Her brows furrowed. Horror, and anger, swirled inside her. "How the
HELL did you get in here?!"
Another snicker. "Oh come on. You know me. I'm the best hacker on Hiigara."
Her eyes rolled. "Of course you are. One day, most likely today, that's
going to get you into a deep load of trouble."
A bare flicker in his eyes of a tiny ounce of fear. Then he smiled again.
"You wouldn't do that to me, would you?… I only followed you because I
thought you were hurting."
She tried to affix a murderous glare to her face, but it fell flat.
"No… Why did you think I was hurt?"
The cockiness slid off him like water from a swimmer. "Because you
were acting so very off… You looked ill, and lonely. Longing for something…
It hit me that day you wouldn't let me in your apartment. There was something
way off with that… Then I went back to my home, kept watching some history
I'd been reading, and… Bam. There was your face, bright and shiny in the
Hall of Elders, pitching your speech to let them chop your spine up. What's
wrong?"
Her eyes closed. "I don't know… I…" She sighed, and sat on the back
of the steel ring. "I haven't felt comfortable since we got here… I've
been… It feels so strange, lonely, on the ground…"
This time, it was Taro's turn to furrow his brows. "Why? You were around
tons of people."
She shook her head, and patted the ring beside her. Taro hesitated,
but then he thought, "What the hell." And sat on it. "So, why were you
lonely?"
Karan closed her eyes. "You don't understand… Nobody can, nobody can
understand what I was… Fleet Command. I was never alone. Never alone. Never
asleep… There was always someone to talk to, someone to make sure was okay…
I was always scanning the inside of the ship, the ships out there… It was…"
she sighed again, opening her eyes. "It was like being a Goddess, in a
way. I could see everyone, hear everyone speak. I knew how they were doing,
if they were scared, angry, sad… I saw everyone who ever flew… I saw them
die, I saw those who lived shouting in joy when we orbited Hiigara… How,
HOW, could I not be lonely… And I was uncomfortable on the surface…" She
closed her eyes. "Seal door, lock."
Taro jumped, when the door slid into place, the shimmer of electricity
visible between it's cracks indicating the electro-mag seal was on.
"Listen…" she said, in complete darkness. "Can you hear it?"
Taro was breathing rapidly now. "Hear what?"
She smiled to herself. "Stop breathing so loud… Can you hear it? The
howling steel of her? The Mothership? Can you feel the throb of her drive's
on standby, the hum of the power plants?"
She chuckled softly. "Maybe you won't be able to… But I can… Even if
I'm not… part of her now…"
Taro forced his heart to slow, but shook his head. "All I can hear
is our breathing."
She nodded at this, and held her breath, putting her hand over his mouth
and nose. "Now?"
Taro concentrated… He did feel a vibration… He could almost hear, screaming,
the howling silence now prevalent in the room… He pushed her soft hand
away, with some admitted reluctance, and let out his breath before speaking
again, "Yeah… Yeah, I can."
"Imagine feeling it, hearing it, experiencing it… For two whole months.
There are twenty-four hours in a day, thirty days to a month. Sixty minutes
to an hour, sixty seconds to a minute… one-thousand, four-hundred-forty
some odd hours… Straight. Eighty-six thousand, four-hundred minutes. Five-million,
one-hundred and eighty-four thousand seconds… Awake. All of that, awake,
feeling, experiencing her…
"Ummm. Sa.. err, Karan… You're… You're calling the Mothership her… And
it doesn't seem in the casual way that people usually refer to ships…"
Karan laughed, joyfully, at him. "Yes, I know… Mmmm.. You may think
it's weird, but… I know this ship more intimately than any worker who ever
worked on her, more intimately than a lover knows her lover's body… Every
last deck plate, every seal, every control… I WAS her… I was this ship's
soul…"
Taro blinked. "Umm… Yeah, you were, weren't you… Heh… Ummm… Do you
remember me?"
Karan blinked. "Let me think…" Her mind swirled, recalling memories
distant… She didn't have the sort of eidetic memory usually referred to
when someone had perfect memory, but everything she had ever experianced
as Fleet Command was permanently etched into her mind, her heart and soul,
and she could see it as clearly as if she were re-living it.
"Cryo-tray section D, Tray four, Rack Seven, pod forty-five. Taro Sjet.
Yes, I remember… I can remember looking in on you… I did that, I looked
at everyone in the trays at least twice…" She reached over, laying a hand
on his cheek. "I remember I thought you were cute… You had an absolutely
angelic face, asleep… with none of the sassy attitude of you awake."
This served the desired effect, as both Taro and she broke into laughed.
Then a loud buzzing issued from the lock.
"What? Lights!." The room's pale lights flooded it in light that was
easily accepted by eyes that had been used to the dark, as she strode over
to the lock. "Someone's trying to override my lock. They seem to be agitated,
because the security override isn't enough… Of course it's not enough to
override Fleet Command's lock." She shook her head, uncoding it.
And found herself staring down the barrel of an MP and his gun.
"Okay, whomever-the-hell-you-two-wise-asses think you are, hands above
your heads! This is a restricted section."
Karan blinked, and stared him cold in his eyes. "What do you think you're
doing?"
The rough and tumble sort of man muttered back. "Arresting you, smart-ass
lady. On the ground, NOW!"
He pointed his gun directly at her.
Clearing her throat, and noticing out of the corner of her eyes that
Taro was stock-still, shaking slightly – in fear or rage, she coulden't
tell, she spoke again. "Guard, I outrank you by several orders of magnitude.
Put your gun down. Now."
"Hah-Hah. Yeah, right. And I suppose you're gonna tell me you're Karan-fricking-Sjet,
next. Very funny. On the ground. NOW!"
She cleared her throat, starting to speak, but he prodded her right
below the chest with his gun. Seeing that talk wasn't going to get out
of this, she nodded, and put her hands up, slowly sliding spread-eagle
to the ground. "Taro, do what he says… Fighting our own won't gain us any."
She said this, to stave off the impending act of rashness she knew was
about to happen, as Taro muttered, but slid to the ground similarly, spread-eagle.
The guard quickly put restraints on both of them, and after patting
them down for weapons, hauled them up by the restraints. "Okay now. We're
goin' to the Security station while I call FleetSec to see what we're going
to do with you two."
………
"Okay, A young, punk Sala Soban, is it? And a young, punk Sjet named Taro… I've just called the FleetSec commander. He seems to be… annoyed with you two… I suspect this'll mean a long, long prison sentence for both of you… I don't know what the hell you thought you were doing in that room, but you're gonna pay.
Karan rolled her eyes. "I told you who I am. I gave you my clearance number. Check it."
"Har-dee-har. No way that no how that two kids like you would have sufficient Clearance to get into that room, so there's no reason to even bother. MY security pass won't get me in there, and I'm listed as 'cleared for everywhere. So why don't I just toss the two of you into a tank, and we'll just have a wait for an hour or so for the Admiral to get here. He seems to be taking this… personally."
Karan sighed, muttering under her breath, as Taro growled at the guard. "Yeah yeah, I've heard it all before, punk, so you don't need to inform me how you can kick my ass. I guarantee, I can kick yours faster'n'harder'n you can kick mine."
He uncoded two of the brig tanks, tossing them both into the rooms roughly. "Now just sit tight…"
………
Fifty minutes later…
Karan looked out of the tiny window in the room, as she saw a door
outside opening. In strode a fairly old, fit man. She recognized him. Malice,
a small, petty feeling of the soon-to-be-delivered dressing down to the
Guard swirled in her. A small, predatory smile crossed her lips. She wasn't
usually vicious, but she didn't like being held at gunpoint by someone
who should've snapped to and begged for forgiveness the moment he saw her,
either.
The two were talking, but the soundproofing made what she said unintelligible.
Then they moved towards her door, and she stood back, as it uncoded.
Working up as much dignity as she could muster, she smiled sweetly
as the door opened. "Admiral Yalen Soban. What an unexpected delight to
see you again. Tell me, are you underlings always this rude?"
The old man blinked.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Then he turned to the guard, took the guard's Master, and snapped it
in half, followed by his rank tab, and then he confiscated the man's gun.
He stepped in, uncoding Karan's restraints, and said, "Now, ENSIGN
Slar, please explain to Fleet Command just why you held her in irons for
an hour and a half…"
The guard fell over backwards in a dead faint, affording Karan another
laugh.
"Thanks, Admiral. It's good to see you again. I'd love to chat, but
could you please get my friend out of irons, too? He's in the number two
tank.
The Admiral saluted, and said "Of course… Although I am curious as
to why you're back here, I'll do as you order immediately."
………
Twenty minutes later, on the Bridge.
"So you wanted to come back… I understand that, although why you brought
someone else puzzles me, but why you wanted to come back is even more curious…"
Karan shrugged. "It's… Really a long, complicated reason. Suffice it
to say I wanted to be back onboard for a while…"
The Admiral shrugged, but nodded. "Of course… Well, it's your right,
you ARE still Fleet Command. Ahh, I need to get back to the Carrier Raindancer…
Do you need me for anything?"
Karan smiled softly. "Just tell your guards that if a security clearance
code IS provided by a suspect, to RUN it before throwing them in a tank."
The admiral actually blushed at this. "I am so terribly sorry for Ensign
Slar's actions… I can't begin to apologize enough. I promise you, he'll
be mopping decks tomorrow."
Karan shook her head, and said "That's not necessary, but okay. You
can go do what you need to do, I'll get myself and my friend home fine."
The admiral nodded. "Of course. If you need to send for a pilot and
shuttle, the comm systems are right there."
The admiral stood, saluted again, and left.
"That was… interesting… I've never been held at gunpoint before."
She laughed at her friend. "I can't say I've been either. Ahh well…"
She sighed, looking out at the stars through the massive viewport.
And felt his hand gently fold over hers. "You are home, aren't you…"
She sighed, then nodded. "Yes… I… I feel comfortable again here. I
know her so very well…"
Taro smiled softly. "You know, it's mildly creepy the way you refer
to this ship like a lover… But it's less so than when you first did… I
think I understand…"
She smiled softly back, and gently pulled him close. They were so very
alike in build, she thought, sandy, desert-wind hair, the signature blue
eyes of Kiith Sjet, same height… She smiled into his eyes, and on an impulse,
gave him a light kiss.
This had the effect of making him go straight as a soldier, as if receiving
an electric jolt. And she found this so funny as to giggle.
"Y-Y-Y-Y-You…"
Smiling, she gently stroked his hair. "Yes, I just kissed you. Because
you've been the only friend I had, since… Since then…"
She sighed softly, thinking of Kharak.
"Funny, isn't it? We came here to a world of crystal-clear blue oceans,
freshwater oceans, wonderful sky, food in plenty… And when I'm not missing
the Mothership… I miss Kharak."
Taro sighed softly, putting his arm around her. "I know what you mean…
In every way I can think of, Hiigara is a virtual paradise compared to
Kharak, yet… I miss the sun, the sand…" He sighed.
"Ahh well… I…" She closed her eyes, and smiled softly, gently kissing
him again. Slower this time."
When it broke, he half-lidded his eyes, and gently turned to face her,
pulling her into an embrace. "Karan Sjet, are you coming onto me?"
She smiled softly, pressing herself against him. "And what if I am…
Do you want me?"
He looked up into her eyes, and licked his lips. She was certainly
the most attractive girl who'd ever shown any attention or friendship towards
him…
And he smiled. "Of course…" He smiled softly… As she squeezed him,
and he her…"
(Well, heh. Chapter 2… Like? I know I do…)