*19
Treve stood at the campsite and stretched, coppery arms becoming more and more mottled by the day. They would soon develop a sinuous pattern that he and all Calafans referred to as calloo. It started off as a solid color – copper on his side, the twenty side, and silver on the other side of the pond. And, at age thirty, it began to get spotty and eventually would develop into rococo scrollwork. Finally, it would fade to nothing, and he would die soon after that. He was forty-one years old, so he was beyond the initial spotting stage and the pattern was beginning to emerge. Calloo was as personal and individual as a snowflake. His was coming in as a sort of geometric pattern, not unlike an old printed circuit board, if he had known engineering history. But he didn't.
He had been studying to join the Diplomatic Corps, but he had hated that, and always felt out of place and awkward. But that was a good two decades previously. Then, his mother, Yipran, was still alive, his sister was just fourteen and his little brother was four. And his father was having an affair with a vixen named Polloria.
It was her idea, really, the whole thing. She had an itching to become the next High Priestess, the role that, at that time, was being filled by his late mother. His father played the role of First Minister. He knew that the other side had the same roles, but their government differed. At that time, the twenty-ones had what was almost a constitutional monarchy. The High Priestess was more of a figurehead role, and decisions were made by a governing committee. But on the twenty side, it was different, and the High Priestess could essentially be more of a despot, ruling and being attended to by her husband, the First Minister. Such had been the situation with his parents, until his father's affair had begun.
Polloria had wanted that piece all for herself, and so an elaborate plot was developed as he and his siblings grew up, initially ignorant of what was happening. His mother was, slowly but surely, being poisoned by overdoses of potassium. At first, it took away her dreams – as horrific a result for her as it would have been for all Calafans, for the dream state was as much a part of everyday life as the waking one. Then, it had made her comatose. And that was where the whole thing lay, stalemated. His father had had lust for Polloria but no bloodlust for killing his mother. And so they had waited, for years, for his mother to die. But she hadn't.
Then the Defiant had come, and they scanned its occupants. That had been in 2157. They had found a candidate for study who just so happened to be an ideal candidate for something else. She looked enough like one of them that, at not too far a distance, she could even be mistaken for one. A broadcast to the people would be perfect. They would – so long as she was given the proper tattooing – mistake her for Yipran. It was a normal thing, to pluck out a member of a new to them race and study that person. They would strip away the memory and see how fast and well the subject could recover. It was a means of judging intelligence, and they had used it on Vulcans, Klingons and some little nasty, grasping race – Ferengi.Hence the plan was already in place to grab a human, but his father had directed the kidnapping of this one particular human female. She had a great deal of flaming red hair, and that also would work for the illusion, for Calafans all started out stark bald and then eventually would sprout hair. On his side, it was red, and went along with their coppery calloo. On the twenty-one side of things, it was a light, almost-white blonde and it complemented their silvery aspect. He was already growing hair although he did not yet have a beard. It was coming in all right, and even, and his woman liked it.
For that was her, standing nearby, field dressing a linfep. She had been the human they had selected. The idea was for her to publicly designate Polloria as the succeeding High Priestess, but the woman – Jennifer – had not been as compliant as Polloria had hoped. Instead, Jennifer had designated Yimar, his sister.
And so, here it was, over twenty years later, and Yimar was the High Priestess. And Jennifer and he had escaped it all and run into the forest. He and his father were sent to prison, as was Polloria, and the only reason he and his father were released was because they had been instrumental in sending one human male over to the other side. It was not via pulse shot, it was through mass meditation on both sides of the pond, by Calafans of both colors.
For the plan to jerry-rig the succession wasn't just happening on his side of the pond. It had happened on the other one as well, and they, too, had plucked a likely candidate to unwittingly impersonate their High Priestess.
Hername was Lili. He knew that. He had seen her in some dreams, before she had settled on a regular nighttime man and instead had been walking around in their shared subconscious and doing regular socializing, not looking for fun, just chatting with neighbors and the like. She was pleasant enough, and he found he truly preferred human females, but his heart was with Jennifer. She had been a good mate to him, even though they could not have children of their own That didn't matter. Charlie and Betsy were almost theirs.
And Charlie and Betsy's parents were friends. They had been on the Defiant with Jennifer. The father had been the Chief Engineer. The mother, the babysitter to the Empress's eldest son – this was before the others had arrived and Aidan MacKenzie had been disgraced. TheDefiant had left the area and the four – and eventually six – of them had been free to live. The guy fixed things; his wife sometimes worked in hospitals. He and Jennifer would do odd jobs. They fed themselves with hunting but, since the 2166 pulse shot that had become illegal so now they were, essentially, poachers.
The 2166 visit by the Defiant had also brought with it an opening up of the prisons, so Polloria and the others had been released, even though her punishment had been far from over. Polloria had been sentenced to potassium injections to remove her dreams, and had been existing that way for nearly a decade when the jails were opened up by the Terran Empire. It didn't necessarily matter. There were few free Calafans on either side of the pond. They had been able to shuttle back and forth for a while and he had sometimes gone to look. The other side quickly became a waste, and most of the silver Calafans went into hiding. Those who didn't were usually picked up and made into slaves. Luckier ones ended up serving the Empress. Not so lucky ones drifted or were sent to service soldiers or became the subjects of laboratory experiments. He had no idea what had happened to Polloria but, whatever it was, it didn't concern him.
"Did you see that?" he asked accent still high class and clipped even though he was dressed in mere rags.
"Huh?" Jennifer asked. She put her hand up a little to steady herself as she rose. She was still lovely, but the red hair was grey. The calloo tattooing was still there, mocking her. She could no longer be mistaken for a Calafan, as Calafans didn't go grey. She was forty-eight years old and hated the Empress more than ever.
"Over there, look!" Betsy said, pointing. It was dark, so the rip between the universes glowed and pulsed and showed up vividly against the night sky. But there was something approaching it – a ship.
"We better find cover," said her father, and the six of them stamped out their campfire and got behind a little rise nearby. It didn't afford much protection, but it was all that they had. Better to be somewhat out in the open. The ruined cities would be worse, as bricks could fall and do damage. It was a bit like waiting out a tornado.
Treve put his arm over Charlie, "Keep low," he said, "This could go very bad very quickly," he looked over to Jennifer and took her hand.
"You know I love you, at least a little bit," she said, their private signal.
"Yes," he replied, "I might love you a little bit, too."
They waited.
=/\=
The shuttle docked with the USS Bluebird and Malcolm got out slowly. It never got any easier, but at least his heart was a bit lighter, "Get to Sick Bay," he said to Leonora and Neil, "It's the safest part of the ship."
"Dad, I wanna help," Neil said.
Malcolm smiled. He'd never been called that before, "I know. The time will come," he paused, "Son."
"Sir, we'd better go," Shelby said.
"Yes, of course. Don't give her a hard time, all right?" he said to Neil, then hugged Leonora, as tightly as his injuries would allow.
=/\=
Lili and Doug separated. She had just asked one word: "Tonight?"
"Don't know," he had replied, "Stay at the galley late and I'll try."
She went back to quarters. For whatever was happening, she'd need to look at least a little bit more presentable. She arrived in time to see a male figure leaving her quarters. She recognized him but said nothing, not even when his eyes met hers.
She went in and found Susan pulling on a bottle, "Susan," she said, "There's going to be something on the widescreen. I think everyone will be there."
"I don't think I need to go," Susan replied.
Lili shrugged and got herself ready.
=/\=
They were well-disciplined on the Bridge, standing ramrod straight when he arrived, even though he himself couldn't do that anymore, "At ease," he said, by way of greeting.
"Captain, the gap has reopened, and is growing at a much faster rate than normal," said his Tactical Officer, Aidan MacKenzie.
"Thank you," Captain Reed said, "Let's hang back and see what happens. Slow to a quarter-impulse, please."
Karin Bernstein, the night shift pilot, complied.
=/\=
The Game Room was crowded, standing room only. Lili immediately realized the kitchen crew would have to provide refreshments. They still had a lot of the chips. Making pretzels or the like would take too long, but she could make a reasonable approximation of Buffalo chicken wings, although there was nothing that could be faked into ranch dressing. There was plenty of synthbeer, though. It was the middle of the night, and certainly not a normal mealtime, but she knew damned well that they'd better come up with something.
Making a vat of fried mock wings took less time than she feared, and the three of them, still stretching and yawning, passed them around on trays. The fourth, Aliwev, tended bar, which essentially consisted of filling mug after mug with synthbeer. It didn't require any finesse or training and no one was going to tell this bartender their troubles.
The synthbeer flowed and the mock wings were served, as she, Polloria and Rellie were groped and bothered.
=/\=
The ISS Lunawaited for the gap to open up enough. They waited.
José wasn't thrilled with the delay but there was little he could do. No one knew what would happen if he went in with the gap not being wide enough. It could, potentially, create explosive decompression on the Luna's hull. It was better to wait for the Empress's orders, too. That way, if anything went wrong, he could, potentially, not be blamed. Or, at least, he could blame someone else. He looked around the Luna's small Bridge. Hodgkins. He could blame Hodgkins for any failures. No one would miss Hodgkins and his strong-arm collections. Perfect.
=/\=
Doug stood in the back of the Game Room with his recruits, "You're on duty," he had told them, "No synthbeer."
But they didn't care. He would occasionally catch a glimpse of a silver scrolled arm or a white-blonde head going by. He got himself a mock wing from her and she paused in front of him for a second, looking at him, her light eyes shining. He just nodded. It was too risky to say anything else.
=/\=
"Over there, sir, do you see it?" asked MacKenzie.
"Yes, I do. Take us a bit closer, Miss Bernstein," It was the growing gap.
"Aye, Captain Reed."
=/\=
Lili saw the three women standing off to one side, together. She knew Pamela's counterpart, and she had known Karin Bernstein's. The other one she didn't know and she didn't know why they were together. They weren't in uniform, but instead were wearing outfits as skimpy as she'd seen on Marie Patrice and Takara.
Speaking of same, she saw Tommy standing over to another side, hands all over Takara. She was only objecting a little, mainly if his attentions blocked her view of the widescreen. She could see Izo – he was trying to chat up Karin Bernstein, and she was having none of that.
Arashi came to the front of the room and called for order, "We have a line on the gap! It is now oh-one hundred hours. We are taking bets for when it gets big enough for the Lunato pass through! Get the line from either me or Takeo. Lefty will be over there and I'll be up here. Jun, where are ya?"
Jun raised his hand. He was surprisingly close to Lili, "I will be handling any non-monetary bets," he called out, "So anyone who wants to trade quarters, or rations, or women," he leered at the three women standing together, "you come see me."
Lili didn't see any of the other children, either hers or the Empress's, but it was crowded in there and people were constantly pushing her and grabbing at her tray.
=/\=
"There. Looks like it's big enough," Hodgkins said.
"Hmm. Yep," Torres said, "Let's go."
=/\=
They saw it. This part was not normal, a ship coming through the gap.
Malcolm ordered, "Full reverse!"
"Aye, sir," said Karin.
=/\=
"Well, I'll be damned," said Charlie's father, still with a bit of a Florida drawl, "They really are gittin' it through."
"Stay down, kids," said his wife.
Treve just looked over at Jennifer, and then pushed Charlie down just a tiny bit.
=/\=
There was a scraping sound, heard on both sides of the pond if you were on one of the two planetary surfaces. But José and his men couldn't hear it, of course. The push in slingshotted them and created considerably more forward momentum than they'd planned on.
They could see the other ship, dead ahead. It was an NX-class. The Defiant could have easily taken it out, but not the Luna.
"Full reverse!" yelled José, and Hodgkins tried to comply, but they were being pushed ahead. A bit of reverse movement happened, but they hit the gap at an odd angle. It was closing again. There was no way to return.
"They'll kill us all!" yelled Hodgkins, turning and looking back at Torres.
He had only a second to think of what to do. He was not capable of good command decisions – not really – and negotiating was beyond him. A
prison was not what he had in mind and he wasn't so sure that they would be imprisoned, anyway. All he could hope for was a fleeting moment of glory, if the Empress was watching at all, and maybe a posthumous honor. Perhaps the system would be named after him, after all.
"Ramming speed!"
=/\=
They saw it on the Bluebird, but reverse just wasn't fast enough. Norri and Neil were, thankfully, still rushing down a hallway. They didn't see it coming, but everyone on the Bluebird's Bridge did.
=/\=
Lili saw it. Doug saw it. Pamela, Blair and Karin saw it. Izo, Jun, Takeo and Arashi saw it. Tommy and Takara saw it. In her chambers, while Travis grabbed her and Frank Ramirez concentrated his attentions on her, the Empress saw it as well.
=/\=
It was a full-speed collision between the Lunaand the Bluebird.
And on theLuna,it was Curtis, and it was Hodgkins, and it was fifteen nervous Security crewmen, and it was the paint on the hull and the metal of the doors and the communications console and the tactical station and the pilot's station and José himself, all at once, gone.
And on the Bluebird, it was Doctor Morgan and his lab animals, and the galley, and Shelby in her quarters, and the carpeting on the floors, and Karin at the pilot's station, and the extra pairs of boots, and Aidan at the tactical station, and the gym, and Jennifer at the warp reactor, and the warp reactor itself, and the Ready Room, and the blue-tinted paint on the hull that gave the ship its absurdly peaceful name, and Captain Malcolm Reed, and the wedding ring that had never been a part of any wedding, and the dull grey Calafan cuff that had survived for millennia and had been touched in worshipful reverence by millions of silver Calafans – all of those people, and all of those things – all at once, gone.
Vaporized in an instant.
In a rush of silver and copper particulates, the remains of the people, and the ships and, most importantly, the dull grey Calafan cuff, all shot back toward the twenty side of things and plugged the gaping maw between the two universes.
=/\=
Lili fainted.
=/\=
It was a huge hallway. Her subconscious was filled with people. It was even more crowded than the Game Room. It was a dream! She should have been able to get them to part. But there were far too many of them, and she saw, they weren't just Calafans, but there were Humans, and Xindi, and Takret, and Tellarites, and Xyrillians, and Vulcans, and Witannen, and Imvari, and, and, and every species she had ever heard of and a lot she didn't know at all. All standing there. They were lost, all of them, except for the Calafans.
The Calafans, as befits anyone who is bereft, were sobbing and screaming in mourning.
=/\=
Doug rushed over, "Get up, slave!" he commanded as he leaned over, gently shaking her shoulder.
She must have heard his voice, for she came to.
Polloria came over, "You feel it, too," she said to Lili.
"Get me more food!" yelled Izo.
Out of the corner of her eye, as Lili was helped up by Polloria, she saw Pamela, Karin and the other girl hug each other. They were free. They quickly found other partners. Izo had drawn the lucky Pamela Hudson card.
=/\=
On the Defiant'sBridge, Lucy Stone was getting panicky. Chip was at Tactical and confirmed it, "It looks like the passageway has closed."
"Fire another pulse shot," she commanded.
"Done," he said.
"No effect," she said, checking the Science station, "Another."
And so on and on and they fired sixteen shots before they came to the conclusion that the hole was likely plugged up for good.
Reluctantly, Lucy contacted the Empress.
Thankfully, the Empress didn't answer hails. She was too busy with Ramirez and Mayweather to care. It was a lucky break for Lucy and Chip, at least for the moment.
And then the Empress drifted into sleep and found herself in a huge hallway where thousands of species were gathered, mostly lost but some in mourning. It felt very real, and she could not only see and hear the others but could smell them as well. Ugh.
Interesting.
*20
February 6, 2161.
Rick had circled back to the original contact date, over and over again, as time went on and he waited for Doug and Lili to do their thing.
He was busy; the original pulse shot had created such an incoherent wave that, every time he reversed time, it shot off in a different direction. He was able to grab some of the ensuant dark matter as fuel. For the remainder, he would shoot it into nearby stars. Lo, the big white star in the Lafa System was a particularly excellent repository. Over and over again, he grabbed little bits of dark matter and, as such, protected the Enterprise. The HG Wellswas loaded with far more fuel than it needed and he had the time to listen to his old-fashioned music and look at projections. He also thought about the date he was missing and whether it would be wholly unethical to go back and hit on Tina April a second time. Maybe he'd think up better lines. Maybe he didn't have to.
He turned his attention back to work. The hand-held temporal observatory didn't have too many specifics about what was going on but there were plenty of other ways to determine whether there was any effect. And this one was a doozy.
The destruction of the cuff was a major historical event in the alternate history of the silver Calafans. And it had been on the first of June of 2178. It was such a significant event that it had made it possible for him to know that date with near-perfect certainty, unlike the 2161 and 2166 dates, which had been little more than educated guesses. But now his records said that the destruction had happened on the second.
Only a little over an hour or so into that day, to be sure, but it was still a difference.
"You may think you're not doing a damned thing," he said to himself, "But you are. Now get them and get gone. Don't dawdle."
=/\=
March 28, 3109.
Kevin O'Connor and Carmen Calavicci were looking at similar information. He yawned and looked up, "I got no one to go back to, but c'mon, I'm sure you got someone or something else planned. I can take over."
"No. Nothing," she said, "Look. There's a slight change right, uh, there."
And so it was.
"I'm not so sure it makes too much of a difference. You know as well as I do that little changes are often just absorbed right into the fabric of space-time," he said, "You wear a blue top instead of a red one, chances are extremely small that you'll cause a planetary explosion or whatever."
"Agreed," she said, "But there is still a difference. And you know, of course, that small changes can add up."
"The right changes," he said, "Who's to say it's the right change?"
"We'll just have to see," she said, "I do wish he was doing it without so many anachronisms."
"He'll fix that," Kevin said, "All he needs to do is rewind to before the meeting with Archer."
"I suppose you're right. Still, it's never a good idea. I guess I'll have to give him another good talking-to upon his return," she said, "I'm making coffee, want some?"
"You mean you're synthesizing it."
"Same difference. Black, right?"
=/\=
Awake and refreshed, she got up and looked at herself in the mirror. I am still the Empress, she thought. I am still one hot ticket.The dream had been wild. It was realer than any dream she'd ever experienced. She saw people and species she knew, and plenty more that she didn't. She'd even had a pretty hot time with one of the Security guys. What was his name?
Miller. Yeah.
Dressed, she walked out into the hallway and actually saw him, "Come to my quarters," she said, "After shift."
"Sure," he said, "Same as before?"
"Uh huh."
And she had walked away, and realized that he had experienced the same dream.
And if he had, then everyone else had.
It was a new world to conquer, a new universe, ripe for exploration. She'd lost the twenty-one side, at least for the moment. That part seemed obvious. She'd tear Masterson and Stone new ones and that would light a fire under them and the Vulcan slaves to figure out some new way of getting to the twenty-one side. But, in the meantime, she held another, far more intriguing, card.
=/\=
For their part, Lucy Stone and Chip Masterson were in the Ready Room.
"We are so gonna get it," she said.
"Yeah, she's gonna blame us for the closed gap," he said, "I'll take the booth. Say you didn't do anything. I'll take it all."
"You don't have to."
"I do," he said, "I don't think she'll kill me. She, heh, uses me for too many other things."
She kissed him, "You better not die in that booth. We got too many things undone. And that dream, my God. I coulda sworn you were with me."
"I think I was," he said.
They left the Ready Room together to confront the Empress, who was already on the Bridge.
"So, Empress," Chip ventured, "It's nice to see you this morning."
"Huh," she said, "Stay outta the Ready Room."
"Yes, of course," he said, "We were just discussing firing another pulse shot."
"How many have you fired so far?" she asked.
"Sixteen? Seventeen?"
"Seventeen," Lucy confirmed, "Most recent one was about eleven minutes ago."
"And no change, right?" the Empress asked.
"N-none," Chip replied.
"Then stop doing that," The Empress said, peevish, "Really, do I have to do Science, too? It's so damnably dull."
"Y-yes, Empress," Lucy said.
"Now, the Vulcan slaves, have you got them on this yet?" asked Hoshi.
"Yes. Nothing so far but there hasn't been a lot of time yet," Chip said.
"All right," The Empress said.
"And?" Chip asked. He didn't want to jinx things, but he had the feeling that the other shoe would drop at any moment.
"And nothing," The Empress said, "Take, I dunno, two months. We'll leave this system, of course, but you can continue working on this problem. Any more time than that and it'll be the booth. Right now I have other fish to fry."
Chip thought about that for a second, "Yes, Empress," he said absently, going back to his station. He glanced over at Lucy. C'mon, look up, look up. She looked up for a second and he caught her eye. The Empress was facing him, not her, so Lucy gave a slight shrug. He didn't dare to respond in any manner but went back to thinking. What the hell other fish could she possibly be talking about?
And then he remembered. It had been quite a dream. He'd been flying a kite on Dione, with Saturn huge and yellowy in the sky above. It was a pleasant dream. Sand was under his toes and the surf smelled of salt and horseshoe crabs, loud in his ears. Lucy had met him – she was wearing a sarong – hey, it was a dream! – and they'd made love on soft white sand. The dream was real enough that he'd awoken to unmistakable feelings
And he got the feeling that if they were in it, then maybe the Empress was somehow in it as well.
=/\=
Other members of the crew woke with similar experiences and feelings of having been watched in the night.
Pamela had dreamt of telling off her mother, once and for all.
Josh Rosen had dreamt of riding in a shuttle on auto while he and Shelby Pike did it in the back.
Shelby had dreamt of doing it with Josh Rosen in the back of a shuttle set to auto.
Aidan had dreamt of taking his son hunting.
Kirin had dreamt of hunting with his father.
Marie Patrice had dreamt of seducing Jun.
Jun had dreamt of being seduced by Marie Patrice.
And on and on in shared subconscious.
But they all, also, had the nagging feeling that someone had been watching, or at least listening in, on their innermost, most intimate, thoughts and desires. Dark, sloe eyes haunted every background, and noted everything that had happened.
=/\=
For their parts, neither Lili nor Doug slept at all. Both of them were consumed with their own mourning.
=/\=
"C'mere," Kirin said.
She turned but then turned back, "I don't think so."
"Huh?"
"I got other things going on," Marie Patrice said.
"No. You got me going on," he said, grabbing her arm.
Jun was approaching, "I said no," she said sharply.
"Some trouble?" Jun asked, "C'mon Giraffe, don't be like that."
"Not your business," Kirin said.
"Oh, but it is," Jun said.
Kirin dropped Marie Patrice's arm and stood up to Jun. He was far taller than his elder brother, and could look rather intimidating when he wanted to.
"When are we goin'?" Kirin inquired.
"How 'bout now?" Jun answered.
A Security crewman was coming.
There was a communications chime. Marie Patrice answered, "Arashi, hi. Oh, breakfast sounds great," she closed her Communicator, "Gotta blaze."
"Empy!" Kirin was indignant.
"Oh, yeah, that. Hmm. It's hardly useful unless I can actually watch you two beat at each other, I suppose," she yawned, "Maybe after we eat, wait an hour or so. Don't want it to become messy that way," she turned tail and walked to the Observation Lounge.
=/\=
"Why'd you reject me last night?" Tommy asked Takara as they walked.
"I have told you. I felt like someone was watching," she said.
"And other reasons?"
"Well, a few. Might not want to give that to you after all, yanno."
"Oh? And who else is in line for it?" he asked, grabbing her roughly.
"You know. Your brother, for one."
"He just wants to do it with a baseball," Tommy said, "You need a real man."
"Don't be so sure," Takara said, "I've seen his ... bat. And there's also," she smiled, "the wild hunter. He might just have a campsite, but there's something to be said for ... earthiness. Primal things – doing it like two wild beasts."
"Split the difference," he said, "I can hunt, you know that. And I inherited the same kind of bat."
"Oh?" she asked, "Maybe I'll just appraise all three of you at the same time."
"A comparison?"
"Sure. You, Joss and Charlie."
"I will win," he said, standing over her, in her face, "I'll kill both of them if I have to."
=/\=
Joss and DR were walking down a different hall.
"I saw my Dad," Joss said quietly.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he was in the back of the Game Room with the recruits last night. Dunno if he saw me."
"Huh, well that's good, I guess," said DR, "Your mother passed out when the two ships collided. It was too risky for me to go over. I saw a Calafan help her up. A copper one, a female."
"Hmm, was my Mom okay?"
"I think so. She looked really upset, like crying upset. But not hurt physically."
"I gotta get outta here soon," Joss said, "I mean, we saw, what, a hundred people die? All vaporized in a flash, and everybody around us was cheering like I'd hit a home run. They traded money. It was a party, and people had just died. It was, it was fun for them."
Marie Patrice was coming down the hall, "Joss!" she said brightly, "And you."
"Empy, we gotta get outta here," Joss said, as they walked together to breakfast.
"Why? I'm having a blast."
"I'm sure you are. But did you happen to notice it all last night?" Joss asked.
"So?"
"So people died and it was time for bets to change hands. Don't you think that's, well, a little bit wrong?"
"Huh," she shrugged, and then said quietly, "C'mon, don't be soft. Don't show weakness."
"Compassion isn't weakness," DR said.
"Who the hell asked you?" she bristled a little.
"Empy. Be nice."
"No," she said, "I mean, why should I? He can't do anything for me."
"Then you should be even nicer," Joss said, "I cannot believe you. You've got nothing that Mom and Dad taught us."
"Mom taught me plenty," she said, "How to flirt. How to get a guy on his knees. And Aidan taught me plenty. How to shoot a phaser. How to fight with a sword and a knife. I can make anyone cry for mercy."
"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about our real parents and our, our real home," Joss said.
"A ghost and a tall guy," she said, "Who left when I was, what, one? And then two chicks who weren't even related to us, and some British guy who was barely around. You mean those people? The ones who were off flying for Starfleet or consumed with school and all sorts of dull stuff. You mean Ceres, that ugly, functional world full of plain, boring people?"
"Those people loved you," Joss said.
"I wouldn't know them if they bit me in the – oh, hi, Izo," she said, smiling, "Breakfast?"
Recruits were marching by, with their leader bringing up the rear. Marie Patrice, Izo, Joss and DR stood to the side as they marched by. In the back was the Major, yelling, "Sound off! One-two!"
"Sound off! Three-four!" they responded, thunderous, as one.
"I got a gal on Ariel, she's got a nice bod, but her face's like hell!" yelled the Major.
Marie Patrice and Izo were on the right side, so she could see the patch on the Major's left arm. It said J. Hayes. He looked at her for a split second, and she saw he had bluish-greenish-greyish eyes.
She averted hers, which matched.
*21
"You look like hell," Aliwev said when Lili came into the kitchen that morning.
"Oh. I didn't sleep at all last night."
"A good thing," Polloria said, "Something's happened to the night. Something is very wrong."
"We're late this morning," Rellie said, "No talk, just get breakfast out."
=/\=
"Seconds," Commanded Takeo.
"Yes, sir," Lili said, coming over with the pancakes. There was no syrup, and they were out of jam, but it was still pretty good eating, as she'd put immature olowa fruit into the batter.
"More," said Chip.
Joss was sitting next to Chip. He'd always liked pancakes. She voluntarily offered him some. He took one and nodded at her. It was too risky to thank a slave. There were too many watching eyes.
She put her head down and went back to where Polloria and Aliwev were standing, ready to pour tofflin juice or clear a dirty dish.
"I had a very interesting time of it last night," The Empress said.
"Oh?" asked Aidan.
"Yes. The dreaming was delightful!" she gushed, "You were having quite a time of it with the teacher over there, after your hunting trip was finished."
"Oh," he gulped, "A dream. They are such fascinating bits of psychology."
"I understand they reflect our innermost desires," The Empress replied, "And you, Chip. It was a pretty beach on one of Saturn's moons. You and the Science Officer. She had on a nice dress but, really, orange is not her color."
"How very interesting," Chip replied. He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.
"Empy!" Hoshi exclaimed, "You and my dear firstborn. Next time, do get him to take care of you first."
Kirin shot Marie Patrice a look.
"Such interesting dreams you've been having," Marie Patrice said.
"I dreamt about collections," Arashi said.
"And all the money had your face on it," Hoshi said.
"Yes. Huh," he said."
I know," Hoshi said.
And suddenly, except for her, no one was hungry anymore, and they all knew that she had seen – or at least heard – what had gone on in their heads.
=/\=
Doug got his men over to the gym. Claymore and Bernstein were there. That was always a signal – if a woman was in the gym, it was never really for the purposes of working out. It was only for one reason – to hook up with a new guy.
The recruits leered as the women did squats or lifted small weights and grunted.
He got in front of the recruits and said, "We are here to get some hand to hand work done. You, over there. Stop gawking and get ready to fight, uh, this one," he had a pounding headache from not sleeping. Having them fight each other was the easiest thing he could think of.
They complied and set upon each other. Neither man did well, and he finally separated them when the weapons came out, "Now, now," he said, "this isn't to the death. It's just for practice. So keep the phase pistols and daggers out of it. You, there. And you. Go. Now."
And on and on it went. No one was very good, and they all had far too little patience to really build up a good battle. They'd get to the weapons stage far too quickly, instead of relying on their wits or their hands, "Now, what are you gonna do if you don't have a phase pistol?" he asked after the sixth fight.
"Use my dagger?" asked one recruit.
"And if you have no dagger?"
"I always have a dagger with me."
"Well, what if you don't? What if you're naked 'cause you just did it with her?" Doug pointed to Bernstein.
"Would you like me to fight after doing it?" the recruit asked Karin.
"I dunno," she said, "Which are you better at?"
"Why don't you come to my quarters and find out?"
"And be groped by all of you?" she sniffed, "You don't have quarters, you have barracks. There are, what, twenty of you in one room? It must stink in there," she and Claymore giggled a little and went back to their workouts.
The recruit was all set to yell something when the gym door opened and the Empress's entourage came in. They were at least disciplined enough to spring to attention immediately, insoles of boots hitting the insoles of other boots as one.
"Empress, we were just getting ready to leave," Doug said.
"Oh, no, stay!" she smiled, "You can watch the demonstration. Now that both of my daughters are eighteen, it's time to get some things settled."
"Oh?" Doug asked.
"Yes. Two of my sons," she said, "They're doing Kenjutsu. Open that cabinet."
He did so. There were swords in it. Some were thin epées, others were really just Kendo sticks made out of bamboo while still others were made of iron. One in particular was beautifully ornately carved, "Got any particular ones in mind?"
"Yes," she said, "Two of the iron. But take out Ironblaze as well. That one," she indicated the lavishly decorated one.
"Yes, Empress."
She took the two plainer ones from him, "Jun! Kirin!" They came over, "You will battle today. There will be two prizes. So this is not to the death, of course. You've got to both stick around for after I'm gone."
"I hope that's a long time from now, Mother," Kirin said bowing and taking one of the swords from her.
"Suck-up," said Jun, bowing and taking the other one.
"The winner will be given my daughter, Empy. The loser will get Ironblaze."
Doug looked over. Marie Patrice was kind of interested, but mostly was chatting with the other girl, Takara. Tommy was hanging around Takara, possibly a little too close. She was pushing him out of the way but she let Joss get closer. Tommy was glaring at Joss, and Doug knew that look. It meant that it was likely that there would be two fights, not one. And the second one probably wouldn't have any rules to it whatsoever, and probably just the one prize – Takara.
"All right," The Empress said, "You will perform kata, or paired choreographed movements. You will perform them as quickly as possible. You will show off your timing and balance skills to start, and interchange the roles of attacker and defender. You will not make actual contact with one another's bodies – the only contact will be sword to sword. Points will be awarded for realism and for sword to sword hits. Points will be deducted if you strike your opponent anywhere but on his sword. Tommy!" she yelled.
"Yes?" he answered.
"You and Joss can go next if you like, but pay attention to this."
"Can't we do hand to hand instead?"
"Hmm. All right," she said, "But first this."
"What if I refuse to do hand to hand?" Joss asked.
"Then you will fight him doing something else. Really, do I have to think of everything?" she answered annoyedly.
"Use knives or swords. It's more fun," Travis said to Joss.
"No, thanks," Joss said.
Doug said, "Men! Clear a space. Now. You, yeah, you. Over here."
=/\=
Lili went back to quarters. She figured she could lie down, maybe for a half an hour, before she'd have to start preparing lunch. Or maybe she'd just have herself another good, long cry. There didn't seem to be much point to anything else.
Susan was there.
"Oh, sorry," Lili said, "I was going to lie down a bit."
"It's all right," Susan said. For once, she was sober, "I have a question."
"Yes?"
"Did you have any strange dreams last night?"
"I didn't sleep at all."
"Oh. Mine were vivid. And very real, like I had really done what I was doing in the dream. But it seemed like someone was watching. Everything."
"Huh. Did you start off with a large group of people, lots of different species?" Lili asked.
"Yes," Susan said, "So you've had it, too? I asked someone, and he had that dream as well."
"Aidan?"
Susan looked away, "I suppose I owe you something now."
"Me? Why?"
"To, to stay quiet," Susan said, "You'll want something from me."
"No," Lili said, "Don't worry about it."
"But –"
"But nothing. I'm not here to hurt your relationship. Be as happy as you can. And have your dreams. Don't let anyone invade your head."
"Too late," Susan said.
=/\=
The two boys bowed.
There was a clanging crash as the swords hit.
Kirin was taller and could bang down on Jun's sword, but Jun was quicker so he could duck or get out of the way or change the angle. They mostly hung back, with arms crossed, then would thrust and parry. For the most part, they were silent, but there was an occasional "Ha!" let out by one or the other of them.
The stances mostly started off wide, with a sword up by the shoulders, parallel to the floor. Each combatant kept his elbows pointed up and back, forearms also parallel to the floor.
Marie Patrice got bored quickly and went over to a mirror to check out her appearance, although she did look back whenever they made a sound, either orally or by clashing swords.
Jun noticed that she wasn't paying attention and ended up lifting his sword over his head to try to reach Kirin. Seeing an opening, Kirin saw that this opened Jun's guard and thrust his sword in.
"Point for Kira!" Empress Hoshi cried out.
They bowed and went back to it, continuing to parry. Jun again lifted his arms too high but this time Kirin wasn't quite so careful, and his sword slashed the smaller boy's shirt open a little.
"Point for Jun!" The Empress called out.
And so on, in a tie for at least a good half an hour. Marie Patrice was very bored, and took to parading in front of the recruits. One of them reached out for her but Doug looked back at the recruit, "Hands off," he snarled, "You don't get to touch her."
"It might be fun, Major," Marie Patrice said.
"C'mon, you're better than that," Doug replied, "You should pay attention to the battle. It's being done for you."
"Huh. It's dull," she said.
"They give a damn about your future, Marie Patrice. Even if neither of them will be able to give you a very good one," he said.
"Who said you had the right to talk to me?" she said, going back over to where the other kids were standing.
The fight continued, stylized and ritualistic, "Let's have a tiebreaker soon," The Empress said, "This is getting very dull."
In response, Jun lifted his arms up too high again. Kirin saw an opening, and brought his sword down. This time, instead of making contact with the elder boy's shirt, he hit his opponent's face. It wasn't a heavy hit, just enough to cause bleeding.
"It's nothing," Jun said, "I can keep going."
"You don't have to," The Empress said, "You're the winner. Major, come here."
Doug came over with Ironblaze, "For you, Kira," she said. He bowed and took the ornate sword from her, and glared over at Jun.
"Empy," Jun said, "Come here."
"Oh," she yawned.
"You're mine now," he said to her, grabbing her by the waist, a little blood dripping down his left cheek. Doug and Kirin stood and watched, but said nothing.
"Really?" she asked, "Hmm. Best of three?"
"No," The Empress said, "Unless any of my other sons want to get involved. Arashi? Izo? Takeo?"
They all shook their heads.
"Us now?" Tommy asked.
"Sure," The Empress said, "But make it quick. This is getting old rather quickly."
"I don't want to fight you," Joss said to Tommy, "C'mon, DR, let's go."
"No way," Tommy said, "You don't get out of it that easily."
"I do not want to fight you for Takara. You can have her," Joss said, glancing over at Doug for a second.
"Are you saying my daughter is somehow undesirable?" Hoshi asked.
"N-no," Joss said, "It's just; I can see when I'm outmatched. And I'm definitely not her choice."
"Who says you aren't?" Takara asked, coming over to Joss, touching his arm and making sure that Tommy saw.
"C'mon, Joss, ya chicken?" Tommy yelled.
"No. Just don't want to fight," Joss said.
Tommy kept hitting Joss from behind and bothering him, and Joss kept trying to ignore him. Finally, it was too much, and Joss turned, felling his half-brother with one quick hit to the jaw.
Takara came back to him, "Joss, let's go. I have something for you," she eyed him intently and licked her lips.
"I don't want it," Joss said.
"I bet you do it with DR," Takara said as the others laughed.
"Y'know, you'll just believe what you wanna believe," Joss said, "I'm outta here. DR?"
The smaller boy followed as they left.
"Huh, well, I guess we know where one of my girls is going," Hoshi said, "But really, Takara, you shouldn't pick either of them. Get yourself another. Neither of them is worthy."
"There isn't anyone else, unless she wants someone old like the Major over there, or some low-class recruit," Takeo pointed out.
"No. There's another one. He's on the surface," Takara said.
"Ah, the wild child," Hoshi said, "We should bring him up here."
"Or, Empress, if I may," Doug interjected, "maybe you could go down to the surface. Say, in a day or so? The men could hunt. Maybe this other boy could as well, and show how worthy he is."
"Hmm, that could work," she said, "You improvise a lot. But it seems to work."
Chip glanced over as Tommy got up, finally, "Empress, too much improvisation isn't good for recruits. They should be taught by the book."
"It's just one hunt," Hoshi said, "All three candidates can be involved. Perhaps fitness can be assessed that way. I gotta get them paired off soon – it's better for them to start producing their own heirs as early as possible. I know I waited too long. They should learn from my one, rare, error."
=/\=
"Thank you. You're probably being too kind," Susan said.
"Forget it. Actually, there is one thing."
"Here it comes," Susan said.
"No. It's a secret on my end. The only reason I'm mentioning it is because it might be something that concerns you, since they make you taste all the food first."
"Oh?"
"Is there a way you can get out of tasting, Susan?"
"Not that I know of."
"Well, if you were given clear instructions, could you make sure you ate one piece of a dish and not another? The right part instead of the left, that kind of thing? You'd probably have to be fully sober in order to do it right," Lili said, "No offense."
"Huh. Well, despite how I may look and act, I do still give a damn whether I live or die. You, huh, you must be planning something with the food."
"I'm thinking about it. It's not really in the planning stages yet; it's just a thought. And I, I don't want you to get hurt or in trouble for it. You don't deserve that."
"Tell me what to do."
=/\=
Doug yelled, "Dismissed!"
The recruits mostly stayed, still leering at Claymore and Bernstein. A few tried to chat up Takara but she waved them off.
Doug rushed out to catch up to Joss and DR. When he did, he said, "There's a lab up ahead. Go in there."
They did, "All right," Doug said, "What's the deal with Marie Patrice?"
"That demonstration decided who she's gonna marry," Joss said, "Dad."
"You must be the other one," Doug said to DR.
"I must be," The boy replied.
"Marry? When?" Doug asked.
"Dunno, but probably soon. We'll leave the system if the gap can't be reopened," Joss said.
"I'm guessing it can't," Doug said, "And departing means the clock starts ticking on the wedding, right?"
"Most likely," DR said.
"We gotta get her outta that," Doug said.
"She doesn't seem to be objecting," DR pointed out.
"She's also not that enthusiastic. Probably thinks she can keep Kirin either way," Joss said.
"It doesn't matter," Doug said, "She's my daughter and this is the last thing I wanna see happen to her. Neither one is such a hot choice."
"True," DR said, "Although they would both give her some security."
"No. There won't be any security," Doug said, "The target on her back will only get bigger. And you," he said to Joss, "Tom isn't exactly happy with you."
"No, I guess he isn't," Joss said absently, "I am so not interested in her, not any more. She was – I mean, I'm a guy. I can't help but to react to her, how she looks, what she wears and all. But Takara hasn't got a brain in her head unless it has something to do with wanting to be just like her dear old mother, or about how much she'd like to get some, particularly if she can do that without having to do anything for anyone else. And she's the biggest tease there ever was. I'm thinking Tom's pretty frustrated with that, either way."
"Who's the third guy, the wild child?" Doug asked, "Can we get him to help us? I figure, we get a Calafan to the surface with us, maybe someone your mother works with in the galley, I dunno, and send that one through, once I tag Empy and Tom. They wouldn't exactly be willing but we could at least rewind to 2166, right?"
"The wild child, uh, lemme think," DR said, "His folks are poachers. But they camp with a Calafan, I think."
"This is all well and good but that passageway is closed to everyone. And that includes Calafans, I believe," Joss said.
"So we got a plan, or a semblance of a plan, but no way to execute the biggest part of it," Doug said, "Back to the drawing board, I guess. I'll try to see your mother tonight. Maybe she has an idea."
"Oh, and the wild child is named Charlie Tucker," Joss said, "The fourth."