Ratzie, do you copy?
'Affirmative.'
Set up diary file, prepare to receive dictation, cryptolock series nine.
'Set. Running.'
Thank you, Ratzie.
Ahem. My name is Riley Willis Harper. I was born on June 4th, 2712, somewhere in the boonielands of the
third continent of New Pittsburgh. My father is Clarence W. Harper, a prospector for the Company. My mother,
Clarissa Sue Wilkins Harper, was his assistant.
I grew up with them, going from assignment to assignment, planet to planet, ship to ship, until I was nine. My
father disappeared then, leaving me and my mother alone. Wealthy, but alone.
Now, I'll admit that when I was a kid, I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. All right, I was as dumb as an ox.
I didn't think fast, but I remembered well. I remembered my father, how he always made time for me, no matter how
busy he was. He would play rough and tumble with me, even though he was normal, and I was type 2. He never
complained when I broke his bones, never punished me unless I really deserved it, in short, he was the best father a
boy could have. When I tripped his mining laser and sliced my side open when I was three, he stayed by my bed for as
long as it took me to heal. I loved him so much.
Until he vanished.
We were way the bazooga out in the Lambda Sector, working for one of the cowboy's companies. We had
flown into town to get supplies. Dad left me and Mom at the hotel while he went to order equipment from the local
supplier.
When night came, and he hadn't returned, Mom got a little woogy. She kicked up enough fuss that the
Marshals were called in to look. After a month, the regional Star Marshal was summoned.
After the Star Marshal had been there a week, he declared my father missing and presumed dead. He was kind
enough to arrange transportation back to Mom's home world, Aquaria. In fact, he brought us back himself, in his
provost ship.
I gotta admit, I was a stupid, stubborn little snot then. I wanted my daddy back, and that was that. But, Gomez
Hernando Domingo Montoya Allegro de Montoya helped settle me and Mom down on the trip back. It helped that he
was a Type 2 as well. We remained pen pals for a long time.
You getting all this, Ratzie?
'Affirmative'
Thank you. Well, I never forgot Dad when I was growing up. I remember wishing he was there when I got
smart that night when I was 13. I used my new-found brains to go from being a crappy student to challenge graduate in
only three weeks. So-Crates helped a lot as well, feeding me information as fast as I can handle it.
I drifted into Spacing School, taking a full course load and some more. I graduated in two and a half Standard
Years, at the top of my class in engineering, navigation, communication systems [except languages], and security. I just
missed getting top marks in pilotage, cargomastering and scanner ops. In engineering, I graduated 'with distinction',
meaning that I came up with ways to death-rig things that the teachers hadn't thought of. Navigation is so damned
simple, if you stick to the beacons and the space lanes. Going cross-country is another matter. Then, you really have to
work at it.
Mom was so proud when I graduated. Before I was able to get a job, she died in a stupid waterlock accident.
Type 2's are tough, but we're not water-breathers!
Now, I was alone, with over 30 million credits to my name. Mind you, I had just turned 16 gremos, and I was becoming
real popular with the girls. Okay, So-Crates counseled me twice in one litmo about wasteful spending. Fortunately, someone
arrived to help me from getting too fuddled.
Twenty-nine days after Mom's funeral, I received a surprise visitor. Star Marshal Allegro. He literally picked me up out
of a party I was attending and brought me to his ship. [I was schlammered, and he didn't use Fly-Rite.] Once there, he put me
in a cabin, then lifted off.
"Where are we going?" I asked him.
"To Frostbite, and CMC HQ. I have some instructions for you, which we will talk about after you sober up, senor
Harper." His tone of voice frightened me- he was upset about something, but I couldn't figure out what. That was when he hit
me with the Fly-Rite.
After I stopped groaning, he told me that the Marshals had an offer for me, details will be at Headquarters. He did say
that a ship of my own would be involved, if I was man enough to handle it. Normally, I would have punched out someone who
said that to me, but, Gomez is a good friend. Being a Star Marshal, a Type 2, as well as being 50 centimeters taller and 60
kilos heavier were persuasive arguments, too.
Along the way, he kept me busy by testing me on his ship. The provost crafts were definitely different than the old
junkers we trained on at the school, and those two days learning from Gomez helped a lot. I found the Teltrans fascinating- I
heard of them, but my school didn't offer training. Gomez was intrigued by how fast I was able to comprehend the basic
workings, operations, and uses of the Teltrans. [I had read about them, but this was the first time I was able to tinker with
one.]
"Ratzie, time for a break. Save, store, and lock down."
'Complying. Done. Awaiting orders.'
"Standby mode, Ratzie."
'Standing by.'
Later, Riley picked up his ConPad. "Wake up, Ratzie."
'Orders, Captain?'
"Review diary, print mode." After a few seconds of reading, Riley ordered, "Okay. Resume diary, dictation mode."
'Ready to receive.'
Thank you, Ratzie. Let's see, I left off as I was arriving at Frostbite. Man, is that planet different from Aquaria! Cold, red,
light, gloomy, not a place to party.
After landing [and provost craft use rotolinears- no exhaust plume], I was brought to an office, where four people
waited- the Grand Marshals of the Confederate Marshal Corps. The semi-legendary directors of the most efficient police force
in the Confederacy. Grand Marshals Hall, Holmes, Kensington, and Xua.
"Mr. Harper, tell us where your parents are from." ordered Grand Marshal Xua.
"Well, my mother was from Aquaria, and my father said he was born on Satevis, but I never went there." I told them.
"We have some news for you, Mr. Harper." said G.M. Holmes. "Your father was not from Satevis. In fact, he is not from
within the Confederacy, or, for that matter, this dimension."
"You mean, my father wasn't even human?" I squeaked.
"He was human, but not from this dimension." said G.M. Kensington.
"If he was from another dimension, what was he doing here?" I asked.
"That is what we would like to know." said G.M. Holmes. "We know, through your letters with Star Marshal Allegro, that
you have always wanted to track him down, to find him, and ask him why he left you and your mother."
"Yeah, that's right. Want to help me in this? Oh, no, you can't, because my old man isn't from around here- out of
your jurisdiction." I said, a little rudely, I must admit.
"Your attitude is understandable, Mister Harper." G.M. Hall spoke for the first time, using a tone of voice that was
colder than the view out the window. I took the hint and calmed down.
"So, why have you called me here?" I asked.
"Now that you know about your father, how would you like to find him?" asked G.M. Xua.
I must admit, this caught me by surprise. "How?"
G.M. Holmes answered. "We can give you a ship, equipped with a dimension-crossing drive system. At least, we think it
is, because, so far, only one ship we have sent out using the Capstone Drive have ever made it back, without a precognitive
talent setting the controls."
"Why?" I asked, rather stupidly, I admit.
"So you could find your father. We would like to know why he was here in this dimension, and I'm sure you would want
to meet him again."
I thought about their proposition for a long time- five whole nanoseconds. "I'm in- take me to this ship." I told them.
My answer seemed to surprise them- three of them. Only G.M. Holmes didn't react. "You're sure you want to do this-
going around, not knowing what dimension you're in, all alone, not certain of getting home?" G.M. Kensington asked, totally
bewildered.
"Why not? Beats spending money and being stonered all the time. Party life was getting dull." I told them.
G.M. Hall looked over to G.M. Holmes and said, "Over three hundred years, and you haven't slipped yet." That was
when I realized that both Hall and Holmes were Zeroes- and not to be toyed with lightly.
For thirty days, I trained with the Marshals on how to run my little ship- a small two-man Alpheratz-class interstellar
messenger ship. They taught me how to run, and especially repair, all the systems, including the sensor modules, rotolinear
drive system, Sprint drive, computer system, replimat, and Teltrans unit. They were surprised at how quickly I learned the
systems on that ship, especially the systems I didn't know about before I got there.
When everything was ready, Marshal Gomez came aboard to see me off. "Are you ready to go, senor Riley?"
"Sure am. Honed to a monowire edge, fully stocked, and rarin' to get moving." I told him.
To my surprise, he picked me up and hugged me tight. "Be careful, hermano. There's no certain way to get back
here, and I want to see you back, with good news." he said tenderly, like he did when I was nine. I could feel his concern for
me- the big lunk really did love me!
"I will, sir. You taught me properly. Now, will you put me down! I can't breathe!" I managed to gasp out.
He put me down, then he reached into a pocket of his suit and pulled out something. "This is something my twin
brother gave me when I first left home. I want you to have it, for luck, and a safe return." he said quietly.
I looked at it as he put it in my hand. It's a St. Christopher medal, the one I'm wearing now. "Thank you, sir. I'll return
this to you, I promise. Now, let me get this show into space before I change my mind!" I told him, walking him to the lock.
Takeoff, while noisy like all rotolinear ops, was uneventful. Five hours later, I was out far enough to begin this jaunt.
"CCV 47104 to System Control. In position to begin." I radioed.
"System Control to 104. You have a go-mission. Good luck" G.M. Holmes' voice came over the speaker.
"Thank you, System Control." Punching up the appropriate controls, I then said, "Ratzie, status report Capstone."
"Capstone Drive fully powered. Ready in all respects."
"Let's go!" I yelled as I thumped my fist down on the 'Engage' light.
When I woke up a short time later, I managed to groan, "Where are we, Ratzie?"
My NavDisplay lit then, showing my location. I was still near Barnard, but Frostbite was nowhere to be seen. Calling up
CommTraffic, I found that all was quiet. Too quiet. No signals on any frequency, both NST and TachyComm.
"Well, looks like the Capstone works." I said. I got busy, setting sights to Earth. When I was happy with the flight plan, I
engaged the Sprint, and headed off to Earth.
When I arrived about ten hours later [I took things slow, because I wanted to get the feel of the ship while under
Sprint, so I didn't go above DR 5/8], I stopped at the fringe of the system, listening for radio traffic. Nothing. Scans showed
nothing big in orbit, so I moved in for a closer look. This earth was a bombed-out wreck, with only scattered debris in orbit,
and very little life groundside. CyberTap found nothing useful, and LifeScan showed less than a million humans alive. None of
them was Dad.
I went to the back side of Luna to spend several days resting and checking before I tried another Capstone hop. That
became my usual habit, if the Earth was not up to space travel. If it was, I hid in the Jovian Leading Trojans.
For years, this went on. Sometimes, I got a hit on the scanner, and I had to zap down to look personally.
Unfortunately, every hit I had came up stones. Had some interesting times, though.
About five years standard into the hunt, I came upon a world that taxed my counter-scan systems to the limit. I got
the CyberTap working, and, after some study under the download hat, found that this world had a lot of what they called
'mutants'. I called them Rangers, because there were a lot of people like the Rescue Rangers back on Aquaria- people with
extra gifts, talents, and powers. Seeing as I'm a Type 2, I would probably be considered a 'mutant', so, I decided to do a quick
scan, then flit. Unfortunately for those plans, I got a solid return- the solidest I have ever had.
So, I prepared to go down. After fabbing an identity, and plenty of moola, I zapped down near where I got my hit,
taking just the necessities, as well as a PortaScan programmed to the proper parameters. Putting the pack on my back, I
began to walk where the PortaScan pointed.
I found myself in front of a large estate. Going to the gates, I walked in and up to the manor house. I knocked on the
door, and waited.
Soon, the door opened, and this big, blue-furred ape looked out. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm looking for somebody here, but I don't know who it is, just that he's family." I said.
"Come on in, and tell me about it." the ape said, opening the door to let me in. As he led me to a nicely-appointed
library, he introduced himself as Dr. Hank McCoy. I started to introduce myself, but he interrupted me.
"We know who you are, Mr. Harper, and why you're here." he said.
"How?" I said, surprised.
"You were thoroughly mind-scanned before you reached the steps. If you had been judged hostile, you would have not
lived to get inside. We X-Men will be happy to help you in your search, if you would be willing to help us with our need." he said
plainly.
"Sure. If you know why I'm here, who has my PortaScan been hitting on?"
"I don't know, yet. When we gather for dinner, you can check everyone then."
I had a grand time in that world, except for one snag. Turned out that my hit wasn't my father, but my half-sister, who
showed dazzling light-based abilities. The job they needed my help on was to pick up their leader, an Esper named Duncan
Blacksteel, who was stuck on another world about a hundred or so light-years out.
When the coast was clear, I zapped back up to Ratzie and brought him down, after rather hurriedly cleaning up! Upon
landing, my sister Debbie and this big, brawny guy named Logan got aboard, and we took off.
On the trip [which took about 150 hours], I talked a lot with Debbie and Logan. Turned out that Debbie didn't know
who her real father was, having been adopted as a baby. Logan turned out to be a great guy to know, plus he loved the
Zacatian peppers I had in the galley.
Well, we had a grand hoo-raw when we managed to get to Duncan- apparently, he had been bagged by this weird
species called Skrulls, to keep him out of the way. The battle was momentous- the Marshal-grade Multi-blaster Gomez gave
me proving useful. [and proving that I needed more gun practice!]
When we got Duncan on board, I overrode Ratzie's objections and engaged Sprint from the planet's surface. The
resulting T-storm made for a rough ride, at first. But, Ratzie being a tough little ship, we rode it out, and returned to Earth
safely.
I had so much fun with the X-Men, that I joined them for about a year- what the hell, I had been on the ship, with only
the occasional break, for five years. I needed a little fun, and got it. But, all good things and all that, so I left, back to the
search.
Several times, on my searching, I came across traces of Dad, but never found him. Then, I came across the last place
I looked.
I knew I was in trouble when the Capstone smoked itself- waveform emitter failure, and the replimat couldn't make the
right hardware. Fortunately, in this timeline, Earth has a rather high tech, and, after some probing with CyberTap, I determined
that I could find the right parts and materials. Then, I got a solid, solid hit from the scanner. The return came from a big island
off the west coast of Mexico. So, I put myself in stationary orbit, centered on the big mountain in the middle of the island,
activating my NullScan field because of that whonking big station fifteen degrees east of me, and zapped down to the city on
the north end of the island, where the LifeScan showed the return.
I zapped in outside of the city, on a clifftop near a road. Checking the PortaScan, I started to walk. It took me several
hours to get close to the signal source- it was a long walk, and I did not want to show off too much. But, a strange thing began
to happen- I started feeling weak and hot. Thinking it was because I was hungry, I stopped at a restaurant. Nice quickiejoint,
but, after eating, I felt worse than before.
Feeling really wretched now, I kept on the track. I didn't want to give up, and I was getting so close! Then, the world did
a pan, tilt, glaze, and fade to black.
I woke up in a hospital room- I recognized it from my med training, not from ever having been in one before. I still felt
rotten, and my head felt like I was recovering from a litmo-long stoner without Fly-Rite. The doctor came in when I woke up. He
told me that they had been unable to track down my med records, and had a lot of trouble treating me. He said something
about a 'difficult manifestation', probably stress-related, and that I should be fit to leave in about a week, whatever that was.
I asked him where my gear was, and he gave me a bag that had all the stuff in it, except my suit. As I was checking,
he asked me about the implants I had in my brain. I told him that I didn't know about any- because I didn't. He said that they
didn't seem to be bothering me, but that some people would want to talk to me before I would be released.
I told the doc that I was feeling rather crappy, and he did leave, shutting the door. When I was alone, I activated the
ConPad.
"Ratzie!" I whispered.
'On line.'
"How long was I out?"
'One hundred fifty-six hours, twenty-two minutes before return of consciousness.'
"Ready the medtube, and zap me out, now!"
'Stand by. Activating Teltrans. Preparing medtube. Teltrans activation in ten seconds. Signal lock established.'
"Activate Teltrans! NOW!" I shouted.
'Confirmed. Activating.' Then, I was back on my ship. I staggered out of the Teltrans box, heading for the Flite Room to
dial down the gravity. Normally, in space, I set it to Aquarian standard, 1220 cm., but, the time I spent on Earth, at 980 cm,
plus whatever was making me feel like crap, made me feel like I weigh a tonne, instead of my usual 110 kilos.
Well, I got to the Flite room, to find something really weird- a paper note pad on the console! Written on it was this
message: Signal me at 1014 GHz.
Collapsing into the bucket, I called up the NST bank and opened a channel on 1014 GHZ.
"End diary scroll, Ratzie." Riley said. The words stopped crawling up the screen set in the ceiling over his bed. He
turned his head to look at his mate, Roxy, who used to be the personality of his ship's computer.
"I really don't need to finish this diary, because you know the most of it. Meeting my dad and stepmother resulted
from that radio cast. Who would believe my father is the former Deputy Prime Minister of Sagania, as well as being the Gold
Rose of the Velvet Shadows?"
"Which led to me getting this body, which enables me to do what I always wanted to do, even when you kept me
lobotomized as a FRP." Roxy said.
"Which is?" Riley asked, a smile playing across his face.
"This." she said, pulling Riley on top of her, holding him close, and finally finding the way to keep Riley's mouth from
getting him into trouble. The lights dimmed, and the couple kept themselves occupied, Aquarian style, for the rest of the night.