This ship was fantastic!
First: it utilized two of my emitters as its main propulsion! Next, it looked like a real spaceship! It’s chrome exterior was sleek, aerodynamic, and very well designed!
The interior was even more exquisite! Chance told me that it had a dynamic capability! It could add or subtract the number of individual rooms on request- not just expanding or contracting the spaces, but actually fabricating doors, closets, lavatories and even furniture!
“This will be your quarters, Christina.” Chance said as she had me use my security access to unlock and enter.
“This is my room?” I asked as I felt my eyes widen and jaw drop. It was absolutely perfect! Centered against the outer wall and a viewport was a large queen-size bed with huge fluffy pillows and a floral themed bedspread.
“Through there is the lavatory. Next to it and behind this door is a large closet. I took the liberty of conjuring some civilian clothes for you. If you want, I can show you how to change out your wardrobe using your Current, but it’s easy. You probably want to try it yourself.”
I really wanted to as I opened the closet door and walked into a very large and surprisingly complete selection of slacks, blouses, skirts, dresses, and even a few formal gowns. The shoe assortment was equally dazzling!
“This is all too much, Chance! I couldn’t possibly accept all this.” I said, overwhelmed.
“Wear whatever you want or conjure something more to your liking, Christina. Remember, you can do what we do and maybe more. You just need to put your mind to it. Now let’s go down to the galley.” She suggested and we headed back to the bridge but she stopped at an unmarked door on the left and pressed her thumb to the access panel.
“While in flight most all public or semi-public areas of the ship are accessible without security. There are still a few restricted areas. The bridge, Main Engineering, ie the forward and aft equipment bays which house the weapons, environmental, and propulsion. And probably Kitty’s suite.
We entered what was surprisingly an elevator and she told the lift ‘first level’. God! This ship had two levels!
“Here we have our Galley/Training/Exercise room. Behind that is our main storage compartment for luggage, cargo, and supplies. Forward of the lift is the forward equipment bay and forward weapons arrays. That is one of the two really restricted areas. Two certified crewmembers are required to validate the access panel to be granted access. Let’s go back up.”
Back into the elevator we went.
“Observation.” Chance requested.
My eyes absolutely bugged out as the door slid open! In front of me on my right was a large and warmly decorated library, complete with comfy looking loungers, chairs, and two couches! What really took my breath away were thousands of blue streaks passing overhead!
“This is our Observation/Library/Lounge deck. I like to come up here when off-duty and just,” Chance sighed loudly. “Just relax.”
I was devoid of all words! This ship- Pegasus- was beyond my wildest dreams!
“Through that door in the back is our VIP quarters, it’s a suite actually. I assigned Kitty and her Prime Minister, Tua, to it this trip. Oh, if you step toward the bow and turn around, you can see some of our Brooms mounted on their docking towers. All our Brooms are accessed through one of two docking ring accesses on the main level. Only designated pilots can access their individual Brooms. If you’re curious though, beware of the zero gravity in the ring itself. We use our Current to move around in there instead of handholds or swimming strokes. Well? That’s it. What do you think, Christina?”
“When am I going to wake up, Chance? I mean, all this,” I waved around me. “is just so…so fantastic! I-I can’t begin to relate how I’m feeling at this moment- actually since I woke up here! I’m afraid this will all end if I go to sleep…”
I yawned unexpectedly.
“It’s safe to go to bed, Christina. I assure you that you have just awoken from fourteen hundred years in cryogenic stasis. If you weren’t a Current Mage you might not have survived. If you had not performed that protection spell, you might not have survived. You have had a very exciting, stressful first day and need to rest. Whether you stay up here or retire to your quarters doesn’t matter. Just don’t be afraid to sleep.”
I couldn’t help it, I started crying. I felt scared and I didn’t want to be alone. I told Chance that and she agreed to stay with me until I fell asleep. I must have cried for an hour before sleep finally overtook me.
I woke up to see the blue streaks of hyper-accelerated stars overhead and a fluffy, warm blanket on me. I was still here. I was still in the thirty-third century. Chance was right. She hadn’t lied to me. And, I wasn’t alone, either.
“Hey. Nice to see you back with us, Christina.” Link Anderson greeted- her warm smile very welcome and reassuring.
“Nice to still be here, Link. How long was I out?” I asked as I wiped the sand from my eyes and stretched the kinks out.
“We’re about an hour away from Terr’lai, so about six hours. Here, have some coffee.” She offered and a steaming cup appeared on the side table next to me.
“Thanks. How long did Chance stay up here?”
“Oh, she came back to the bridge a little after you fell asleep. Simone came up for a few hours then Hope came up for a few before I came up to relieve her. Chance told us all how you were afraid you’d go to sleep and maybe wake up trapped in that escape pod. I can’t imagine being locked in something like that with no way out, Christina. I’d probably go crazy or worse.”
There was something worse than going crazy from being trapped in an escape pod in deep space?
I shuddered.
“You better have some coffee. You look like you just got a chill. Drinking something hot will help warm your insides. That’s what my mother always told me…before…she…before the damn Hoblins got her!”
Did her eyes just light up with an orange glow?
“What’s the matter, Christina? You suddenly went pale. Are you okay? Is it Cryo-sickness or something?” Link asked in alarm.
“Your eyes…they began to glow orange when you started to get angry.” I pointed to them cautiously.
“Oh, that. Yeah, ever since we returned from our last mission, all our eyes do that when we get angry, Christina. Yours do to. Especially when you talk about the…incident.”
They do? “They do?”
“Very much so. Almost as brightly as Chance or Savanna’s. So, have you been to Olympus yet?”
“Olympus? Of Greek myth? Why would I go to a nonexistent place?”
“Oh, it exists alright. I’ve been there once. The place is beautiful beyond all that I can imagine.”
“Chance, Double Take. Is Perfessor awake yet?” I heard Link’s communication pendant come alive.
“Just a minute ago, Chance.”
“Laidy-in-Wait asks for her presence at the Engineering console.”
Copy, Chance. We’re on our way. Double Take, out. Come on, Christina.” She answered and motioned for me to follow.
 
 
“Care to have a crack?” Simone asked as I sat down in her offered, vacated seat.
“I’d love to.” I answered excitedly.
“Current reservoir status, Engineering.” Chance asked and I quickly scanned my display.
“Current reserve is ninety-nine-point-nine-eight-nine-nine percent, High Priestess.” I reported right before my mouth dropped open in awe. We had been traveling- at 45LY/sec- for a little over seven hours and we had used only point-zero-one percent of our current reserve?
“I said thank you, Perfessor.” Chance must have been talking to me yet.
“You are truly welcome, High Priestess.” I replied solemnly.
“Chance? We’re about three LY’s out from Terr’lai’s outer boundary.” Lokust alerted.
“Slow to sublight at 2LY’s, but maintain Deep Space Camo.”
“I mean’t to ask about that earlier, Simone. What’s ‘Deep Space Camo’?”
“All our ships have a very specialized cloaking system that Lokust developed while in the Science Academy. We can remain completely unseen even from very sensitive detection sensors. ‘Deep Space’ is only one of the operating modes.”
“Oh.” Shit, this ship had all the bells and whistles!
“Kitten, contact Palatial Haven and let them know we’re here.”
“Copy, Chance. Witch Corps Flight One, Palatial Haven Air Command. Do you copy?”
“Copy, Witch Corps Flight One. Good to hear from you. Glad you got our message.”
“At your service, Air Command. Permission to cross your outer border.”
“Permission granted and welcome to Terr’lai system, Witch Corps Flight One. Sending you an approach vector to Palatial Haven Space Port. Do you require fuel or supplies?”
“Negative, Air Command, thanks. High Priestess, receiving vector and coordinates now. Sending to Navigation. Coordinates received, Air Command. Witch Corps Flight One, out.”
“Navigation confirms receipt of coordinates; calculating course now. Sending to Helm.” Aquia Anderson’s voice announced through the speakers.
“Got ‘em, Chance.” Major Summers reported.
“Ahead full sublight. Default Camo, Perfessor.” Chance ordered.
I selected ‘Default’ and hit ‘Enable’. “Default Camo, High Priestess.” I confirmed as the status indicator changed.
“Take us in, Major.” Chance requested.
 
 

 
 
Damn she was good! I hadn’t felt the slightest bump or anything when Major Summers landed Pegasus. I still couldn’t believe we were on another planet, let alone I was minutes away from stepping out onto said planet.
“Okay, we make this look like an official function.” Chance said since we were all gathered on the Bridge.
“You mean like we usually do, Chance?” Simone said with a slight smirk.
“Yes…like we usually do, Simone.” Chance sighed.
“The pale blue sheathes or the white ones?” Simone asked.
“Perfessor? What color dress would you prefer?” Chance asked. I was completely caught off guard.
“Why ask me? You guys have done this a great number of times I’m guessing.” I begged off.
“Because I am, Christina. I want you to feel useful and not just think we don’t trust you.”
“Oh. Weeeeell… I was always partial to blue, but what is the local ambient temperature again?” I asked thinking about darker clothing in tepid climates.
“Twenty-four degrees ‘C’.” Simone answered.
“Is it past Labor day?” I asked with a wicked smile. “If it is, white is definitely out of the question.”
I thought Maj. Summers would fall out of her chair she was laughing so hard!
“OH! Oh, honey! Oh, that was…that was the funniest thing I’ve heard in almost a millennia! Gods, you definitely found a home here with us!” She continued, laughing and snorting, all red-faced and out of breath.
“Well, that’s it then, the blue number. We’ll use our standard ‘Nobility promenade’ shtick. Meet at the hatch in ten, Ladies.” Chance said as she shook her head- eyes closed- with a huge smile.
“Need any help changing, Christina? I don’t know if anyone showed you our shortcut yet.” Maj. Summers asked as she stopped next to me. “Kid, if Cora don’t adopt you, I will! I always wanted a second daughter.”
I didn’t know how to react to that, and I had to concentrate on conjuring a change of clothing. “Thanks?” I squeeked as I pictured the long, elegent, blue, sheath dress from my closet in my mind. I also thought about what I needed under it.
“Oh, very, very good, Christina!” Maj. Summers praised. “But don’t forget to stand on your tip-toes when you change your shoes. The heels may throw you forward and off balance.”
“Thanks, I’ll remember that, Major.” I said as I noticed I had forgotten that detail and did exactly what she said. I felt the heels appear under my feet.
“Oh, one other thing, sweetie. In here, without guests or paying passengers, I’m Hope. On military missions, I’m Major. Out there- in a few minutes, I’m ‘Lady Hope’ and you’re ‘Lady Christina’. Got it? We do that because not every society recognizes women as equals or superiors, but everyone respects nobility for some odd reason. I’ve personally never treated nobility any better than us common folk though… and I always strive to treat everyone equally. Don’t believe me? Ask Cora or Kitty…or any of the other seven thousand or so monarchs, empiricals, or Gods I’ve met over the centuries.”
“At least you can remember the last fourteen centuries! I slept through all of them.” I argued as I felt tears coming again.
“Oh, Sweetie. You’re awake now and here with people that accept you and want to help. Stow the tears and be amazed by the wooooonders of your new life!” Hope stretched out her arms like a ringmaster introducing the main act of a circus.
“I’m still afraid it’s all a dream, ma’am. Acceptance might take awhile.”
“Kid. You aren’t going to get rid of us so easily. Current Mages, especially those of us of Witch Corps, are like pesky mosquitoes in the summer- we just don’t go away. ”
I had to laugh at the image that formed. Back home, the damn things came out in droves and seemed to love me! Heh. Fitting metaphore.
“Oh, speaking of acceptance, take this and put it on. This is one of our communicator/Current guage/jewelry pendants.”
I also allowed her to put the delicate looking pendant around my neck.
Hope explained the pendant’s usage and seemed surprised by the full color image of my parents that suddenly appeared on it.
“Interesting,” was all she said as she continued to appraise me.
“One sec, kid.” Hope said and snapped her fingers. “There, you look great already, but now you look breath-taking, Lady Christina! Let’s head aft.”
Wondering what she’d done, I thought about a hand mirror, manifested it, and took in the reflection I saw.
“Is this really me?” My reflection and I asked in surprise.
“Mostly, sweetie. I just added some eye shadow and lip-gloss. Come on, Chance is probably waiting already. Oh. We’ll be heading out single file and line up in a split, single file parade line on either side of the ramp. High Priestess, Lady Chance, escorted by Prime Minister Tau, will come down last and stop in the center, just off the ramp. And hey, if things get hinky, follow her orders, but remember to protect yourself first and foremost, okay?”
“Got it. If things go south, scream like a girl, and skedaddle up the ramp then seal the hatch. Throw everybody else under the bus.” I smiled devilishly then walked off in front of her.
“Damn kids these days!” Hope mumbled as her hand gently grazed the back of my head and actually caused my four-foot blue braid to swing side to side.
 
 
Chance had us line up so that Simone, Link, Aunt Cora, and I would be on the same side of the ramp when we deployed.
“Kate, you’re up. Remember, nice and slow. Graceful might be a good idea too.” Chance advised.
“Maybe I’ll trip down the damn ramp, High Priestess. We ain’t all graceful little ballerinas.”
Was there a story there, I wondered?
“Go ahead. I’d love to see you go ass-over-tea-cups, Wrench.” Chance dared back.
“Maybe I should go out as Keats instead. That’d fix her.” Kate mumbled as she stepped out and carefully started down the ramp.
“Lady Christina, Ready to make your ‘other-worldly’ debut?”
I took a deep, cleansing breath and nodded.
“Okay, slow and easy. Just walk down the ramp and park it next to Link. Remember, you’re an Antarran now, so walk with attitude.” Chance advised with a smile. “Go.” She said as she gently placed her hand on the small of my back and nudged me out of the hatch.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. Once out of the ship, things seemed very familiar. Around me was a city of tall skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. There were hills and valleys and trees… Everything looked like we were on Earth instead of Terr’lai. Suddenly, I wasn’t certain I was on a completely different planet.
Reaching the bottom of the ramp, I turned to my left, walked over beside Link Anderson, and turned to face forward.
“How was that?” I asked from the side of my mouth.
“I think the guys in the front six rows just had, um, major accidents. Where did you learn to strut like that, Lady Christina?”
“Huh?”
“You came down that ramp like you just came off the Way Fashion Premiere Runway on New Paris!” Link whispered.
“I did?”
“Yes, you did. Could you teach me when we get back home, Lady Christina?”
“I guess I could, Lady Link. I’m not sure how I did it though.”
“Where did you learn that?” Simone hissed quietly as she approached. She turned and faced forward before I answered.
“I’m not sure, Lady Simone. Lady Link asked if I could show her.”
“I’d like a little instruction also, if at all possible, Lady Christina.”
To say I was surprised and also a little embarrassed by their compliments and requests was an understatement.
As I closed my eyes and took another large breath of…of alien air, I again thought about the similarities between this place and Earth.
Though, as I opened my eyes I observed several men staring at me with less than savory expressions.
“I wonder what’s up with them?” I asked Simone.
“Oh, they’re attempting to undress you, my lady. We get that all the time.”
“I think there is something more on their minds than that, Lady Simone. Something doesn’t feel right about those guys. It’s not just the ‘creep’ factor; it’s something… something darker.” I said as several people walked over my grave.
‘Christina, you aren’t helping.’ I silently chastised myself.
I heard Simone pass on my observations and ‘feeling’ to Aunt Cora as she stopped and turned beside her.
“Christina is picking up some bad vibes from that lot center left, Lady Cora.” She whispered.
Wait! How could I be hearing them whisper? My hearing had never been bad, but it wasn’t superhuman either. Was it? Now, I mean?
Prime Minister Tau and Chance were now off the ramp and had stopped.
“High Priestess, Lady Chance Summers.” He announced regally.
“Lady Chance. So nice to meet you at last. I’m Secretary of State, Lionel Ritchie…”
I couldn’t believe it! I fought to hold in my laughter! To think that someone named Lionel Ritchie would exist on another planet!
“I’m not even going to ask what is causing your face to redden, my lady, but please, please hold it back. This is the serious part of diplomacy.” Simone whispered.
“Sorry, my lady.” I apologized, and thought serious thoughts.
I also tried to camouflage my enabling of what Chance called my ‘Current sight’.
 
“So I hope that you and your ladies will be able to assist in our humanitarian efforts here in the city.” Sec of State Ritchie continued.
 
“Um, so what’s it mean when their Current is red instead of orange?” I whispered while trying to not move my mouth.
“Red Current means tainted Current. Wait for further orders, Lady Christina.” Simone said as she reached up nonchalantly to reposition her pendant in her deep cleavage.
“Lady Simone, Lady Chance. Eight ‘ugly’ dopples at eleven o’clock.”
I had more ‘creepy’ feelings. These seemed to be behind me. “More feelings from our six, my ladies.”
“Just don’t turn around. That might alert them that we know about them.” Simone recommended.
I felt my underarms start to sweat, as I grew more nervous.
What did Chance recommend I do when I called my wand? Oh, conjure and ready it.
“Lady Christina, please try to relax or you will alert our adversaries that we know.” Lady Link forewarned in a whisper.
I had another type of feeling suddenly!
“They’re after Pegasus.” I hissed quietly.
“Lady Christina, your eyes. Please close them or risk giving us away.” Link urged after quickly looking up to me.
“Didn’t you hear me, Lady Link? They’re after Pegasus!” I repeated quietly, looking down to her.
“Yes, I heard you, my lady. Please resist the urge, I am begging you.” Link again urged.
Taking her advice, I closed my eyes and tried to think happy thoughts.
That wasn’t working as I felt the ‘creepy’ feeling getting closer.
“Chance turned on Pegasus’ security protocols before she exited, Christina. Nothing is going to get into Pegasus.” Simone advised.
I hoped that was true.
“But what if they are already in?” I asked.
Simone turned her head and stared up at me in worry.
“Then we have a problem, my lady.”
“What if I can feel something creepy right behind me, Simone?”
“Then… I suggest you think about purifying the Tainted One behind you, Lady Christine. There is a very… peculiar feeling you’ll experience when you do. Be prepared for that. We do not condone ‘creepies’ conscripting our sisters.
Something touched my back and I tried to remember what Simone said to do.
There was a very bright blue light from behind as I felt something akin to electricity flow into me.
There was a gasp from the gathered assemblage.
“I’m sorry. I felt something touch my back.” I apologized as everybody turned to look at me.
Link pointed to the eight bad guys in front of us. A blue lightning bolt shot from her instantly appearing wand. All eight vanished, leaving small, single columns of smoke wafting up.
Simone was now looking behind us.
“Good job, my lady. Sixteen smoke wisps, sixteen uglies. A very good start to the festivities.”
Festivities? They called this fun? I thought as I ‘felt’ more bad guys approaching from my right- from behind the ramp.
This time I called my wand and pointed to the location I had felt. An old phrase from an equally old TV show surfaced.
“Sterilize!” I shouted in a mechanical voice and a bright burst of blue, um, energy shot out from my wand! The inrush of… Current, I guess? It felt euphoric! Still, I was stunned!
“Holy shit, Christina! Where did that come from?” Simone cried out in shocked amazement.
I had just killed dozens of… I didn’t even know what to call them, but I just killed living beings!
 
“Christina? Christina! Sweetie, I need you back with us right now. You need to recover the unfortunate conscripts that you’ve purified.” Chance told me in a calm even voice as I felt someone gently touch my arm.
“But I just killed all of them… those… things!” I cried in terror. What had I done?
“They may not be dead yet, Christina. You might be able to reconstitute some of them. Try to concentrate and ask your Current to find all the pieces and help you reassemble them. You can do this, Christina.” Chance told me in a composed, maternal voice.
“You can do this, Christina.” Chance repeated and I felt her gently rubbing my shoulders.
I decided to try, so I closed my eyes and ‘asked’ for whatever was inside me to help me find all the pieces so that these conscripted people could once again live.
I felt a strong outrush of ‘Current’.
The volume of the gasp that hit my ears startled me and I opened them just in time to have Chance envelope me in a very tight embrace!
“By the Olympic Gods and Goddesses, Christina! That was fantastic! I couldn’t have done any better myself, sister.” Chance sounded like she was crying.
“Did I do it, Lady Chance?” I remembered to address her that way because we were in the public eye. “Did I save some of those people?”
Chance leaned back. She was still crying a little bit, but she had a smile on her face too.
“Take a look around you, Lady Christina. Looks like you saved them all.” She smiled ever brighter.
“I saved them all?” I asked as I opened my eyes and saw dozens and dozens of bodies strewn about the concrete space pad floor. “How did I do that?”
“I already told you that you were more powerful than you let yourself believe, Christina. Do you believe me now?” Chance smiled even brighter as she brought her hand up to wipe my tears from my face.
“Is she alright, my lady?” Lyra asked in concern as she approached. “I’ve…I have never seen anything like that since Eden Three! How did you do that, Lady Christina?”
“Are you alright, Lady Christina?” Lady Lokust worriedly demanded as she touched my left arm and turned to Chance.
“Is she going to be okay, Chance? I’ve never seen such an outpouring of Current since joining the Cor…Coven!” She added in utter amazement.
“Chance? We have incoming!” Maj. Summer’s voice alerted as she came from behind me. “Way to kick ass, Kid!”
“You and the girls go have fun, mom, I’ll stay with Lady Christina.”
“My Lady. Your skill is needed in the field. I’ll stay with Lady Christina as she is my immediate family.” Lady Link volunteered. “She will be well cared for.”
“Somehow I doubt she needs any protecting, honey! Just keep her out of trouble while she works through her latest shock.
“Copy that, High Priestess.” Link acknowledged.
“Mr. Secretary! I suggest you get the unconscious to a safe location. We seem to have found your problem.” Chance said as she turned to the awestruck gathering- her uniform suddenly appearing.
“I’m alright, Lady Link.” I told my young, short, -uniformed- Antarran sister. “It’s just that…well, I’ve never killed anyone before- let alone a couple hundred. I just wasn’t ready or willing to do that…this.”
“It doesn’t look like you killed anyone, Christina! I’m seeing pure orange Current from all those you reconstituted. Your performance… it’s nothing short of miraculous!”
“I-I didn’t kill anyone?” I asked in disbelief.
“No, sister. In fact, you just saved hundreds of people that call Terr’lai home. It is an honor to work with you, my lady.” Link swooned.
A feeling jumped to my attention.
“Pegasus is still in trouble!” I stated urgently. I concentrated on changing clothes- to the uniform Chance had given me before we left base.
“What? Pegasus should be protecting itself. The antivirus protocol should’ve kicked in.” Link told me in amazement.
“Well it hasn’t and I can feel one or two of those things in it right now, sister!” I growled.
These hideous things weren’t going to steal my ride out of here! I…we needed to get in there. Now!
We were suddenly on the bridge of Pegasus. How the hell did I do this? What was I becoming, or had I become?
“How did you do that, Christina? I thought only Chance and Savanna could use ‘flue powder’?”
“Flue Powder? You guys know about Harry Potter? J.K. Rowling was one of yo…us, wasn’t she?”
“Who?” Link looked confused. “That’s just what Chantell started calling it years ago, Christina. I have no idea about the originator or the composition of such material.”
“My spidey senses are really tingling, sister.” I said as I closed my eyes to see if I could feel what direction it came from.
“I take it that’s what you decided to name your talent for ‘feeling’ the Hoblins, Christina?”
“Chance got me started on referencing movie quotes. It’s very addictive.” I explained as I spun around and walked toward the door.
I found myself looking at the security door to the main engineering bay.
“I think it’s in there.” I said quietly.
“Double Take, Chance. Perfesser feels an intruder in main engineering.” Link activated her comm.
“Stay put. Major and I will be there in a minute.” Chance answered.
I felt a different feeling. This one I knew personally.
“The emitters are starting up.” I announced. “We need to get in there now and stop it!”
“We need two authorized crew to access that bay, Christina. I’m not one of them.” Link admitted sadly.
“Pegasus?” I said to the walls and ceiling around us. “We need to get in there or that thief in there might try to hurt you. “Please Pegasus, allow our access.”
The high security door opened.
“How do you do that, Christina?” Link asked, completely befuddled.
“Come on, we have to protect the ship.” I said as I boldly entered the compartment chock full of high-tech equipment. “Open the Current Mains.” I ordered and automatically pointed to a control box with several levers that pointed up. “Pull them down to disconnect the Current feed to the Emitters.”
Link complied and I felt the Main Emitters fall silent.
Good.
“Nothing can get to that disconnect box, my lady.” I told her with dire seriousness.
“Copy, Lady Christina.”
“Perfessor, Chance. “We’re in Engineeering. We’re not alone. I have Double Take guarding the Mains.”
“How the hell did you get in there? Double Take isn’t authorized.” Chance answered back.
“I didn’t need her. Pegasus must like me.” I replied.
“We’re on our way.”
“Chance? This thing had started the Main Emitters. That’s why we pulled the Mains.” I passed along some information.
“Christina! The access hatch just closed!”
“Shit! Something just closed the door, Chance!”
“There is no resistance.” Something still unseen proclaimed in a screechy hiss.
“That’s: ‘Resistance is futile’, Dumbass! Get the reference right or just don’t use it.” I growled.
“Give up, Antarrans. There is no resistance.” The unseen voice screeched again.
“Not a snowball’s chance in hell, unseen and overly creepy!” I answered calmly.
“Give up, you cannot win. I will not be denied my escape.”
“Oh, contrare, Ass-hat! You aren’t going anywhere with Pegasus! She isn’t yours and you can’t have her!”
Whatever it was ‘hissed’ a sort of disgusting scream at me.
“Awe. Did I piss you off?” I asked in a sing-song voice. “That’s just tough, Slime bag! Get over it.”
“You will be-.”
“I’ll be what, Slime bag, ‘assimilated’? Nice try, but wrong universe. We don’t take kindly to ‘Borg’ jacking our ship.” I dared.
 
There was no retort for a minute or two. Link and I stayed on guard expecting something to jump out from behind the equipment.
 
I blinked on my ‘Current sight’ and began scanning the compartment.
There. A red blob behind what was undoubtedly a Current tank.
“What. Did I confuse you, little highjacker? Not sure what to do with us? You afraid of us, lil’ Hobbie?” I dared. Hopefully, it was dumb enough to bite.
“You will die in the nothingness of space, puny Antarran.”
“Um…Can you even see me, Hobbie? I’m not exactly your normal, everyday, garden variety Antarran. And, well, I pretty much almost died in the ‘nothingness’ of space so…been there, done that, e-mailed the postcards, dude.”
Why was I ‘flirting’ with something I couldn’t even see? For all I knew this thing had me by three or four feet.
It was after Pegasus! That was all the motivation I needed. I felt I had a special rapport with this ship because of my relation to its Emitters.
Plus, I felt an intense urge to screw with whatever it was. There was a certain feeling… joy in messing with the so-called ‘bad guys’. Maybe ‘payback’ to all those jerks that bullied me all through school?
“There is no resistance.”
“Must be a ‘canned voice track’ cause you’re repeating yourself, jerk-wad. At least get some new material.” I grinned.
Again the thing hissed out a very angry scream.
“Now, was that an angry scream or was it a happy scream?” I giggled.
“Or, could it just be gas?” I added offhandedly.
Link began laughing and shook her head several times.
“You really are something, Christina.” She giggled while staying wary.
“At least you can see me, sis. This frightened fool can’t even find the courage to come out from behind the Current Reservoir. Yes, I can see you lil’ Hobbie so come oooooon out! You’re the next contestant on ‘yer life ain’t worth a shit’!”
 
 

 
 
“At least you can see me, sis. This frightened fool can’t even find the courage to come out from behind the Current Reservoir. Yes, I can see you lil’ Hobbie so come oooooon out! You’re the next contestant on ‘yer life ain’t worth a shit’!”
“Can you believe her, Chance? I think she plays with them more than you ever did.” Mom said as she joined me by Pegasus. Our ship’s boarding ramp had been retracted; its hatch closed and locked.
“You will die in the-.”
“Yeah, I know! I will die in the vast nothingness of space! I’ve already seen that show…twice! Get some new material, dude.”
“She plays with her food like Kitty, mom.” I replied with a smile.
“I don’t play when it comes to Hoblins, Chance.” Kitty said as she approached. “Does she even realize she left her Comm open?”
“I will kill you myself, Antarran!”
“I’m thinking either mom here forgot to show her how to turn it off, or this is meant for our entertainment.” I giggled.
“Who freakin’ ray! You finally bumped the needle! How soon til we can turn the record over, DJ Hobbie?”
“I’m voting for entertainment.” Charli snorted. “Still having doubts as to whether she’s Antarran, Cora?”
“Why don’t you show yourself, lil’ Hobbie. I promise I’ll make it as slow and painful as I want.”
“No doubt whatsoever, Charli! She reminds me of my Aunt Salina. Now there was a Norge that took no shit… from anybody!”
“I told Christina before we left the ship that if you didn’t accept her, I’d adopt her, Cora. She’d fit right into the Summers legacy.” Mom grinned.
“Both those girls have a permanent home on Antarra, Hope.” Aunt Cora smiled brightly.
“You will both die!”
“Dye? Dye what, Madge? My hair? Too late! Antarran puberty’s already done a good job of that! How ‘bout we dye that lifeforce within you back to a pleasant shade of orange; would you like that, frightened lil’ Hobbie?”
“Does anybody else find the hideous scream still makes them nauseous?” Lokust asked. “How long do you think she’ll keep this up?” She glanced up at Pegasus’s stern a moment.
“Until she either tires of the game or ‘it’ makes a move would be my guess.” Simone giggled. “I like her, Aunt Cora.”
“It’s definitely gas. You poor baby! Come to momma Hobbie so I can burp you, honey.”
“Now there’s a picture!” Mom laughed.
“Christina. I’m seeing a second one hiding behind the air scrubber thingy.”
“Oh! Tweeeeens! Come to momma Hobbie, kids. I’ll burp that nasty taint right out of you so you can sleep. It’s loooong past nappietime. Now don’t be shy. Come to momma.”
“I control this planet! I will control you both, Antarrans!”
“Yet another new line! Gee sis, they might actually be able to think of new words, too. Wouldn’t that be novel?”
“Christina, I think you over estimate their potential. These are just mindless drones. They cannot think freely, nor do they have imagination…”
“They just run programs!” Both girls chorused.
“I know where Christina knows that phrase, but Link?” Charli laughed.
“She may have heard me screwing with our Base A.I., dear.” Mom admitted.
“Chance? Can’t you just pop in there and put that thing out of its misery? That sickening scream is really starting to get to me.” Lokust complained.
“I also had an Aunt that took sport in hunting and taunting the victim to extend the rush of the hunt.”
“Oh, Lady Greer? Should I take warning from this admission?” Lyra asked with concern.
“No, since being convicted of ‘psychological taunting of prey’, she shouldn’t be a problem until her parole review in twenty standard years. Aunt Maghiera should be very mollified by then, my lady.”
“So, which one of you guys wants first crack, eh?”
“You will both join the other conscripts in my service!”
“What other ‘conscripts’, Napoleon? All I saw outside were healthy, ‘normal’ Terr’Laians. I didn’t see any twisted, deformed, mentally deficient Hobbies out there. You, sis?”
“Not a one, sis. Everybody looked Terr’Laian to me. Its only these two wanna-be’s as far as I know.”
“They lie! There are over one thousand that serve us.”
“Serve you two? Now why on Terr’Lai would anyone be stupid enough to serve two Hobbies that are so terrified of two Antarran chicks that they might cream themselves if they finally find the balls to reveal themselves? Ya’know? I thought I recognized those screams, sis! They’ve been in hiding because they’ve been beating off to our ‘beauteous forms most alluring’. They aren’t afraid, they’re embarrassed!”
“Oh! That is… Gods, this is so funny!” Mom laughed hysterically.
“She does have quite the wit, Hope.” Aunt Cora giggled.
“Reminds me of that one Comedy Club on Altair Prime… ‘Doobies’ was it? That guy was hilarious! I remember my guts hurt for four days after, I was laughing so hard.”
“It was Doughbies, dear and he wasn’t a he or a she. That was the night we found out that Altairan’s were asexual.”
“Yeah. Shame. That guy looked yummy.” Charli reminisced. “But sadly nothing below the beltline.”
“But hey, we found out what the Ascots covered, right?”
“Christina, number two just moved a little.”
“Sounds like constipation. No wonder they sound so cross. Would you two like an enema? It would fix you two right up. And! We just happen to have a couple wands here that might do the trick, too! Come out so we can show you.”
“Now ‘High Anxiety’? She must have watched a lot of movies as a kid.” Charli giggled in disbelief.
“I’m just surprised by her flawless delivery. She’s obviously been saving this up for a very long time, dear.”
“What’s the matter little guys? Afraid we might be right about the gas and constipation issues? Let’s have a look.”
“Fourteen hundred years, Hope. Somehow though, I think she’s doing this because anything is better than being locked in an escape pod on the verge of death.”
“So you think she feels she has nothing to lose, dear?”
“What’s it gonna be, wabbit? My way or the highway?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Gods, Christina! Put it out of our misery already.” Lokust mumbled as the screaming of two Hoblins overloaded our comms.
“Sister? They obviously cannot understand comedy or its application in disarming tense situations.”
“You’re right, sis. It is time to disarm this tense situatzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxzxxxzzxxxxxxxxxzz…”
“What happened to our comm signal, Chance?” Sinae demanded as she had picked up her pendant, shook it a few times, and began inspecting it in frustration and disappointment.
 
 

 
 
“Sister? They obviously cannot understand comedy or its application in disarming tense situations.” Link said as she winked at me and rolled her eyes. Her hand flexed once as she readied to help end my comedy routine.
“You’re right, sis.” I winked. “It is time to disarm this tense situation.” I agreed as I produced my wand and fired. The blue streak of lightening surprised me a little, but the feeling was something I had just experienced several minutes ago.
I also noticed a small sliver of blue reach out from my wand to Link’s.
“What was that, Christina? I thought I saw a tiny streak of Current come out of your wand and hit mine.”
“I’m not sure, but I was thinking of putting our two rehabilitated Hoblins’ conscripts back out on the lawn.” I said as I pictured the spaceport floor and ‘asked’ that they be deposited safely on the concrete.
“Did you do just that, sis? I just felt a surge of Current around me. Did you actually transport them out of the ship?” Link looked overwhelmed at that possibility.
“Let’s go see.” I suggested. “Pegasus? We’d like you to open everything back up, please? Also, could you de-energize the emitters? Sis, you want to re-engage the Mains?”
Link nodded happily.
The Engineering access door opened energetically and we exited Main Engineering to find the hatch open and ramp extended.
We also found the rest of the gang standing with their mouths open and eyes bulging.
Prime Minister Tau and Secretary of State Ritchie were just beginning to check through a pile of thirty unconscious people, a mere ten feet to the right of our boarding ramp.
“Huh. They didn’t look big enough to hold fifteen apiece. I guess they were all bark and no bite, sis.” I said, looking to Link. She looked back at me with something that I thought might be stunned admiration.
She hurried back over to me and hugged me tightly.
“You were incredible, Christina!” She cried happily.
“They wanted to steal Pegasus,” I rationalized. “She wasn’t theirs to take so we stopped them. End of story, sis.”
“I think she means this, Lady Christina.” Chance said as she pointed out the pile of unconscious humans to our right.
“Hey. I just moved them out here and away from engineering. They didn’t need to know Coven secrets. I tried to put them down easy, High Priestess.”
“Not them…exactly, but how you got them out here, Lady Christina. They just appeared. Then Pegasus opened her hatch and deployed her ramp. That is something we’ve only seen Lady Savanna do.” Lyra explained.
“Savanna can do that?” Sinae asked in surprise. “Since when?”
“On Taos, cousin. She refueled and energized Pegasus’ emitters just by asking. No preflight at all.”
The Queen of FeLane looked at me in awe and wonder.
 
She looked at me!
 
In awe!
 
In wonder!
 
I was stunned!
 
“Hey, Everhardt! You made the mess; time to help clean it up.” Maj. Summers said loudly to get my attention.
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry, Lady Hope.” I stuttered as I pulled my eyes away from ‘Lady’ Kitty.
“My lady?” Kitty said to get my attention back. “We’ll be right with you, ladies. I need to speak with Lady Christina for a moment.”
The Queen of FeLane stood before me and looked me straight in the eyes.
“Why do you keep staring at me like that, Christina?” She asked quietly so that only the two of us could hear.
“I’m-I’m sorry, majesty.”
“Seriously? ‘I’m sorry, Majesty’? This isn’t the Middle Ages, Christina! I’m just a normal person. The title,” She grimaced, “It’s just a formality that conveys the huge responsibility my people placed on me simply because of the family I happened to be born into. I am no different than you in most respects- other than I am Lynxin and you are Antarran-.”
“But I’m not an Antarran! Not actually. I wasn’t born this way, Majesty. I was born human… I mean Terran, sorry. I was also born male. I’m about as fake as they come.”
“Let’s walk over here for a minute, shall we?” Kitty suggested with a smile as she gently placed her hand to the small of my back and gently applied pressure to make me walk with her.
We stopped under Pegasus’ bow.
“Okay, Everhardt, here’s how this is going to go down.” Kitty turned quickly and I found a super-sharp claw extended toward my jugular!
Suddenly it wasn’t and I found myself facing her back!
“Interesting. Auto-evasive. You surprise me, Christina Everhardt. I had no idea you studied advanced tactics. It seems there is more to you than meets the eye.”
“I am no ‘Transformer’!” I told her boldly.
“In a way we are, sister. We can change clothing at will.” She answered, raising an eyebrow.
“What does ‘Will’ have anything to do with this? The poor guy is always being picked on: ‘fire at Will’, ‘shoot at Will’, ‘as you Will’, ‘by your Will’, ‘read the Will’! You think he doesn’t get tired of it?”
Kitty seemed stunned- even confused- for a moment.
“You are one strange, wise-assed Terran, Christina Everhardt! Now stop trying to deflect this conversation and please listen.”
“I’m listening, Your Highness.” I responded.
“Apparently you weren’t, Christina. I’m no better than you. Did you get that part?”
“Yeah, I did, Your Highness.”
Kitty turned slightly, looking up to the heavens.
“By Libra, I’m going to kill her! How can anybody be so brilliant, yet so obtuse?”
She turned back toward me with a look of very serious intent.
“Listen, you blue-haired, big-mamaried Bimbo! You are just as much royalty as I am! You helped create the technology that propelled us toward this future! You are a far more powerful witch than I am! You are the true royalty here, Christina Everhardt! Not me. Not Cora. You!”
“I’m a nobody. I’ve been rejected, jeered, spit on, slandered, and kicked! So what if I can do a little magic! It won’t help get my parents back, or get me back to Ichi, will it?”
“Hmmmm, I thought so.” Kitty sighed as she retracted her claw and took a step back. “A girl, her parents, and a boy. Classic secondary school drama.”
“What?” I asked in shock.
“You’re mad at your parents for leaving you and you have a crush on a boy. Classic symptoms of advanced puberty.”
“You are so fulla shit, Kitty! I’m twenty-one! Puberty was a long time ago.”
“If that were true then why continually berate yourself and your abilities like a submissive school girl, Christina? Look, I know how you feel-.”
“You were a boy too?”
“Muzzle it, Christina! My father was proclaimed Regent after my Grandmother’s death. He cut off my tail and had my mother killed in front of me! I think I know a little bit about what you’ve gone through.”
Kitty paused.
“Hope told us about her accidental transformation- the first person to reach Current Threshold on FeLane- and about the ridicule and discrimination she faced on their return to Terra. She of all people can relate to you! Isn’t it time for you to finally accept the people around you as friends, Christina? I’m not ‘Your Highness’. I’m not ‘Majesty’. I’m one of your friends. I’m Kitty Sinae. I’m your Coven sister and a caring friend.”
“But I’ve never met actual royalty before-.”
“Oh, for the blessing of Libra! You’ve met true royalty before me, Christina! You have always been royalty! Don’t you see? Even before you had your genetic code scrambled, you were still royalty! You were gifted with that marvelous brain of yours and the opportunity to develop it. That’s something very few so-called sovereigns have. Only the true leaders of their people have that highly desired, wonderful trait.”
“But, my parents weren’t-.”
“Forget the damn ‘Blue-blood Axiom’! That was just a clever ploy to keep power within one family! It’s what is fake, Christina. There might be one or two standouts in a single family, but, in reality, they all cannot be great leaders.
“Though your parents weren’t nobility- that we know of- you certainly are. Just like Terra’s legendary ‘King Arthur’, you are the singular individual that pulled that metaphorical sword out of the stone. And, according to Hope, you are the one that found the key to making Current Emitters a reality. By finding that math mistake…actually, by thinking outside the normal and daring to substitute an assumed benign number into an equation, you changed the world and the Milky Way Galaxy.”
Kitty placed her hands on my shoulders.
“You, Christina Everhardt, are the true ‘Queen of this Galaxy’ because you allowed us all to unite as a single community. You allowed that to happen. So what if you’re Antarran. We can forgive that in your case. Right, Cora?”
“Of course! That is, if you forgive yourself for being Lynxin, Kitty.” Aunt Cora smiled as I turned around to see her standing right behind me.
“Did you learn anything from Kitty, Sugar Plum? Because everything she said is true and then some. You may have lost your original family and friends, but here you have found a home, family, and friends. Here, you can be who you were meant to be. Here…there is love, my sister.” Aunt Cora said before pulling me into a tight embrace that buried her head into the deep crevasse of cleavage my Witch Corps uniform created.
“Hmmmm. These really are wonderful, Christina.”
“Aunt Cora!” I gasped while pushing her away in shock. “You’re such a pervert!”
Kitty started laughing hysterically!
“Let’s get back to helping those unfortunate people, my ladies.” I strongly suggested. “Before Chance and the others really do think I’m royalty.”