go back in the tank, you can take me to the same world, do the split with me there or not, I won't tell, I promise." Roxanne sighed, "I'd love to, but I'd be risking too much, aspects have been executed by other aspects for things like that, I can't."
Omico remains silent, Roxanne points a finger up, "I'd like to make this easy, I didn't want to do this to you. I hoped to have one or two humans with me on the new world. Since they wouldn't wake up until we're there, they wouldn't know anything, and would pose no additional threat. There would be questions as to what happened to the others, but no worse than the questions the humans had about the empty Crashaw tanks. There are always empty tanks, and always questions, but so far it always works out. This could be no worse, but now you know and I can't risk it. I could have agreed to your plan, and as soon as you were close I could grab you, but I don't want that." "Is that supposed to make me feel better?!" Omico screamed. "No." Roxanne answered. "That was silly, I just don't want you so afraid, I don't want to harm you. Now, here I come, sorry but I have to do this. Just think, maybe your mass will make it possible to spare one of the others.
"Wait!" Omico cried. "What of Earth, what happens there now?" Roxanne halted her advance before moving more than a few inches, and used her finger tendrils to settle herself back in place blocking the hatch. "Earth, well I shouldn't be bothering to answer your question, but we have time." Roxanne softly said. "I can't say for sure, the mind touch with that unity was lost before we went into hibernation. But the plan was clear, and had already begun. Dymar included over 10,000 aspects when we left Earth, and Dymar could double every 6 weeks, but a more prudent number would be once or twice a year." Roxanne paused, "So, assuming a doubling every year, and allowing a generous margin for error, Dymar should have 300,000 to 500,000 aspects now. All that assumes that the advance is progressing with the target of total conversion in mind, which would take probably 20 or 30 years until the entire planet was brought into the unity of Dymar. Things might progress much slower if the possibility of future starships being sent out exists." Roxanne smiled, "So, no matter how it works out, the entire Earth's population will become aspects of Dymar, and eventually it will send out starships with new beginnings like myself as often as it can, to as many worlds as it can." Roxanne threw out her hands, "One day the whole galaxy will be full of unities such as Dymar, then we will begin moving to other galaxies until the universe is encompassed in world unities!"
Silence hung between them, "Okay, it sounds a bit dramatic." said Roxanne, "but that's the plan. Perhaps we'll never figure out how to get to other galaxies, but this galaxy will become full of world unities. I cannot say for sure, but there must be thousands of converted worlds by now, each world sending out more than one ambassador such as me, but too often running into already converted worlds." Omico sniffed, "So, what happens if you reach an already converted world?" Roxanne sighed, "When I feel the mind touch, I either don't land, or I make contact and get supplies to move on, or I land and join their unity. It depends on the ship's condition basically. This ship is in good condition, but you slowed it with your attempts to do something. I have no idea yet how much longer it will take me to get there, but if I find a unity there I will probably get supplies, and move on."
Roxanne sighed and flicked a tendril, "Now, I really love our chat, but if you have no more big questions, I really would like to get this over with." Omico looked defiant, "I'll fight you!" Roxanne grinned, "It's expected, I haven't met a being yet who didn't fight back, and I have all the memories of Dymar, stretching back many thousands of years, and not one has escaped except through their own death." Roxanne giggles, "Your not planning to blow up the ship from in here are you!?" Omico floated with one foot hooked around a beam, and sighed, "I wish I could!"
Roxanne began to advance again, Omico reached into the pockets of her robe, and began throwing objects. Ice cubes floated straight in the zero gravity. Roxanne tried to dodge, but unable to reach anything to hold onto, the ice cubes hit her repeatedly on her body. Roxanne cried out, "Ouch, that stings, but come now, I've been holding ice cubes in my hands for a long time." Omico then tried a fire extinguisher, but found it empty. Roxanne laughed, "Good try, but I had the microbots empty some of those years ago, and reduce the rest to levels I can survive. You got a dud there, the one in the hibernation room was low enough for me to survive, although it was painful, and I'm glad you didn't have two of them." Roxanne sighed, "Now come on Omico, give in to the inevitable." Omico used her legs to spring away to one side before Roxanne could reach her. When Roxanne reached the wall where Omico had been, she sprang in the same direction, "I closed the door, you can't escape. While your opening it, I'll reach you."
Omico reached the wall and turned around. Roxanne was too close for Omico to run from, so she reached in her pockets again and threw some pliers, and a wrench. They struck Roxanne and bounced off, "Pathetic try." Roxanne scoffed. Roxanne's finger tendrils reached Omico and began wrapping around her upper arms. Omico screamed as Roxanne pulled closer, her hand grabbed Omico by a shoulder, and her body began altering it's shape. As a semi human looking mass began to envelop Omico, she reached into a recess in the metal with both hands, and withdrew 2 finger thick wires. As she plunged the wires into the protoplasm before her, two screams rang out. Roxanne began to release Omico, and the screams grew in intensity. Crackling sounds came, and smoke could be seen, as Roxanne twitched wildly. Roxanne began falling away, taking the wires buried in her naked body. She stopped all movement, and halfway across the room the wires reached the end of their lengths, and pulled out of her, as her body continued floating away.
Omico's eyes slowly began to open. At first she was confused, then saw a small piece of protoplasm floating past 2 wires, and it all came back to her. She remembered sticking the electrical wires in Roxanne's body, her hands passing through the skin. Then she felt the electrical shock at the same time as Roxanne, causing them both to scream. She remembered it wasn't much of a scream from her, but a huge one from Roxanne, then she had passed out from her share of the electrical shock. Now she saw the wires, and flecks of protoplasm of various sizes motionless and floating about. As she scanned the room, she saw Roxanne's body, floating motionless, partly shifted and deformed. Roxanne's eyes and mouth were wide, and she slowly tumbled as she floated in the weightlessness.
Omico felt weak, and numb in many places, but slowly worked her way to the hatch with small slow movements. She went out the hatch and saw that nothing had changed in the room she had just left, so she closed the hatch. Moving to the section 2 hatch, she opened it and reentered the main area of the ship. She found a chair, "Alice, normal gravity please." "I'm sorry Omico, I can't do that." Alice responded. "Omico shivered and pulled her robe tighter, "Why not." Alice answered, "Roxy gave me an emergency override command that supersedes all others. Then before leaving the hibernation room, she ordered that I was to ignore anymore commands from you." "But Roxanne is dead!?" she pleaded. "I must obey the command regardless." responded Alice. Omico breathed deeply, "I should have expected that, but I can work past that in the computer core later." Omico sat up, "Alice, will you obey someone else's commands?" "Yes Omico, I was only ordered to ignore your commands." Omico smiled, "Now we're getting somewhere, just got to get someone else out of the tanks manually." "Alice, two questions. Can I still access non-ship functions such as personal lights, and can I get food and water." Alice sounded hurt, "Yes to both of course, I can't let crew starve to death or stumble around in the dark."
After going to the hibernation room and collecting her clothes, she put them on, and hung up the bathrobe. Like the others, her uniform consisted of a gray T-shirt which covered her average form, and a pair of gray pants. She put her sox and sneakers on, figuring she'd need them when she got the gravity back, and in case her feet bumped into anything hot. After getting some food, and eating in the garden where there was gravity, she returned to the hibernation room. She worked for hours, but couldn't figure out how to wake anyone up. She then spent time in the tiny 2 person library, reading specs on the tanks, and instructions on how to manually open one, as well as information on the remaining crew to decide which would be of the most help. She chided herself for not learning the tank systems better, but to her there never seemed enough time. Before going to bed, she had Alice route a picture of cylinder 2, section 1, onto the library computer screen, and could see that nothing had change, accept for perhaps more loose bits of protoplasm floating around, and Roxanne's body having seemingly melted away somewhat more.
Omico worked her way to her quarters, and once inside she undressed, noting that the numbness in her hands and arms was finally going away. She looked at her naked body floating in the mirror, seeing that there were some minor marks from her battle, but nothing that wouldn't heal fully, and she went about fixing up her shower for a zero gravity wash. She made sure all the connections were tight, and that the suction for loose water droplets was working properly. She had a nice relaxing hot shower, then got out and dried off her body and hair. She brushed her hair, then removing and securing her towels, she turned and gasped, as she faced Roxanne, who was looking rather wrinkled and cracked. "Clever Omico, you almost killed me, even now I'm not quite looking myself, but that will change with time. I guess I was lucky those wires were short, and that you assumed I was already completely dead and didn't decide to make sure." Roxanne hovered between her and the door, as Omico's eyes darted back and forth, "Your dead! I killed you! I saw you dead! What did you do?" Roxanne smirked, "I'm in control of the computer, you saw what I wanted you to see, and I waited for you to trap yourself. It would've been easier in the library, but I wasn't quite ready for you. I'm still not, but I can't wait any longer, you might get a tank open."
The quarters weren't large, but big enough to maneuver in. Omico grabbed the side of her bureau, and using her feet she pushed off an open drawer towards the far wall, where it met the ceiling. Roxanne grabbed a chair, and knocked it over as she used it to push off of, launching herself towards Omico. Drifting in mid air partly on her side, Omico could do nothing as she saw Roxanne coming, she instinctively kicked her legs, but achieved nothing. Omico gasped at the impact of Roxanne against her stomach, her long dark hair billowing around her head at the slight change in direction her body now took. Omico hit Roxanne's now softening back, but quickly found her waist and most of her legs enveloped and becoming numb. She grabbed for something, but found only air, and as they drifted into the wall she exhaled with the impact. They rebounded very slowly off the wall, as the protoplasm spread around Omico's body and legs until she was completely encased from lower ribs to ankles. Omico continued to struggle, waving her arms and screaming wildly, as the mass covered her feet, and began covering her breasts. The screams became silent as the mass rose past her neck, and closed over her mouth and head. Weakening struggles continued for a while as protoplasm spread to engulf outstretched arms. Movement was almost completely gone as the mass covered the slightly twitching hands.
The mass of protoplasm drifted in the air of Omico's quarters for hours. It slowly changed shape from a roughly human form slightly bent at the waist with arms spread out, to a single oblong mass, which occasionally would impact a wall and rebound moving even more slowly away. After 7 hours, the shape began to change rapidly, and Roxanne floated upside down in the air, "Alice, return to reduced gravity mode." Slowly gravity began to return, and Roxanne drifted downward, ending up in a sitting position on the floor. As gravity approached 80% she left the room, and returned to the doctor's office, "Now I'm really bloated again, still look normal, except for these cracks and wrinkles, but they'll be gone in a few days."
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11. Long Years
Roxanne thought long and hard about the many things she and Omico had spoken of, and between dormant periods over the long lonely times, she reconsidered some of her plans. Omico's tamperings had slowed the ship so it would take an additional 30 years to reach the target system, and Alice didn't have the fuel to speed up and safely slow down again, so Roxanne settled for being late. After going 36 years without absorbing any of the others, she found she couldn't stand to eat the recycled food anymore. She decided that it was nutritious enough for both her and humans, and it tasted okay for both, but it lacked something she only seemed to get from the vegetables in the garden. She tried eating just vegetables, but this only worked for a while, and soon she was starving for something more substantial. She considered her memories of all the Aspects on Earth that were available to her, and realized that they survived on vegetables, and cooked meats, but never recycled foods unless you counted nature's recycling. Roxanne decided her problem lay in that, either it was the recycling that was insufficient to her needs. or it was the need for food that died and came to her before being recycled as the vegetables did, or even living matter such as the crew she had absorbed. She figured that this explained the reason turning to the garden had helped, but she felt she had to try something else.
She decided to try absorbing another human, and to start with the dark skinned man from South Africa, but her past experiences made her more cautious. She opened his tank, and immediately pressed a hypo to his neck, knocking him out before he could do more than say her name. She then shifted over him, enveloping and absorbing his body for food. When done she felt much better, and while resting in her quarters, she decided that this had indeed been the problem, she needed some non-recycled food, She considered that she only had 3 humans left, and prayed that she found some sort of life in the system ahead. She decided that it had something to do with animal protein also, as she had survived fine on vegetables for a while, but then even that hadn't been enough. She planned that if there were no intelligent life in the system, she must find what life she could, and bring large samples up to the ship in orbit, then put it in hibernation before moving on. She trembled slightly at the thought that there might be no life at all in the system, or nothing suitable. Putting that thought from her mind, she had Alice empty some of the ship's recycled mass into space, since with the additional mass of the former crew she had added, Alice had recently complained of too much matter in the system for her to efficiently deal with.
Another 28 years went by, Roxanne managed to survive fine with periods of wakefulness, alternating with long dormant periods lying in her quarters, or strapped in one of the main control room chairs. She went into the hibernation room and selected another, choosing the remaining male because of his greater size. She opened his tank, and quickly injected him with her hypo. She was shocked as he sat up in surprise, but then fell back down. She admired the big Russian appreciatively for a while, surprised to catch herself stroking his arm, then she climbed upon him, and began shifting. Later she sat at the main console.
Roxanne stayed dormant for years at a time, lasting a total of almost 18 years, and rose only for a short time feeling somewhat hungry again. She took care of excess mass, ate some more vegetables, then went dormant again. When she rose less than 5 years later she caught herself being irritable with Alice. She sat on her bunk and thought, "Why am I being so irritable? What's wrong with me? Omico added 30 years to my trip, but it's been 96 years. Just 14 more, that's not much." She stayed active for months, reading in the library, and hanging around the hibernation room. Then she hit upon a disturbing idea. "Am I lonely? An aspect isn't supposed to feel lonely even if alone for centuries. But I am part human right now." She thought for a long time, then decided. She opened the tank with Francis the woman from Canada inside. She knocked her out with the hypo, and enveloped her. Later, the mass split into 2 parts, 1 part falling to the floor.
After a while, tendrils connecting the two snapped, and the mass on the floor reshaped itself into Roxanne. She stood and placed her hands on the other mass, "Franny, wake up." The other mass reformed itself into a tall brunette with a trim athletic body. They spent weeks awake, Roxanne explained much, but less as the memories came to Franny's awareness on their own. They enjoyed each others company, and spent a lot of time together. Roxanne loved the mind touch they shared, and she seemed to lose the problem hunger that had been growing, but something else dark in her grew.
One day she woke from a normal human sleep period while Franny was still asleep, and it struck her, "There can not be two, there must be one. Franny is a danger to the mission, the ever growing nature of the next and future unities. Franny or I must go! I can't absorb her, she's more than a friend and teammate now, and she knows enough she might defeat me, or we could kill each other which is also unacceptable, but I've got to do something." Before Franny woke up, Roxanne went to the doctor's office and got a generous injection of the hibernation fluid. She then brought it to Franny's room, and in one quick motion she injected Franny, and put a hand on her, sending tendrils in to try and keep Franny from fighting the effect or shifting. Franny woke up immediately, she struggled and screamed as the mind touch told her what Roxanne planned, but she could not shift, and the restraints of the bunk held her in place. She found she also could not contain the hibernation fluid as Roxanne also prevented that, and shortly after she drifted off to sleep.
Roxanne withdrew her hand letting her numb tendrils break off inside Franny. She unbuckled the restraints and began dragging Franny, her arm still partially numb from the spread of hibernation fluid that she had absorbed. She decided that since Franny had to go, and she couldn't bring herself to absorb her now, she'd have to get rid of her. Placing Franny in the air lock, she closed the inner door, shut off the ship's gravity to make Franny's movement out the air lock easier, and overriding the system, she opened the outer door. The explosive decompression blew Franny out into space, the body instantly shifting into an elongated protoplasmic mass, then it froze and shattered into millions of pieces. Roxanne stumbled backwards as the mind link between them snapped. She floated in the air and cried for a while, as Alice automatically closed the outer door of the air lock.
Roxanne spent many months active after that. She made a habit of climbing into a space suit and walking the hull using magnetic boots, with a tether line and hand held mini jets for her own safety. She would stand for hours looking at the stars, sometimes coming in when her suit system warned her of low oxygen, sometimes when Alice called her in because she had to maneuver the ship. She finally gave up the practice when she truly realized how dangerous it was, and what she was risking for no good reason.
She spent a few restless years in short Dormant periods, finally staying active, and realizing the hunger still had not returned, but the loneliness was becoming unbearable. She tried talking more in a personal way with Alice, but no matter how she tried Alice was still a computer, and it didn't make Roxanne feel any better. She spent more short periods of being dormant, then one day 3 years before reaching the target star system, she walked into the hibernation room. She looked at the last hibernaut, and called up the information on a computer screen. It read, Emily Santiano, native of Brazil, and then went on to list her physical description, background, and scientific expertise. Roxanne remembered how bubbly the woman had been in training, and during departure. Roxanne began the cycle to open the tank, and as Emily opened her brown eyes, Roxanne helped her to sit up.
Roxanne talked to Emily while she sat on the edge of the tank bed. She explained the ship's condition, and avoided sticky questions as Emily dressed. As Emily stood and finished dressing in her standard ship's light gray pants and T-shirt, she insisted on knowing where the other's were, and why they were woke before her. Roxanne then told her all about herself and Dymar, and the fact the entire crew except her was dead. Emily left to search the ship herself, refusing to believe even when Alice confirmed it. Finally Roxanne cornered her in one of the crew quarters, and she did a few shifting tricks, including a full shift to a shapeless blob of protoplasm. Emily ran screaming from the room, pushing passed the reformed Roxanne.
Roxanne found her hiding in one of the small shuttles, immediately glad she had told Alice to temporarily disable them. Emily had a knife which she stabbed Roxanne with repeatedly, then with Roxanne on the floor and bleeding to death, she sat down and cried. "You can't hurt me that way." Roxanne softly said as she got up, Then continued with a smile, "You can cut up my uniform pretty good though." Roxanne then left her alone, telling her she meant her no harm, and after she got a new uniform, she'd be in the common room.
Roxanne looked up as Emily entered, and sat down several feet away. Roxanne saw she was still quite nervous, and she tried to calm her as they shared some coffee, and she told her story, going all the way back to the Crashaw, and occasionally mentioning older memories. She explained that she was lonely, and tired of all the killing of her friends, so she wouldn't kill her. She told Emily that she had only been an aspect for a couple of years, changed by her mother, and sent on the mission by Cindy's unplanned accident. Emily grew calmer, later deciding that it was a result of the fact she kept remaining alive as they talked, as much as the conversation.
Nearly a year passed, and over that time they both got along well, and Emily grew more relaxed each day. Roxanne opened the computer controls, giving Emily access to all internal systems. Emily began asking questions which Roxanne gladly answered, such as how fast she aged and such. Roxanne told her that she could live for thousands of years, and would never show age, gain or loss of weight, sunburn, or anything unless she wanted to, or damage was severe. She then felt the time was right to tell her of how she had killed the others, starting with Omico's story, and telling her of the damage she received from the electricity. "But see, all better, just like those knife wounds." Roxanne knew she had just given her a weapon to use, but tried not to think about it."
Over the next 2 months, they grew very comfortable with each other, Roxanne began to freely answer any questions, even the difficult ones, and Emily started returning to her normal bubbly self. Alice began breaking thrusters, running them gently, and only during sleep time. When they were 21 months out, They had a food fight, which turned into kissing. They left for Emily's quarters as many microbots scurried around cleaning up the mess. Several days passed in silence, but things then returned to normal, and they continued going to bed together.
About 12 months away from the system, Roxanne sat up in bed and looked down on Emily. She admired the light brown skin, curly neck length black hair, the odd little nose, her large breasts, and physically fit and attractive body. Roxanne knew that Emily was a deep sleeper, and she did not fear her waking as she uncovered her, then shifted and slowly enveloped her.
The following day, the lights came on, and Emily hopped out of bed. She showered and dressed, then searched for Roxanne. When she asked Alice, she was directed to the library, and there found a recorded message on the computer. When she activated it, Roxanne appeared on the screen. The image of Roxanne said, "I'm sorry Emily, I can't continue on. I've killed too many friends, and I would have had to kill you also before reaching the system. I don't know, somehow I still need company, maybe it's the human side of me, I couldn't take being alone after a while. I can't express how much it hurt each time I killed a friend, then there was Franny. When my mind link to Franny was cut, it was..., well..... like the final straw, a bit like cutting yourself in half. I didn't just kill her, I killed half of myself. I'm no longer suitable to be the hub of a new unity. So, because I must kill you, and I can't bring myself to kill you, I merged with you. You are now the hub of a new unity, and Roxanne is no more, except in your memory." On the screen, Roxanne took a drink, "Everything is here, the computer controls are keyed to you now, there are many computer files here which will serve you until your memory is whole, then they will erase themselves on a timer basis which should give you plenty of time to get your own memory in order. It's all here, it's all yours now. I hope I haven't condemned you to solitude in a dead system. I could not continue on, and Dymar must." Roxanne paused, "If you do find a system with no intelligent life in it,... I'm sorry, and I urge you to use the air lock, or you'll only suffer for years with nothing to quench the hunger. No food except the garden which isn't enough, and no friend to share the years with. Just loneliness, and ever worsening hunger." She paused, "I love you Emily, goodbye." Emily slumped in her chair and cried as the files began to display on the screen.
Time passed, and the pain shrank. Emily did gain the memories, and felt pleasure at being able to recall memories from Roxanne's life, as well as memories from her mother, much of the other mind linked aspects, and far into the past of Dymar. She felt saddened that little of her other crew mates memories could be found, but reasoned that this was because they had only been absorbed, not merged or incorporated, but she recognized the choices Roxanne had made, and consoled herself that she at least had Roxanne's and her own memories of them. She did find some of Franny's memories, which pleased her as she had always liked Franny.
She studied the information, then knew it all from her own restored memories, and let the files delete themselves. She further adjusted the ship's computer to work only for her, and made proper adjustments to the ship to make it fit her story if she encountered intelligent life. She was shocked to find she now could draw, and loved chess, where before she had feigned interest to please Roxanne. She found her tastes in many things were different, but also found that much was different from her memories of Roxanne. She learned to tell what was her own mind, what was Dymar's, and what was a merging of them both.
She began learning how to shift, thus dispelling any lingering doubts in her mind about what she now was. She found that it was easy to hold a shape without thinking, and easy to change. She tried extruding tendrils, and all the other tricks Roxanne had shown her or mentioned. Having no large animals to practice with, she went to the garden and found some large vegetables, and piled them up to simulate a larger creature. She then shifted, and flowed over the pile, and learned her first lesson which was to undress before enveloping if possible. She later tried eliminating the excess mass, and learned that getting the amount right there was a bit tricky, but not too hard.
Something told Emily that all this should scare her, but she felt more at ease with each day. She thought of her crowded family back in Brazil, and how she had worked her way through an education, then to NASA, and now this. She was in charge of her own fate, with the stars at her finger tips.
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12. Arrival
The Eagle had slowed a great deal and was now about to enter the target system, and the system's star could be picked out with the naked eye. It wasn't much bigger than an average yellow star, and you couldn't mistake it for any other at this range. Information began flowing into the computers, and summaries presented to Emily. She read out loud, "Yellow sun, 7 planets, 3 and 4 look good. What the hell is that?!" She looked closer, but the momentary pulse of energy was gone, so she returned to her survey. Planet #7 was a gas giant, as was planet #6. Planet #7 was Jupiter size, while planet #6 was twice as big as Jupiter. Planet #5 was small and rocky, but with a largely hydrogen atmosphere. None of these were livable, nor were there moons, and none gave off radio signals of any sort. Planet #1 was the closest to the star, it had no moon, and a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Planet #2 was Earth sized, but extremely hot, and covered in sulfur, with a somewhat thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. Planet #2 also had a small airless moon, that was oddly shaped. None of these were livable, nor gave off any radio signals that might be artificial in nature.
She looked at Planet #4 more deeply, finding a 1.72 gravity, thick atmosphere, and cold with high winds. It seemed uninhabited, and life there would be very hard but possible for her. Escape would be almost impossible for lack of microbot capability. It had 4 moons, 1 was large, very similar to Earth's moon, only with a slightly higher gravity. Planet #3 looked promising, much like Earth in gravity, atmosphere, and temperature. Emily thought she'd continue scanning the system, but figured that #3 was her best bet.
As time passed, she was almost close enough to see if there were any artificial satellites around planet #3, when she realized that she had never reset the radio after shutting it off following her last disappointing result. She ordered Alice to redirect the radio again, and to let her here. Immediately, the radio blared out, "Unknown vessel, Identify yourself immediately or you will be fired upon!" She quickly took the microphone, "This is Emily Santiano of the Earth Ship Eagle. Please do not fire, I just turned my radio on." She was still 10 light minutes out, so she knew she would have 20 minutes before a reply came, so she ordered Alice to repeat her last transmission for the next 10 minutes, and to add the ship's and her own Prerecorded identification information to it. With time to pause and think, she first wondered how they came to speak English, then why they sent such a threatening message when she was so far away, hours even if she went back up to her best speed, days at the current speed. She replayed the whole message, and heard the name "Haven Planetary Defense Command."
About 6 minutes after she had begun sending the message, having just put on her watch which would allow her to check times without disturbing Alice, 4 flashes of light appeared in the front view screen. The flashes rapidly faded, each revealing a large spacecraft. They swiftly approached, and surrounded her ship. Emily immediately took the radio microphone, and telling Alice to stop the automatic message repetition, she began hailing them. The Eagle's thrusters began firing to retard the ship's speed, "Alice, why are you doing that?" Alice replied in a calm tone, "I received the proper override commands, I must follow instructions." "Shit!" Emily shouted. Alice shut down the engines, and slowly the Eagle was raised by magnetic grappling hooks into the belly of one of the 4 ships. Once secured inside, the Eagle was moved to another room and sealed in. After a while, ship's instruments reported Earth normal atmosphere, and gravity. "Alice, have you any control of ship's systems?" Emily asked. Alice seemed to whine, "No Emily, not externally. I've still got control of internal functions, but outside I'm paralyzed."
Emily saw a door open in the wall of the bay area, and a number of blue uniformed men and women came in. "Humans, I'm very confused Alice. Are you sure this isn't Earth." "I won't dignify that with an answer!" Alice said indignantly. The radio blared, telling her to come out. She checked her uniform, put on her biggest smile, and opened both doors of the air lock. As she stepped out onto the bay deck, she was greeted by several large guns pointed at her. Nobody talked directly to her as people ran into the Eagle. She did overhear one say something about no one else, and they pointed a small device at her. It beeped loudly several times as they waved it up and down her length, then she found herself escorted away, and locked in a cell with some sort of energy field for a door.
Days passed, she found she could tell approximate time by when they brought her food, but wished they hadn't taken her wrist watch. She didn't want to shift in front of anybody, but she was beginning to feel that these people already knew all or most of the story. She was finally taken out, and escorted to a nice room, where she sat in a comfortable chair in front of a large desk. A man came through a side door and sat behind the desk, and he indicated to the guards that they could leave. After a moment he spoke, "I'm Captain Tyler, Stanton Tyler." He sat down and looked through some papers, "Your Emily Santiano, native to Brazil, born on Earth 137 years ago, but due to hibernation your subjective age is 26." "29" she corrected automatically, "I was taken out of hibernation 3 years ago." Tyler noted that on his papers, then continued.
"The Entire crew is missing, except you." he stated rather than asking. Emily stood, "Cut the games, what exactly are you getting at?" Captain Tyler motioned her to sit, so she did, "We thought your ship had been destroyed years ago, then we almost gave up waiting when you were so late at arriving. We know about the protoplasmic being, we found out it was aboard, but we expected Roxanne Raston to be the sole survivor. When I first got your name and image, I thought perhaps you alone had prevailed over the being, but our instruments tell us your one of them. I don't understand it, and I'm sure it's a fascinating story. How about the short version?" Emily looked defiantly at him, "She killed everyone except me. She made friends with me, and merged with me as I slept. Roxanne died in the merging, and I'm an aspect of Dymar now. She had left a tape explaining to me, but it self destructed after a while. She told me that killing all her friends had made her so unhappy that she couldn't go on, and to avoid killing me also, she did this." "Too bad so much of the records are destroyed." he said as he sat back. "Yes, too bad." she repeated sarcastically. "They had to be destroyed in case another intelligent life form were here in this system and got to see them."
Emily sat forward, "You are stupid to stay here alone with me." The captain frowned, "I don't see why?" Emily leaped onto the desk, and threw herself onto him, causing his chair to fall backwards. She straddled him, and began to shift, seeping around and through his clothes, and into his skin. Abruptly she screamed, and jumped off of him. Her soft and semi human form began to return to normal, filling out her sagging clothes. She lay on the office floor in a fetal position as several officers entered the room in response to an intercom buzz from the captain. Several men roughly lifted Emily, and placed her back in her chair, then left the room.
She sat in the chair, her hands wrapped around her middle, "How did you do that?" she said in gasps." He fixed his chair and sat back in it, "Blueberries of course. Regulation 4, any member of the fleet who may come in contact with one of your kind, must either eat a prescribed amount of them so far in advance of the possible meeting. Otherwise they must take a special shot we've developed which works almost immediately, or wear an implant which works for years. All of our people took shots as soon as we detected your ship, and I ate my share of blueberries for lunch." He smiled, so I had no fear of you at all." Emily straightened up in her seat, "So, this has something to do with why humans are here on this world, and not all part of Dymar?" He didn't respond. "Please, tell me?!" she pleaded.
Captain Stanton sat forward and steepled his hands, "About 12 years after your departure from Earth, scientist using new medical instruments developed from Crashaw technology, discovered an anomaly. At the time, they referred to it as 'fat cells' or 'bloated cells', and survey's suggested that 8 million Americans had them, and perhaps another 2 million worldwide. In the next year of research, the surveys showed these numbers nearly doubling, so it was assumed to be a rampant plague of some sort, except the people who had it seemed healthy. Because it didn't seem harmful, little work was done on it, then there was an important breakthrough." He smiled, "A man working on the problem reported that a coworker tried to seduce him late one night in the lab. He reported that the woman seemed to melt around him as they lay on a couch, then she screamed. She had died, and he had not only collected samples, but photographed and preserved the remains." He frowned, "It didn't look much like a woman, although it was recognizable, and it fully dissolved over the next 10 hours. We didn't know at the time, but he had eaten several blueberry muffins with his dinner." He tilted his head, "She wasn't as fortunate as you were, but the human race was. She had been working with him, monitoring his work, when he had discovered that the bloated cells had 2 nucleuses. So, we now new it was something that added a nucleus, bloated the cells, and the happy accident with the good doctor made a lot of people jump to the correct conclusion, that you protoplasmoids were taking over."
He stood and began pacing a bit, "Now, also fortunately the doctor worked at a government lab, and within 24 hours all personnel with bloated cells were shipped to other locations, and a security team was assigned to him. We figured if these protoplasmoids wanted to kill him, then since we couldn't deny they existed, we would protect him. He was a methodical man, and kept checking everything about himself, and anything he remembered being exposed to on that fateful day. After a week of testing bloated cell samples, he tried blueberries mixed with the cells, and of course the cells were destroyed." He turned and loomed over her, "Now we had a weapon to fight back with!"
Captain Tyler returned to his seat, "Blueberry's were easily eaten to prove a person's humanity since blood tests took time. Anyone in government refusing to eat in front of witnesses was subject to detention while blood tests were run. We cleaned the protoplasmoids out of governments worldwide." He smiled, we discovered the exact chemicals that did the trick, and developed concentrated tablets, the implants, even dart guns. There was a huge civil war worldwide, many died on both sides, now the protoplasmoids are nearly defeated. They live in hiding, some taking animal forms to escape, some brave scouts daring discovery in human cities.
Emily hung her head, a tear falling from her eye, "Then I'm here for nothing, and the unity will be destroyed." The captain handed her a tissue, "Eventually, but it's damn hard to clean an entire planet when the enemy can be merged with anything alive of sufficient mass. We've almost perfected a detection device though, and when we have that we'll be moving in. They're like the ones we used here, remember the small device pointed at you when you came out of the ship. It's still a bit finicky, and short ranged, but in no time we'll have it perfected, and the protoplasmoids will only have the sea or other far distant places to hide in left."
He pounded a fist, "That's why they're offering to surrender. I'm against it, I say we should wipe them out, but those bleeding hearts think they know best." Emily looked up, "We're surrendering?" "Yes." he answered, "That's why your alive." He threw up his hands, "Damn those idiots, your kind are too dangerous. We sent ship's out into space, and discovered the Crashaw home world. My god, they figured out what was happening, but had no defense. They managed to send less than a million of their people off in ship's, using time consuming blood testing to make sure that no protoplasmoids were aboard." He scowled, "You only got onto the Eagle because we didn't know what to look for at the time."
Emily sighed, "How in the world did you discover the Crashaw home world so fast? For that matter, how did you beat me here?" Captain Stanton grinned, "More Crashaw inspired technology. They are ingenious, but they are slow to realize possibilities sometimes. About 50 years after you left Earth, we discovered Hyper Space Jumping. We can get from here to Earth in 3 days. So, one of the first things we did was set up our reception team here in the event you ever arrived. This planet is named Haven, a colony world, and we're the defense command, sent here to protect the planet, and greet the Eagle if it ever came here." He smiled smugly, "Yes, our ship's popped out of Hyper Space near yours, that's what those flashes of energy were. That was half our fleet, 2 cruisers, and 2 armed transports. Your on my flagship, the Cruiser 'Pacifica'.
The next 4 days were spent in interviews when she wasn't locked away. Emily was kept on board Pacifica in orbit, and learned that the planet contained nearly a million colonists, all unprotected, except for the defense command fleet. She learned little of other worlds, but thought their were only a dozen or so within a 20 light year radius of Earth. She thought of escape to the planet, but grew depressed at the realization that they would follow and find her. Even if they didn't find her, she would have to escape to the deep unexplored land regions, or seas, and none of that sounded appealing. One day in an elevator while along with a guard, in desperation she tried to merge with the woman, and met with the same painful results as before. For the next week, she did little more than follow orders.
A month after her arrival on the ship, Emily was taken to a new room, another office like the Captain's. No one was there, and one of the 2 guards told her to sit down. She sat on a comfortable leather couch, and Captain Tyler came in. "You have a visitor today. She says that you cannot feel each other's mind touch because when you were incorporated, Roxanne died, and there were no others around you. Against my better judgment it's been authorized for her to meet with you, and reestablish the mind talk ability if you want." Emily kept a straight face on, but nearly exploded as the door opened to reveal Kansas Raston.
Kansas held up a hand to stop Emily as she ran forward, "You are Dymar?" Kansas asked. "I am Dymar." she responded automatically. At Kansas's indication they sat on the couch, and clasped hands. Tendrils began to extrude from the Palms of each's hands, first from Kansas into Emily, and then from Emily into Kansas. Information, knowledge, and finally ability flowed between them, reconnecting Emily to the hub of Earth's unity. Kansas's face changed expressions, and when they were done, she began to cry, falling into the waiting embrace of Emily.
Kansas was offered a tissue, and after a while they were escorted to another room. This was another well furnished room, and in it they found Billy, Janet, and Steve. Kansas turned to Emily, "Your memories will be a little blurry right now, so let me introduce..." She introduced her husband Billy, Sister Janet, and Steve, including the captain in on the exchange. She then introduced Emily and the captain to the others. "What's wrong Kansas?" Janet quietly asked. Kansas sniffed, "Roxanne is dead, just as they told us, she killed herself by merging without splitting. Not now, I'll cry later. Meet our new friend and member of the unity, Emily Santiano." They all shared a big group hug, then the captain broke in, "I have orders to take your delegation and Emily back to Earth personally. Quarters have been assigned to you all, and we're already under way."
In the hall, the captain closed the door, "I told them to stay in there quarters as much as possible mainly for there own protection. Mr. Phillips, your my most trusted officer, I want you to post yourself and 5 others that you trust. If you need more people, ask me directly." Phillips shot out a salute, "Yes sir, nobody will get near them except you, unless you tell me otherwise." The captain smiled, "Good man, I hate having to transport these things, but I follow orders, which say I transport them to Earth, and deliver them to HQ safe and sound." Phillips whispered, "I don't know sir, this duty has it's nice points, That Blonde is really sexy, the others are lookers too, and did you get a look at the jugs on the black one." Captain Tyler snapped out, "Belay that mister. We're escorting them, and your on duty. I don't want to hear that kind of talk again on this ship, about those we are carrying on an official diplomatic mission. Is that clear?" The female guard looked at Phillips with a small sneer which the captain saw but ignored. Phillips apologized and saluted, and captain Tyler bent close to whisper, "Off the record I agree with you, but do you really want to date a woman who can change shapes. My god, those might not even be original equipment, you heard the stories of how they enhance there merged form if they want." He stood back, "Besides, be late for your shot or implant once, and your Protoplasmoid food."
Later, in the middle of ship's night, Green and white protoplasm slips through the air vent of Captain Tyler's room. As it silently flows through and onto the floor, it rises up to become the naked forms of Janet and Steve. Silently they pull back the covers of the Captain's bed, glad to find he was a deep sleeper. With one quick move, Janet covers his mouth with a thick covering of protoplasm from her hand, while Steve jumps on top of him and begins shifting. The captain struggles and cries muffled screams, but as half of his body is enveloped he loses consciousness from lack of air. Janet pulls back, reforming her hand while Steve continues. Before Steve's head is entirely gone he says, "Tell Kansas I love her, and Janet I'm sorry about Victor but he's doing well running the resistance on Earth, don't worry about him. See you in a few hours if this works." Once the captain was entirely enveloped, Janet left the room via the air duct.
Back in the room, the 4 sit impatiently waiting for 10 hours, when finally Steve's protoplasm returned through the air duct and reformed. "Kansas, It worked!" He cried in a half whisper. "The antidote to blueberry poisoning works, it won't bother any of us now, not even Emily since you shared it with her." Emily smiled, "Okay, you told me about this before, and how our scientists found the antidote, and it's part of each of us now. However, what do we do now, they still have a detector, and can still kill us with huge doses. They just can't use implants or such to protect themselves. Do we return to Earth?" "No!" Kansas answers. "Victor can handle that, he knew we might not return, and even though he'll probably lose, there's a slim chance he will win." She sat on the bed, "It's simple now that the captain's one of us, right Steve?!" Steve answered, "Right, I stayed with him for a couple of hours until he remembered enough so that we can trust him. He'll trigger the anti-intruder system which will gas the entire crew to sleep. Then we tie them up and have a ready food supply." Kansas continued, "Yes, and we can travel to unknown systems far enough away to give us time. We deposit one aspect per world, then move on, taking it as far as the aspects and the food will go." She smiled, "Our goal is not just the usual spreading, but to keep our numbers small, promote technology, and eventually lead an armada to destroy the humans and any who join them.
"Won't they come looking for us?" Emily asked. Kansas tilted her head, "It's a big universe, where will they look, we can take the ship in any direction, and we don't need to keep a straight line. This ship can do nearly 1.5 light years in a day, and we're going to travel at least 3 or 4 months before we drop off the first new aspect. They might get lucky and find one or two of us, but they'll never find us all until it's too late. Add to that the facts they won't even miss us for 2 more days, and that there going to be busy fighting a war, and we have plenty of time. Dymar will continue, and hopefully we will defeat these humans who try to prevent the universe's destiny."
With this the alarms began to ring, and nearly transparent gas fills the air. They remain motionless and unaffected by the gas for nearly 15 minutes, then the captain enters the room, and they all leave, taking time to bind and gag the unconscious guards with supplies the captain brought. When the entire crew is secured, the ship slowly turns, and disappears into a blue flash of light.
The End
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By Py