Chapter 6:
The following day things have changed; boy, have they changed. We were given back our suits and wasted no time getting dressed. We stood upright for the first time in their view. Simon was not surprised; he had seen us upright before. The guards were all armed with tasers; the lethals had been put away. We were taken over to the X-32, and I laid my paw on it and mapped out the systems. The system was in bad shape. How this craft had flown at all was beyond me. It would have relied more on the pilot than any of the electronics. I had to meet the pilot. I was told it had only been flown remotely and had crashed back down after a few feet in the air. Yes, I could see the damage to the back right quarter.
The repair crew came in a few minutes later and milled around in front of the craft. We get lots of strange looks. You would think they hadn't seen a talking fox before. Overall, this craft is about as long as a football field and just over half as wide as a football field. And just over fifty feet tall. It was massive. Compared to the Pegasus-2. It was square and clunky and not very aerodynamic in construction. We could hear some grumblings from the repair crew. Just then, Simon brought into the hanger a radio system so we could communicate with everyone. Three portable units and a big receiver. He plugs it in and sets it to the frequency I had told him.
"Morning, everyone, time to get started. We need to repair that back panel and remove most of the coils in the hull. We have a better design for the coils." They grumble louder, and a spokesman comes over to us from all fifty of them. He crosses his arms and starts to stare me down. Standing on my paws' balls brings me up to a height of just over 140 cm, but he towers over me by another 50cm. "We don't work for you; we work for the complex. What gives you the right to lord it over us"? "I'm not lording it over you; I know more about the systems we need to install and get operational."
"Yeah? Where did you learn this"? "At my brother's company, Wilde industries." "There is no company by that name. You are a fake. The repulsion coils are made at Skyhigh industries." "Yes, sir, these coils are. But the coils we will build and install will be forty percent more efficient than the ones installed now." "Ha, big claims for a stupid animal." "Sir, please don't insult my intelligence. I have several degrees in the medical field and the mechanical field and a few more in other fields I'm not willing to discuss at this time." "Ha, you are still fake. What proof do we have of your claims? We have only your word. You are just a lying sneaky fox." "Sir, what can I give you in the way of proof"? "There is nothing you can say that will prove it to me. You have to fight me. We will all follow your lead; if not, I will pound you into the ground."
The commander and several generals were in the ops room looking over the X-32 as the scene played out below them. "This is going to get ugly, Mark." "I don't think so, commodore. I believe the fox can handle himself." "You believe, or you hope"? "Look at the way he is holding himself. He is just oozing confidence." "That may be, but I have fifty that says he loses." "That is a little low, commodore. I have two hundred that says he has his opponent on the ground in less than a minute." "Done. I love taking sucker bets." "It's not a sucker bet commodore. That fox is very muscular, along with the other two. You don't get muscles like that by not knowing how to use them." "Maybe, but I still think he will lose." The rest of the generals get in on the action as well.
"Sir, I will tell you what, my mate and I will put on a demonstration of fighting for you. I will oblige you if you still want to fight me after that demonstration." "Ha, Ha, Ha, very well, I accept; show me how you fight." Jessica and I smile at each other, bow, and get into our fighting stance. Everyone backs off and gives us a little room.
"What are they doing, Mark"? Mark smiles at the commodore, "Well, commodore, you are looking at a classic oriental fighting stance. I believe we are about to see how future people fight."
Jessica and I begin. We go slow at first until we warm up, then speed up. Betty, standing on the side, was doing her routine as she watched us. We got to a certain point; she then attacked me as well. There were gasps from all assembled when she did this. I got into my rhythm and fought them both. Betty and Jessica pulled out all the stops. We were a blur as we danced around the space we were allocated. But we eventually had to stop. But to stop our fighting, both Jessica and I attacked Betty. She was good, but we were better. We had her on the ground in about a minute. ("you cheated, Thomas; you have not shown me that move before.") ("You have been shown it now, don't forget it, our young padawan grasshopper.") ("I won't forget; you can count on it.") We both offer her a paw. She takes both of our paws and huffs at us as she gets to her hind paws.
I turned to the man who wanted to fight me. He has turned a shade or two whiter. But give him his due; he got into his fighting stance and motioned me forward. I just stood there before him, smiling as I crossed my arms. This unnerved him so much that he attacked me. It was all over in less than a minute. I had him down and out cold.
"Well commodore, are you impressed"? "Very much. Did we have the cameras running the whole time"? "Yes, sir." "I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Study those tapes to see if you can find any fault in his fighting and what disciplines they used; it didn't look like just one." "Your right, sir; I saw at least three. Now about our bet"? "You'll get your money Mark; I have never hedged on a bet." "Very good, sir." The commodore leaves the room with the other generals. Mark turns back to the window just as Simon brings Betty into a hug. Mark grips the sill of the window hard as he witnesses this.
I wait for him to come around and offer him a paw to help him up. I put into his mind the ability to understand us as I pull him to his feet. He takes my paw and feels my retracted claws. He gets a surprised look on his face as he stands up. "May I see them"? He asks as he turns my paw over. I extend my claws onto his palm. "You could have hurt or killed me at any time; why did you not do so"? "It wouldn't have been a fair fight if I had used my teeth and claws. I want your cooperation, not your death." "Thank you for that kind consideration, for not pounding this arrogant person into the ground." "No problem, sir, you are"? "I am Manuel, and I apologize for my arrogant, bad behavior." "It's ok, sir; my name is Thomas Lasseter. Shall we get to it"? "Right you are; what are we doing"? He asks as we walk over to the group of techs. I let out a whistle to get everyone's attention.
"Now, everyone, I'm going to speak at the same time I'm going to transmit my words over the radio. Hopefully, you will all begin to understand me, and soon the radio won't be necessary. If you find you can't understand me, ask for clarification, and I will be happy to explain myself. Now we need to separate ourselves into three groups. Those who know the coil system on my left. Those who know the electrical system of the X-32 on my right. Down the middle, those who know the rest of the systems, please." Eight techs move to the middle, and the rest split themselves almost equally to the left and right. Jessica takes the techs in the middle, Betty takes the one on the right, and I take the ones on the left.
The commodore comes into the hanger and asks me what I plan to do. I tell him we will remove the heat shields and coils and replace the coils with better ones I will build. Also, Jessica would decommission the nuclear power plant on board and replace it with a cold fusion reactor. Betty was going to take her crew and revamp the electronics and wiring of the craft. "How long is all this work going to take"? he asks. "About three years, sir," I respond. He shakes his head and tells me to carry on. We get to work.
So, my group of techs start in and remove the heat shields. One of them in Jessica's group goes to get the lead shields for the fuel rods for the nuclear plant. Betty draws out the schematics for the new control boards while the rest of her group starts removing the internal panels to access the wiring and old control boards. I take Manual and head for the manufacturing section of the base. The two of us, over the next two months, will make an industrial replicator and disruptor. The disruptor will take the old coils down to molecular components, and the industrial replicator will build the new coils. The new coils were smaller, lighter, and there were many more of them. Some of these were cloaking coils. Force field coils will not be needed as we didn't foresee a need for them, but we built and installed them anyway. Never know what we will need in the future; we just won't tell the commodore about them.
Jessica gets the nuclear power plant decommissioned and removed from the Pegasus. The fuel rods were stacked in the far corner of the hanger. They would be trucked to the moon as the reactor there used the same fuel rods. The nuclear plant was a modular construction, so the heat shield and hull covering it were removed, and the plant was removed after that. Space was not wasted as it's turned into a cargo bay over the next year. Weight had to be redistributed around the X-32, so it had a modicum of balance. The cold fusion reactor was placed next to the waste storage tank in the craft's belly. The waste from the craft initially was to be jettisoned into space. What a waste of a fuel source. Another tank was placed beside it for the pure particles, and still one more for the pure water from the reactor. Both tanks had lines running up to the mess hall for the replicators there.
Betty has commissioned an outside source to build the new control boards for the X-32 and my industrial machines. It's not that the electrical shop could not produce them, but she wanted to protect the system from sabotage. We knew there were factions on the base, and the less they knew about the new systems in the ship, the better. She tries teaching the new language to the people the general throws at her. None seem to be able to pick it up. My boards show up after six weeks; hers start showing up about a month later. I populate the boards with electronic components and then install the electronic boards on the two machines. I did this so I could reject the inadequate or inferior parts. I spend the next day programming them.
The machines work exactly as I anticipated. But I take a lot of power from the base. The first thing I make with my devices is a medium cold fusion reactor. I install it beside my machines. I got a lot of ribbing from some engineers when they found out what it ran on. Several techs from other divisions watch and ask questions about what I'm doing. I'm more than happy to explain it to them. I have the replicator built all the individual components for a cold fusion reactor. I then give them the components and directions on how to assemble the power plant. They are amazed and go away animatedly discussing the reactor. I knew they would be back when it came time to program it.
Manuel and our guards were first to join us in our early morning routine. Within a month, we have most of our teams as well. The training was going well. I figured in a couple of months; we could start teaching avoidance. I taught Simon how to shield, and because of his math abilities, he made an almost impenetrable shield. I was impressed. The commodore was unhappy when we took one day off a week, but we explained it was a religious thing; he let it go but still grumbled at the delay. Our techs were happy and thanked us several times for the day off. Simon helped whenever he could. He became friends with most of the techs. Betty and Simon snuck away to a secluded room in the X-32 on a regulator basis, but all they ever did was kiss and cuddle. General Hamon watched the progress on the X-32 like a hawk, and whenever he noticed Simon and Betty were missing, he would go looking for them. Betty watched him through the cameras, and both Simon and Betty would sneak out of the craft and appear from different directions. This frustrated Simon's dad to no end.
It was a long hard slog, but we had all the systems up and running in the X-32 in forty months. The Generals had watched the test of the cloaking device through the control room windows and were amazed when the craft disappeared. The generals of the base and the flight crew were all on board for the inaugural flight. Betty had built a neural interface on the pilot and navigational chairs. They still had manual controls, but the interface made flying the ungainly craft easier. Betty had done some training with the pilots and navigators and was confident of their ability to fly the ship. I had figured out the size of the moon base and the number of cloaking coils I would need, and we loaded them up along with the other supplies we would be bringing to the moon. We also brought replicators and a power generator, but we knew the generator would never be installed.
It took four months to place the cloaking coils strategically around the base. When I fired the coils up, the generals walking on the moon gasped when it disappeared. They followed their tracks back to the door. This door was the only way back into the base from the moon's surface. As we were flying back to the earth, the commodore decided we had outlived our usefulness.
What can a mammal say when they find out they are condemned to death? Not much. We tried to argue our case. When our crews found out, they argued our case as well. We were well-loved by all our tech teams. Simon was the most vocal person in our corner, but nothing anyone said would change the commodore's mind. We are back in the cell, waiting for our execution. Simon sees us every day, sits down, and cries for us; we console him.
"Please, Simon, don't cry for us; we knew this was coming. The commodore can't look beyond his nose and see the bigger picture." "How can you sit there and smile as you know you will all die? And Betty, my love, how can I go on living without you? I can't; I want to die with you." "Simon, you will go on; we have a rendezvous on the moon in forty-five hundred years. I will be waiting for you." Simon just hugs her and cries harder. "Simon, we need to ask a big favor of you." "Just name it; if it's in my power to do it, I will."
"Simon, we all would like you to administer the lethal injection to all of us." "WHAT? How can you ask this of me"? "Simon, several centuries back in the medieval times, when samurai and Shoguns ruled over Japan, when a Samurai dishonored a Shogun, he was brought before the Shogun. If he could not explain his actions to the Shogun, he was given the time to commit Hari Kari. If he could not do it, a friend or acquaintance standing behind him would take his head off so he wouldn't dishonor himself or the Shogun. This is the position we would like you to fill. We would all prefer it was by your hand, not some other individual who does not care for us." Simon cries a little harder. With tears in his eyes, he raises his head. "I want to think on this if I may,"? "You may, Simon; we all know what we ask of you. We know how hard it will be for you, but this is the only request we can make of our only friend. You have stood behind us, and we thank you for it, Simon." Simon hugs all three of us, kisses Betty, and heads out the door.
Simon has a very restless night. He tosses and turns all night, thinking about what we had asked of him. The cold grey dawn of morning found Simon outside, watching the sunrise as night's cold wind blew around him. He still was wrestling with himself about the request. Today would be the day of our execution, and Simon wasn't sure if he wanted to do as we asked or even watch it happen. After the sun rose, Simon just wandered the base deep in thought. Mark Hamon saw his son's state of mind and tried to approach him many times. But Simon seeing his dad, would turn and walk away. Mark let him go every time. Eventually, Simon stops and sits on a bench by the plane hanger. After a few minutes, he falls into an exhausted sleep.
He wakes up in a very comfortable sitting room. He's in a highback chair that is oh so comfortable. The fire in front of him is burning away merrily on the hearth. He looks to his right and sees another older man in the highback chair next to him. He's reading a book and smoking a pipe. Simon always loved the smell of good pipe tobacco. All this seems familiar to him, but he can't remember from where. The older gentleman looks up from the book and smiles at Simon as he takes a big puff from his pipe. He then removes the pipe from his mouth and points the stem at Simon.
"Simon Conley fancy meeting you here. It's been a long time, grandson." It then clicks in his head who this man was and where this room is. The last time Simon was here was shortly before his fourteenth birthday. The memory was still evident in his mind of his grandfather on his mother's side. This was the sitting room in the mansion that his grandfather and then his mother owned. He had curled up in this chair to read many good books from his grandfather's library. But shortly after his fifteenth birthday, His grandfather passed away in the chair beside him. He had a heart attack and died with a book in his lap, and the pipe he loved had fallen between his leg and the arm of the chair after falling out of his mouth. Simon had found him.
"How can I be here? This place is not mine anymore." The old man starts to laugh. "Think, boy; this is all just memories. I and this room are only here to help you." "So, what are you trying to help me with"? "Why you have a decision to make, and I am here to help you decide." "And what decision do I have to make"? "Simon, you know the decision you have to make. Do you end your friend's life, or do you become a coward and leave them all hanging"? "HOW CAN I END THEIR LIVES? THIS IS TOO MUCH FOR ME TO HANDLE."
"Don't shout at me, boy; I know how hard a decision you have to make. But look at it from a different angle. Are they all going to die anyway? Or will you be able to say goodbye as they pass"? "But I don't want to be the instrument of their deaths." "You aren't the executioner. That distinction belongs to the commodore. It doesn't matter who kills them; their blood is on the hands of the commodore." "But how can they ask this of me"? "Simon, they all love you, and what's done in love can not be wrong. Yes, the outcome is terrible, but love conquers all. Love them, Simon, just as any friend would." "Will God blame me for their deaths"? "I'm sure, Simon, that God will understand and will not blame you for it."
"But what about my love, Betty"? "Take her at her word Simon, she told you that you would meet again, and I know her word is true." "How can you know this"? "Simon, it's not my place to tell you; she will tell you when she is ready. All you have to do is wait." Simon softly cries as he makes his decision. He then vanishes from the sitting room. The old man gets up from his chair as the room fades to a meadow scene. The old man smiles as he morphs into a snow leopard and walks across the meadow. Simon wakes up with a start. And, looking at his watch, he then runs for the entrance to the underground complex.
Jessica, Betty, and I are removed from our observation chamber at gunpoint. We are watched closely as they take us up to the infirmary. We are ordered to strip down, removing our suits and cloak nets. We had convinced them that the nets were a cooling system. They then have us get up onto three empty autopsy tables. The male nurse inserts IVs into our front paws and shaves our chests for the heart monitor patches. When we are ready, the doctor turns back to us with a tray holding three syringes of a lethal cocktail of drugs; as he picks up the first one, Simon bursts into the room.
"DOCTOR, STOP"! "I was asked to do this; I need to do this." The doctor sets the syringe down and motions for Simon to come forward. With trepidation, Simon comes over, picks up the first syringe, and turns toward me. "Are you sure about this, Thomas"? "I've never been surer of anything in my life. Thank you for doing this for us, Simon." Thomas hugs Simon and whispers in his ear so low no one but Simon can hear. "See you later, Simon." Simon inserts the needle into the IV drip tube and depresses the plunger. Thomas wobbles for a second and then crashes to the table. He convulses as his heart rate goes erratic and then to a flat line as he stills. Jessica lets out with a whimper and a bark and nuzzles into Thomas's neck. She then licks him on his head and turns to Simon, holding out her paw. Simon picks up the next syringe and approaches Jessica.
She hugs him, "Thank you, Simon, it means the world to us." Again, she whispers in his ear so low only he can hear. "We'll see you later, Simon." Simon then inserts the needle and depresses the plunger. Like Thomas, she wobbles for a bit and crashes down on the table, convulsing. Soon her heart stops as well.
Simon picks up the last syringe in shaky hands and turns for Betty. He sets the syringe down and brings her into a fierce hug. Crying, he says, "Don't ask me to do this; I love you, Betty." There are sounds of disgust from the guards and the doctor. "You have to do this, Simon. I told you we would meet again in about four thousand years. And I'm a fox of my word; I will be waiting for you." Simon then picks up the syringe. Betty nods at him as he inserts the needle into her IV. Betty wobbles and crashes down onto the table. Simon throws the syringe across the room as her monitor goes flatline and a grand mal hits him.
Simon comes to awareness in the infirmary with his dad sitting in the chair across from him. "How you feeling, son"? "Like a mountain has fallen on me, and I can't see past the rubble." "Yes, I can imagine a grand mal would feel like that son. You did good, son; I'm proud of you." "I killed my friend's dad; how is that good"? "You did as you were ordered to do." "I wasn't ordered to dad; they asked me to." Be that as it may, son, you did well." "Killing is never good, dad; I'm sure we could have found a better way." "You may be right, son, but it wasn't our call; that was the commodore's decision." "And may he rot in hell for it."
"Will you be able to do the autopsies on them? "You are still the leading exobiologist on the base; well, to be truthful, you are the only exobiologist on base." "I will do the autopsies, dad but give me a day to recover from this grand mal." "You have it, son. You did love her, didn't you"? "Yes, dad, I did, and now she's gone." "Do you know why I stopped you from having relations with her"? "Oh, I know. You think of her like she was an animal, but she's not. She was just as human as you and I." "That may be, son, but it would have seemed like bestiality." "Dad, can't you get it through your head? She was human. Her shape was the only difference between you and me." No, I couldn't allow it. It goes against god's natural law." "We could spend all night arguing over interpretations of the bible. But suffice to say, I think God would have allowed it." "And I say it was wrong. I will agree to disagree on this matter with you, son."
"So why now are you allowing me to call you son"? "Why now, dad? It's because I was asked in a dream to forgive you, to help myself. I have been carrying around this hate for you and have come to realize that I don't hate you, just what you did." "Son, what you were doing with that pony was against the natural order of things, and I lost it. I will not apologize for doing God's work." "I have read, In the bible, "Do not judge lest ye be judged." I'm sure, dad, that we all answer to God for what we do in life, and I feel we both will be judged harshly. Me for killing them, and you for what you did to me. We're a screwed-up pair, aren't we"? Mark chuckles. "When you look at it that way, I guess we are, aren't we? "See you tomorrow for the autopsies then." Mark gets up and leaves the infirmary. Simon sits there for a few more minutes and then gets up, leaning on the wall; he makes his way back to his room.
Simon wobbles down the hall and keys the door to his room. He bypasses the bed for the washroom. He curled into the corner of the floor and cries his eyes out for his lost love. He wants to die as well but takes her at her word that they will meet again. By supper time, he has cried out his grief. He showers and goes to the cafeteria for a meal, which he barely touches. He leaves the remains and goes to get what sleep he can.
The next day, Simon and the doctor scrubbed up to do the autopsies. Simon sheds a new tear but quickly hides it. Don't what them to think he is weak. They go to the cabinets and pull out the tray with Thomas on it. Simon sees that something is wrong. Thomas is all grey and appears to be much smaller. Simon goes to pet his head when Thomas's body collapses in on itself and particles billow into the room. The doctor hits the emergency button, and a claxon sounds. The doctor and Simon both leave the area through a decontamination shower. After about an hour, the all-clear is given to them. The Techs said the particles were pure particles. Simon pulls out the other two trays but can see Betty and Jessica are in the same condition. He runs a portable scanner over them both as his father comes into the room.
"What the hell happened here, son"? "I'm sure I don't know, but all we have here is pure particles. If I were to go out on a limb here, I would think that their cold fusion generators did this to them." "But the third one had no generators." "She must have, dad. How else do you explain what we are seeing"? "I can't. Maybe they were being held together with the electricity generated by those generators"? "Could be, but the portable scanner can find no trace of their communicators or generators. Seeing as I have nothing here to study, I want off this base this afternoon." "You can't leave, son; there needs to be an investigation." "What? Do you think I had something to do with this? Dad, I was lying in the infirmary. I had no part in this. I want off the base today"! Mark just nods at his son. What a time for his son to develop a pair of balls.
Simon is on the plane that takes them from the base to Las Vegas. He buys a first-class ticket to Chicago, then boards a smaller plane in Chicago to Sault ST Marie. He grabs a cab and heads for the grocery store. He buys some food and a lot of alcohol. Then the taxi drives the forty-five minutes out to his place on the lake. Simon lites a fire and sat down in front of it. He drinks until he passes out. He has dreams of Betty; they are very erotic. This is his norm for the next year and a half. A delivery service brings him food and booze, so he never has to leave his house. In time, he wakes up one day and decides enough is enough. He's going to face the end of the world sober. He spends the next two days in the shower stall. His body is going through detox, and he lets himself go. After the two days, he gets up and showers to clean himself up. It takes a lot not to drink again. But it becomes easier the longer he stays sober.
Over the next month, he works himself up into some semblance of shape. But through it, all Betty is on his mind. Four days before the end of the world, Simon is sitting in his high-backed chair in front of the fire with a glass of booze in his hand. He twirls the liquid around in the glass, thinking hard about drinking it. He sighs, places the glass down beside the bottle, and stares into the fire.
The fire had burnt down to a few embers when he startled awake, wondering what had woken him up when he heard it again. The unmistakable sound of the board by the door creaking. He grabs the bottle and jumps out of the chair to confront the intruder. He can see a short shadow in the door. "Who are you, and what do you want here"? "Hello Simon, my love, miss me"? The bottle now falls out of his lifeless fingers as his eyes roll up into his head, and he collapses to the floor.
Simon wakes the following day to sunshine coming in the window, and the electric blanket turned up high. He tries to move when the electric blanket sighs and moves into him. His eyes snap open, and he stares at the vision of Betty in bed with him. "OH, God, please don't let this be a dream, and if it is, never let me wake up again." He thinks to himself. He closes his eyes and reaches across Betty to pull her closer. Betty sighs gets up to her haunches and looks down at Simon. Simon is aware of her scrutiny but still keeps his eyes closed, hoping it's not a dream. "Wake up, sleepyhead. We need to get up and shower." Simon's eyes snap open hearing her lovely voice. "B.B…Betty? No, it can't be you. I killed you." Betty falls to her side, laughing at the look in Simon's eyes. Still lying on her side, she smiles at him. "I told you many times, Simon, I would always wait for you; you are my bonded half." Simon bursts out in tears as Betty's paw reaches out to cup his cheek. Simon kisses that paw and slowly moves up her arm until he's kissing her lips. They don't leave the master suite for the rest of the day.
The sun is just turning golden outside, and our lovers are lying in bed cuddling. "Oh, Simon, you are the best. This day was more than I could have hoped for and more than you remembered it to be." "I remembered it to be"? "Simon, In your future on the moon base, when we meet again, for the first time. We will bond just like we are now." "The moon base? I know of no moon base, and how did I get there"? "Your father will come by to pick you up for the moon base in three days." "Cutting it a little close, isn't he"? "He is; he had to convince the commodore to come to get you." "Why would he do that"? "He did that because he still loves you, Simon. He convinced the Commodore that they might need an exobiologist in the future. What happened between you and your father, Simon"? "Are you sure you want to hear the story? I mean, it's not pleasant." "Go for it, lover; I'm a good listener."
"I have to give you a little context for the story to make sense. I grew up on a horse ranch in Wyoming. It was my grandfather's ranch. My mother and I stayed there while my father made his military career. He visited every time he had leave, but he wasn't there all the time. My grandfather was the one who mostly raised me. My mother was busy with her horses. We spent long hours in the sitting room reading books. I was a voracious reader. By nine, I had read at least three-quarters of his library. I was home-schooled. At five, I had passed grade nine and was so far ahead of everyone else in schooling I was removed from the system. When I turned nine, I was so advanced in math that I occasionally had professors and mathematicians coming to me for answers to math problems.
My mom saw that I was smart but had no social skills. So, she gave me a pony and tried to teach me to ride with the rest of her classes. I was a dismal failure, and some girls laughed at my ineptitude. So, I began to ride my pony in the forest on our property. To be truthful, as soon as I was out of sight of the stables, I would get off of her, and we would walk. She was the perfect pet. When startled or spooked, she never ran back to the safety of the stables. She stayed by my side. She was very affectionate and would pull me into a neck hug every chance she got.
When I turned twelve, I noticed females, but I was shy, introverted, and had no social skills. Some of the girls tried to get with me, but when they found out how bumbling I was, and it wasn't an act, they turned their backs on me. I noticed my little pony would flag her tail at me. She would also pull her tail to the side and stick her butt in my face when I brushed her. I came to realize she was treating me like a stallion. Though she never presented herself to any stallion when she was in heat. She rebuffed all their advances. Mom thought of hobbling her for breeding purposes but never did. I saw how she acted with me, and my mind rationalized that she wanted me. It wasn't long before I took her up on her offer. We had sex every time we were alone together. Yes, my first sexual partner was a female horse. We spent a lot of time together. Even when she wasn't in heat, she would ask for me to breed her.
The years went by, and I spent more time studying. I switched from math to medicine. I reviewed all the medical books and journals I could. Genetics intrigue me. I thought about everything that could be changed about the human body, but I was more interested in repairing the human body. So, at the age of fifteen, I decided to enroll in medical school in the fall. But that opportunity didn't happen as my grandfather died.
I walked into the sitting room, bent on asking my grandfather a question, but he didn't look well. He was slumped over on his left side, with his pipe between his leg and the chair. I rushed to him, but he was already gone. I put the wheels in motion that his death caused. My mom shut herself up in her room. And would see no one. I had no one to share my grief with. I left the house and found myself in the stables. My little pony was happy to see me. But her demeanor changed as she saw me. She tried to comfort me the best she could. She curled her neck around me and pulled me to her side as I cried. How long we were like that, I'll never know. But when I had cried myself out, I noticed her flagging her tail. Well, I thought, "what the hell"? And seeing no one around, I obliged her. I moved a bail into her stall and, standing on it, undid my belt and proceeded. This was the position my father found me in about five minutes later. I pulled up my pants, but the damage had been done.
My father had read in Deuteronomy, "kill the man who has relations with an animal." My father was going to do that. He had broken both my legs and arms and was kicking me about the head when my little pony attacked him. She broke both his arm and rib. Because he was in dress uniform, he pulled out his service revolver and put all nine shots into her head. He killed her. I passed out as she fell. I woke up in hospital eight months later. My mother asked for the truth about what happened, and I told her. Mom didn't condemn me like dad did; she knew I was doing it with the pony. She smiled at me and told me my grandfather was the same way. Shortly after, I told mom the truth; I had my first Grand Mal. I had never shown symptoms before of being epileptic. The doctors figured it was from the beating I took.
My father claimed the pony had attacked me, then him. Funny, he was the only one with hoof prints on him. Mom never let my father near me while she was alive. When she died, he came back into my life. I had passed medical school by then, but no hospital would accept a person with epilepsy as an intern. I could have a seizure at a critical time, and none would take the chance. I was so mad at my dad for taking my future from me. But he made up for it by getting me my clearances for area fifty-one.
While there, I found I had a knack for figuring things out about the aliens I studied, and they got that circle of metal to work when I told them they were nitrogen breathers. I was told and shown a video of you three coming through the circle into area fifty-one. When I saw the video, I knew something was up. A wild animal would have tried to run, not go over to his mate and pull her into an embrace. So that's my story. I have never done it with another animal, except with you." "SIMON CONLEY, I'm not just some random animal; I'm your love and mate." "Sorry, love, I meant no offense; I just worded my statement wrong." "I should hope so, but we need to get up, I'm starving, and we both need a shower." Simon's stomach growls to make its presence known. They laugh as they get up. Simon strips the bed of the sheets, which had blood on them. Simon was in awe at the gift Betty gave him of her virginity. Betty just cuddled into his side as they headed for the shower. "What should we make for supper tonight, love"? "Not to worry, supper is being made as we speak, and we have a half-hour before its ready." "Who's making supper for us"? Betty gets a mischievous grin on her muzzle. "Oh, just some people I met on the way here. Don't ask. All will be explained later."
After the shower, Simon kneels and dries Betty with a big fluffy towel. She is very appreciative of the attention and purrs to let him know. Simon dresses and offers an oversized t-shirt to Betty. It hangs down on her almost to her knees. Then arm in arm, they head down to supper.
As Simon enters the kitchen, he can smell something good. "You both will have to learn to shield tonight; I'm not going through that again." "THOMAS" screams Simon seeing who is at the stove. He rushes forward, falls to his knees, and brings Thomas into a bear hug. "Well, can I get some of that too"? Simon looks up and, seeing Jessica, brings her into the same hug. It's a few before Simon stops crying. "As much as I'm enjoying this, Simon, you need to let me go, or supper will be ruined." "How"? Asks Simon. "Sorry, Simon, that's a story for another night; supper is now ready. Let's eat."
Simon sits across from Jessica and Thomas and stares at them for the whole meal. Clean-up is a breeze with three sets of paws helping him. With coffee, they all retire to the theater room. Simon pops in one of his favorite movies from a few decades past. It's the movie Zootopia. Jessica and Thomas sit there in stunned silence, watching the movie. Betty and Simon enjoy the story as they had both seen it before. It's in Betty's data banks. At the end of the story, Thomas turns to Simon and asks if he would like to meet the hero and heroine of the story. Now it's Simon's turn to sit there in stunned silence as Jessica and Thomas chuckled at him. Soon they decide to retire for the night after teaching Simon and Betty to shield. Their shield holds up nicely for the night.
The following day they come down walking a little funny. Thomas and Jessica just chuckle at them. "Sleep well, you two? Well, for what sleep you did get." Simon and Betty, both simultaneously, stick their tongues out at them. Thomas and Jessica laugh harder at their juvenile reaction. After breakfast, all four sit around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and tea and talking. "Can you tell me the story of how you got out of the complex, Thomas"? "That story is for a later date, Simon. The pressing question is how you feel about Betty."
"There's no question of that, Thomas; I love her with my whole being." "Thomas, NO"! "He needs to know Betty." "He will, but I'm not ready, and I'm worried he won't want me after I tell him." "I can say for a fact, Betty, that nothing changes between the two of you." Simon swivels his head back and forth between the two of them. Betty goes red and turns to Simon, takes his hand, and begins to speak.
"Simon, my love, I'm sorry I kept this secret from you. I'm not real; I'm a cyborg." "Cyborg? As in terminator cyborg"? "No, not like a terminator. I have a neurotronic brain and a flesh and bone body." "So, what is your mission"? "I have no mission. I'm an AI masquerading as a human." "How is that possible? No one has been able to make a true AI." "There is a true AI right now. She and I are based on a new computer language. It's a trinary computer language. Otherwise, my brain would be a computer as big as this house." "Can you give me a sample of this language"?
Betty gets up to get some paper and a pen. When she comes back, the paper has some symbols and numbers written on it. She hands it to Simon. Simon stares at it for a second, gets up, and brings Betty into a hug. "I love you too." Says Simon into her ear. "You can read it"? Asks Betty with an incredulous look on her face. "Of course, I can read it. It's math, and I have dabbled with math in the past. Nothing you have told me in the last few minutes changes anything about how I feel for you. You are my love, mate, and bonded half." Betty cries into his chest as she holds him tight. "So, what would you like to do today, love? There are a lot of scenic trails around here we could walk on." "Simon, I have been walking for the last year and a half; I just want to rest. But I feel an itch coming on that only you can scratch." Thomas and Jessica chuckle as Betty takes his hand and leads him upstairs. The rest of the day is spent in rest and relaxation.
Simon awakens on the last day of his world. He has a smile on his face as he clutches Betty to his chest. She had fallen asleep there after the previous session. He starts to stroke her head, and she starts to purr. It then comes to him what day it is, and he morns for all the lives lost and cut short by the bombs. Betty sensing his distress tries to comfort him. They come down later to a late breakfast, early lunch, or brunch, depending on what you want to call it. Thomas can see the googly eyes they are throwing at each other throughout the meal, and he hates to spoil their good mood.
"Simon, I once promised you that we wouldn't meddle in your brain, but I now have to break that promise. We are going to have to block certain memories of recent events. You will get them back when certain triggers happen." "Why, Thomas"? We can't change our history or your future." "You know, all this talk of the past, which is the future is very confusing for me. Will this blocking hurt"? "No, Simon, this blocking will not hurt. You will be doing all the work, and I will direct you. If I tried to do it on my own, I could possibly kill you." "Is it dangerous"? "The work isn't, but us knowing more than we are supposed to can be detrimental to all of our futures." "So, is this like a Vulcan mind-meld"? "Well, I may have pointy ears, but I certainly am no Vulcan." All laugh. "Alright, I will agree to this if I can have a few more hours to be with Betty." "I'm sorry, Simon, we need to get started right away if you are to be ready when your father gets here." "Ok, let's do this." Says Simon shaking to settle himself.
Certain memories will be released when specific triggers happen. He will remember our deaths and Betty's love for him when he first shakes her paw. The second trigger will be seeing Jessica and I again. We skedaddled out of there. We get done the blocking of Simon's memories about ten minutes before his father shows up. Simon's dad shows up with a contingent of marines. They roust Simon out of the lounger we had placed him in. Simon wakes with one thought clear in his mind. "I'm waiting for you, Simon." But he believes this vision of Betty is just wishful thinking on his part. They all run for the X-32.
Unknown to everyone, the landing leg worked fine on flat surfaces, but it jammed when it settled on the uneven ground. Some techs were beating on the gearbox, trying to break it free. General Hammond Knew how the X-32 was put together as it was his project. He grabbed the hammer from the tech and proceeded to beat on the gearbox in another area. He told the techs to get on board as he did so. Everyone scrambled on board as Simon stayed at the hatch with a couple of marines. Mark was standing on the pad of the landing gear when the gearbox released and the strut was pulled in. Mark had his legs cut off by the retracting leg, and the rest of his body fell to the ground. "DAD." Yelled Simon as he fought the marines to let him go to him. "Sir, you can't save him. He's a dead man." The ramp starts to close as Simon yells, "DAD, I FORGIVE YOU, AND I LOVE YOU." Mark waves his hand at his son as the ramp closes and the craft ascends. Mark watches as the craft gets smaller and smaller. He thinks to himself, "Godspeed, son, Godspeed." The craft is out of sight as Mark expires. Just as he does, the night sky lights up brighter than day.
The memorial for Simon's dad was held on the moon base three days later. The brass decommissioned a nuclear missile and placed Mark's remains in it. With full military honors, The rocket is launched towards the sun. It will burn up long before it gets there. And the ashes will float into space.
Mark comes to himself in front of a judge's bench. After a quick glance at the crusty older man sitting behind it, he falls to his knees. "Get up, Mark Hammond, and face me." Mark stands and, lifting his eyes, stares at the judge. "Mark, you have been a real shit in life, but what you did to your son is almost unforgivable. But, because he forgave you, I have to do the same. You earned redemption by saving all those people on the ship. This has brought your soul into balance, but I certainly will not be passing you on. What am I to do with you"? "Do with me as you will, sir; I don't deserve forgiveness from you or my son." "That may be true, but you have it nonetheless." "Eeh"? Says the judge looking up. He rubs his chin. "You may be right; I think that's a wonderful idea." The judge smiles down at Mark. "Mark, my judgment for your soul is for you to be sent back to life. Make it a good one or a bad one; I need to see how your soul balances out. Get ready, Mark; you're in for a Wilde ride." With that, Mark blinks out.
William And Rick watch as Thomas, Jessica, and Betty are sucked into the wormhole. It oscillates for a little longer, then settles down to a reddish glow. Rick cuts the power to the drive as William turns to Simon. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR FAMILY, YOU TAIL*OLE"? Asks William extending his claws as he advances toward Simon. Seeing death stalking him, Simon turns and makes a mad dash out the door and runs for his room. He meets many people in the hall and wonders where they all came from. They call out his name as he passes. He gets to his room and, shutting the door, locks it. He sits on his bed, facing away from the door, and silently cries. He hears his door open and thinks to himself, "This is how I die, at the hands of their family." Two paws come around him from behind as a muzzle lands on his right shoulder. "Hello, my love, I've been waiting for you."