Chapter 3.1

The first trip to the surface of the planet was interesting. In the lander was Rhoda at the controls, John, Marc, and me.

Marc was an expert in engineering and scanners. So was John, and I was an apprentice at both. I was sitting at the scanners for this trip, and John and Marc were watching to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

We weren’t using our radios because the gas that wasn’t palatable to human life also scattered the signals. At ten feet away, it would be as if you were thousands of miles away. It just wasn’t effective.

Line of sight was about the only way we could search, so we weren’t expecting much. We were shocked when we came through the cloud cover to see some kind of vehicle moving on the ground.

I pointed it out to Marc, who was babysitting me at the scanners at that moment. John came over and stared at the screen. It wasn’t like any earthbound vehicle, but a moment later, we received a call on our radio. What kind of power they were using to boost their signal was beyond any of us.

“Rover 15 to Neo22 lander. Are you receiving us?”

They were one of us! John quickly keyed the mic. “We’re receiving you, Rover 15.”

Again we heard, “Rover 15 to Neo22 lander. Are you receiving us?” I guess our transmitter just didn’t have the power for this environment.

Rhoda got us done to within a hundred feet and used an old, universal signal and waggled our wings.

“Once more if you are receiving us?”

As John attempted to answer, She did it again.

“We definitely heard you key your mic that time, but your voice was too faint. Come into half your distance and try again?”

We did and they heard! “Are we able to dock at your facilities?”

“Yes, we have provisions for it. If you follow us, we’ll be glad to meet with you.”

“We were just on a scouting trip. We’ll return to our ship and get our commander and a few other people and return.”

“That’s not a problem.”

They gave us redezvouz coordinates then Rhoda spun us around and we hurried back out of the atmosphere. John signaled our ship, and we prepared to pick up a few more people, including Carla and Paula.

---

A little while later, we were seated in a conference room. Paula and Gina were wondering if the governor of this city would be someone they knew.

The city was quite interesting. It was underwater, and their vehicles were designed to be able to drive straight in. There was a snorkel that broke the surface not far from the airlock.

The door to the room opened and a man walked in. Paula saw him and exclaimed, “Rick!”

Gina quietly explained that Rick Johnson had been the man she appointed commander of Centaurus when she left on Neo22.

“Hello, Paula.” He smiled and looked around the room. Is Fredrik on the ship?”

She sadly nodded. “Yes. He’s buried there.”

Rick frowned. “I’m so sorry to hear that. He was a great man.”

“Thank you.”

Rick and his entourage sat down across from us and introduced his people. He was accompanied by his wife Marcy, his chief engineer Doug Hillman, and Boris Ho, his finest doctor.

"As you probably guessed, I'm the mayor of this city, Atlantis."

"Atlantis," I asked?

Paula had not introduced us yet, so the mayor of this city gave me a curious look.

"I should probably introduce my people." She indicated me; "This is Rose Carlson."

Rick's mouth dropped open for a moment. "So you found them!" He looked at the rest of us, as Paula finished introducing them.

"John Carlson, Marc and Carla Dodson, Jack and Sylvia Hurst, our doctors, my husband, Winston Reese, and of course you know my daughters, Gina and Rhoda.

"Carla is an engineer, and Winston a jack of all trades."

"It's a pleasure," he told us. "I'm guessing that you are wondering what happened to our ship." I know Paula and I both nodded. "It was so stupid." He sighed and took a deep breath. "You remember that we used some older computers to be a spare if something happened to our main one?"

"Yes," Paula told him.

"Well, when we backed up our information to it one day, it must have written some kind of virus into our mainframe. Our nanites started messing with us again."

"'Total Fun'," I said quietly.

"No, Mrs. Carlson. Much worse. It was fear, yes, but rather than selectively fearing other genders, we were afraid of everyone else. We all entered into a murderous frenzy. Most of us killed people outright during that time.

"I locked myself into the command center for safety. Finally, I was able to realize that I shouldn't be afraid of all these people. It was so hard. I knew it, and I knew this was all Wallace's doing, but it was a fight the whole way.

"I eventually realized what had happened and prepared to turn off the computers. We were already close to the planet, so I waited until we were close enough to the planet to make it with the air we had left. Of course, gravity and heat went off as well.

"When I turned them off, all of us passed out. When I awoke, I was still afraid, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. It slowly dissipated, and we were finally able to think rationally. I opened the door to the command center and allowed others in. We decided that we had to risk the landers. Hopefully, their computers weren't affected.

"We shuttled the people down and realized that to raise kids, we would have to build some kind of sealed habitat. We originally built one on land, but we found that the gas was generated by radiation entering the atmosphere. It was good that we had nanites as they kept us safe as we worked.

"The only animal life is in the water, so we moved our habitat underwater. We've been here ever since."

"Why didn't you reprogram… oh, yeah," Winston cut off his question when he remembered our problem years ago" When we reprogrammed our computers was when the ‘fun’ began.

Rick nodded. "We looked at the ROMs. There was nothing on them anymore. Somehow, they had been wiped. We had no way of turning our computers back on."

"How many were killed?" Gina asked.

"Almost half of us."

"Oh no!" I had gotten much better since my sessions with Mara, but my feelings were still near the surface at all times. John put an arm around me and I fought to keep the tears from welling up.

"How long have you been here?" Marc asked. “On the planet, I mean.”

"About seventy-five thousand years."

---

A few weeks later, John and I were sitting on our porch swing, relaxing. We had discussed things we could give Atlantis and they had things to give us in exchange.

One of our best contributions was Trent Carr's wonderful holographic illusions. The people of Atlantis had nothing like it. One of their engineers had been working on shaped fields, however. It was something that Trent had been trying to incorporate into his illusions, to allow them to feel solid. He had limited success, but the two spent a few weeks together and came up with a working, if somewhat crude version.

While I loved the idea, I was a bit disconcerted about grass that crackled as you walked through it. Although they were trying, they hadn’t been able to make the field react to physical objects. They could make a shirt, for example, but it would be a cage rather than a garment. Any skirt would become a hobble skirt simply because it wouldn’t move as you walked. The grass was a bed of nails if the field was too powerful. A building could be made, and very effectively. The only concern with that was a power fluctuation allowing someone to slip partially through a wall. If the field came on with someone where the wall was supposed to be... Well, you get the idea.

It was a step in the right direction, but couldn't be used practically for the moment.

We were able to give extremely powerful computers that should be impervious to Wallace's interference. The Centaurans helped us increase the power of our radios very efficiently and effectively.

We offered a place on our ship for all those in Atlantis, but few accepted. They had been there for a long time, and most had no wish to go on. It was a successful colony, no matter what happened to us.

In the end, about a hundred people added to our population. We would eventually come back here if we didn't find any other place to settle. Our primary motive for going on was the question of what had happened to the nineteen other ships. Were they afflicted by the same problems? Did their people start killing each other as the Centaurans had done?

In reality though, we had spent so much time aboard our ship that it was strange to leave it. We had become travellers. Explorers who wanted to discover what had become of the rest of humanity, although some of our people decided to stay and become Centaurans. Not many, however. It was pretty much an equal exchange.

If we found them, and they needed or desired it, we could offer sanctuary. While our ship’s space was not infinite, we had enough to take on more passengers. We could conceivably take on another ten ships worth of people without modifying our interior beyond building new homes.

---

John, Rik, Frieda, and I were working feverishly to make a banquet for the leaders of Atlantis. Once things were going smoothly, John and I hurried and changed so we could sit down along with the higher-ups in both communities. I was sorry that I couldn’t sit with my sisters, but each of us had our own table of people to keep entertained.

After the dinner, which I was pleased to note, everyone seemed to enjoy, I had a light jazz band play for dancing and background music. I had worked with them from their inception as a group, and they performed flawlessly.

Somewhere during the evening, I found myself dancing with Rick Carr. I must say, he was an excellent dancer, but I was looking forward to getting back to John. While we were dancing, I said to Rick, “I really wanted to know why you chose the name Atlantis for your city.”

He chuckled as he told me, “It was really somewhat of a joke. You see, I’m from the eastern seaboard of North America. The area where Atlanta Georgia used to sit. As such, our land-based habitat was called Atlanta.” He looked a bit embarrassed as he said, “I guess the people wanted to honor me, their commander, and now governor. When we moved underwater, someone joked that Atlanta was becoming Atlantis. It had a dual meaning. One, that the city had sunk under the water, and two, they sounded so much alike. The name simply stuck.”

I laughed as well. “That is wonderful!” I said. “Who came up with that joke?"

He looked somewhat sheepish before answering, "Umm… I did."

I couldn’t help it. I lost it. I laughed like I hadn’t in a long time. I'm certain that people were staring at me, but it was as if something had broken loose and I couldn’t stop it.

Finally, I was able to calm down, and I sat down with my husband. Rick sat across the table from me, and he explained to John what I was laughing at. John laughed as well, but I don't think he found it nearly as funny as I did.

I had found a release, though. Somehow, I felt so much better after laughing that hard. I know I probably looked quite silly to all those people, but to me, it felt like something I had needed for a long time.

Eventually, things wound down, and John and I found Frieda and went home.

On the way home, Frieda kept looking at me strangely. Finally, I asked her what was wrong.

"You embarrassed me tonight."

"Oh?"

"You were out on the dance floor and burst out laughing."

"In the first place, it wasn't a dance floor; it was a street. How can it be a floor when you're outside? In the second place, why should I, being happy, embarrass you?"

"You were dancing with a strange man, whom you aren't married to, and you seem happier than you've ever been!" With that, she took off running to the house.

I didn't know how to react. There was nothing between Rick Carr and me. For goodness sake, John had danced with Marcy, Rick's wife. What did I do wrong?

We stepped into the house and I started to go toward Frieda's room. John stopped me. "Let me talk to her, Rose. Okay?"

I was shocked. My mouth dropped open and I couldn't seem to get any sound out.

John kissed me on the forehead. "Please?"

I stared at him dumbly for a moment. I couldn't decide if I should scream at him, or acquiesce. Finally I just nodded and walked back out to the porch and almost fell into it.

I felt guilty because I wasn't crying. I still felt like something had released, and even though my daughter and I were apparently having a fight, I felt better than I had in years – For centuries!

My mind kept searching for what had happened to me. Why did that laugh break something free? I backed up for a moment. Broke free! That's what it felt like. Like I had finally broken free of the depression.

I wasn't naive enough to think I was free of the depression permanently, but I felt like I had passed a milestone.

"Mom?" It was my daughter's voice, sounding unusually timid.

"Yes, Sweetheart?"

"I'm sorry."

I held out my arm and she sat down beside me. I put my arm around her and told her it was alright. I was still unsure of what I had done, but I figured I could get the details from John.

It was strange holding my little girl as we sat in the swing. She was in her fifties now, and I was around eleven hundred. To anyone who saw us, we would like two siblings, maybe even twins. We looked very much like me. She had my build, honey blonde hair, and my face, but John's eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes of his! If anyone were to compare their eyes, there would be no doubt they were related.

The swing slowly moved back and forth, and she softly cried. I wasn't sure if it was embarrassment or shame making her cry, but rather than hurt her trying to figure it out, I just held her.

Chapter 3.2

We left Centaurus not long after my embarrassing laughing fit. To be honest, no one except our daughter mentioned it, I did tell Paula and Carla about the release I felt now, as well as Mara, but beyond that, it seemed to have sparked no real attention. Not that I was aware of, anyway.

We were quite aware of the the limited room we had on board Neo22. I know I said earlier that we could support ten ships worth of people, but that is assuming that we didn’t have a population explosion on board. We couldn’t do that with the possibility of rescuing other people

Thus, we were extremely careful. John and I had three more rooms available in our house, but we hadn’t had anymore kids other than Frieda. It came as a complete surprise when I found I was pregnant again.

I found that I wasn’t as introverted as I had been. I felt like taking notice in my surroundings more. I had started letting Rik take more and more of the responsibilities in the restaurant, as it can take up most of a chef’s time.

It wasn’t long before I found that Frieda was spending more and more time around the restaurant when Rik was there. When I talked to John about it after we had a bit of pleasurable, nocturnal physical training, he gave me a strange look. “You’re just noticing this now?”

I ordered my reading light to turn on and I sat up. I looked at his face, and saw he was completely serious. “How long?” I asked him.

For a moment, he didn’t seem to realize I was serious, then he said, “For several months, she has made sure she’s near the restaurant when Rik was. You honestly didn’t realize?”

I felt very stupid. How many other mothers would have seen that long before their husbands. I lay back down and turned to him. “I’ve been so blind.”

“No you haven’t. So you didn’t see. Who cares? I certainly don’t.”

“It’s not just this, John. I’ve been blind about so many things. For nine hundred years, my attention has been so inward directed.” I felt that the tears were going to well up again and I buried my face in my pillow.

Instead of letting me stay like that, however, John lifted my head and turned my face toward him. “Rose, do you really think that aside from Total Fun, I have not enjoyed the last nine hundred years? In my expert opinion, gained from observing you for our entire lives, I have not seen you as completely inner directed for nine hundred years.”

I giggled and answered, “John, how do I know you aren’t just saying that for some more physical training?”

“My good looks?”

I scowled at him. “Dear,” I said, “there are plenty of handsome men who will say anything to get into a woman’s bed. Try again.”

“Hmmm… My suave style?”

I sighed. “While I won’t argue that you are debonair, I have to say that many men throughout history use that style as a way to impress a woman, generally for sex.”

He seemed to think about it and commented, “I suppose my impressive size is not decent evidence either.”

“Uhhhh…” I lifted up the sheet and looked under it at his manhood. “I’m not going to argue that it’s not impressive. In fact, I believe it would be possible to play baseball or horseshoes with it. Hmmm… I’ll have to remember that for later.” I let the sheet fall slowly down onto his now aroused penis. “Alas, dear husband, I think you’re right. Something that impressive is most definitely not evidence of pure motives.”

He laughed then told me, “I have to say, my dear, your body is not either. I’m afraid that I can’t look at you, as you are now, without having uh... wonderfully inspirational thoughts.”

I sat up and deliberately let the sheet fall away from my breasts. “So how do I know your statement was not inspired by your libido?“

This time his answer was ready immediately. “Because, fair Rose, I love you.”

I couldn’t hold the tears back now. Even though we had been working up to another round, they came.

John sat up and put his arm around me. If he had thought my tears were for any reason other than my joy at being loved by him, he never would have said, “Hey! Come on! I wanted some more PT,” then kissed me.

His mood brought me back and I laughed again. I pushed him down on the bed and straddled him. This round was a lot better than the first.

---

The next day, I went to the steakhouse to have lunch with Paula and Carla. They must have noticed something in my manner, as Carla smirked at me, then asked, all innocence, “Did you have a good night, Rose?”

What could I say? “Wonderful!” I then turned to Paula before Carla could respond. “What’s the special, Paula?”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Carla said. “You aren’t getting off that easy!”

I kept my face turned to Paula, a big smile on my face, and waited.

“I think Dez has made some of his special meatloaf, and Ray did a jambalaya,” Paula informed me, a grin on her face as well. Neither of us was paying Carla any mind as she made out that she was getting steamed.

“You are not going to ignore me, Rose!”

I finally turned back. “And why not? Are you ever forthcoming with information about your nightly escapades with Marc?”

I had her, and she knew it. She appeared to struggle, but I don’t think she’d ever seen me so clearly thrilled with life. Ultimately, her curiosity won, and she said, “If you tell me, I’ll tell you.”

It seemed like a good deal, so I did.

---

We were headed toward the Fomalhaut system to find another of the ships. At Atlantis, we had been ‘topped up’ with fuel, so we burnt a bit more to gain more speed than what we had before. It was a long trip, but we settled into routine life.

I had a pair of twins during the voyage. John and I had chosen not to know the sex of them. We really weren’t worried about it. When we gained two more girls, we were both pleased. We named them Pearl and Carrie, after two women that I missed very much.

Near Frieda’s two hundredth birthday, we finally merged onto Fomalhaut IV’s course. Rhoda had figured how far they should have come in the time they had, and we came into their course so we could backtrack on them. We traveled for about ten years, when a ship was detected ahead of us.

John and I entered the command center just before Paula and Winston did. Marc and Carla were already there. Technically, we weren’t necessary at the moment, but all of us had long been placed in the line of command, and Gina liked to keep us informed.

We faced the screen and watched as the ship in front of us got arger.

It was not destroyed as N22 had been. It appeared as though everything was alright with it.

Rhoda had been trying call it on our radio, however. We had not received any reply.

Marc was monitoring the health of our computers while we were trying to contact them. Suddenly, Marc looked at the screen. “You son of a bitch!” he exclaimed. “Break connection, Rhoda!”

There was no argument. Rhoda flipped a switch and then looked at Marc. “What,” she began, but there was no time to say anything more.

“My dear, sweet children. It’s been so long. I’d like to play, but first we must have a conference. I demand to see you in Fredriksburg, in front of the statue of my departed brother.”

We stared at each other. It was Willem’s voice, coming through the speakers.

Finally, Gina spoke. “No!” she said simply.

In response, her eyes glazed and her head fell onto the deck beside her quickly falling body. Rhoda screamed as a new twist to this old practice of Wallace’ occurred. Gina’s body started to smoke until there was only black carbon and clothes on the deck where she had once lain.

I was holding Rhoda as she cried. “How can you do this again?” I screamed at the ship around me.

“I am getting very tired of waiting.”

Marc started toward the door, and the rest of us followed. Rhoda hung on to me. I think she would have stayed in the command center, but she cried out in pain when we left, and hurried to catch up. She seemed alright as we continued to Fredriksburg.

I’m not sure what I expected when we arrived at the statue of Fred. Certainly not what we found. Standing there was Willem Wallace.

“Hello, children,” he said. “I thought I made it plain many millennia ago. I am your master.” He turned to Paula and his eyes burned. He slowly walked around her, taking in her body. “Paula. I will say; this look fits you so much better than what you had the last time we saw each other.”

He stopped in front of her, and the hatred from him was almost something physical. “You caused me so much pain. You let it go on. I understand you told Freddie that it ‘had to be done’. Well, my dear. Here is something else that ‘has to be done.’”

With that, her body began to smoke, just as Gina’s had. It went on much longer, however, and she appeared to be in agony. Marc pulled out a gun and pointed it at Wallace’ head. “Stop!” he yelled at Willem.

Paula dropped to the ground and the smoke stopped pouring out of her body. “That looks somewhat painful,” Wallace commented as he stooped by her side. “I want you to know, I stopped not because of Dodson’s pitiful attempt, but to cause you just as much pain as you caused me before I kill you.”

He backed up, and in a loud voice announced, “I am your master!”

He pointed at Rhoda. “You are to be my wife. Your mother and step father will witness the consummation of our marriage tonight.”

“No!” I shouted, but it was for naught. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to please this man! I wanted to be one of his maidens. “Please, Willem,” I said, “let me be your slave. I want to serve you. I want to give you whatever you wish.”

“Very good, my Rose, but you see; I’m a one woman man now, and I will have Rhoda. Since you want to serve me, you will stay with your husband, dress in a way that shows off your body. Make him long for you, and deny him any attempt to have you.”

I walked over to John and stood by him, still making eyes at Willem. I loved him! How could anyone not? I knelt down and bowed my head before him. “Whatever you wish, my Master.”

“Wonderful, Rose,” he praised me. I beamed back at him, thrilled to be able to serve him.

---

John and I were ordered back to our house. Once there, John tried to hug me, telling me we’d get through this, but I slapped his face, hard! I didn’t feel any desire to ‘get through this’! I wanted only to serve Willem!

I went into the bedroom and changed into very sensual lingerie, designed to flaunt my body to John, but he would be denied; just as I had been told to do by my loving master.

I came out and sat on a chair positioned where John could see everything I did. I started masturbating in front of him. Carrie came into the living room, wondering what all the noise was about. She saw me dressed as I was, fingering my breasts and clitoris, and John with his face held in his hands, crying.

“Mom?” she asked, bewildered. “Dad?”

John looked up at her, tears streaming down his face. “She’s under control of Wallace. Somehow, he’s on the ship.” He didn’t say it that way. His speech was filled with sobs.

Suddenly, I no longer felt in love with Wallace. I collapsed on the floor, and I felt my love for John come back. I heard Wallace’ voice echo in my head. “Do not defy me again, or I will pull you back into my service forever.”

I hugged John as tight as I could when he reached for me. Then I cried.

Chapter 3.3

We met, the next day in the back room of Heaven’s Rose. I had been ordered by Willem to continue dressed revealingly until or unless he decided I should wear something different. I was also ordered to continue to deny John any sex.

Honestly, that was fine, as long as he didn’t tell me I couldn’t love my husband. We were both old enough to know that sex was not the be-all and end-all. Love was much more than that. Somehow, I didn’t think Willem could ever fathom that.

We were there to discuss any possibility to get Willem off our ship. Technically, John was now in command, and I was his first mate. I thought it was fitting, but I didn’t see that it was a good idea. I had been under Willem’s control, and who’s to say I wasn’t only acting the part of a free woman. For all I knew, he could take control of me at any time.

Of course, he could also listen in on anything we said, anywhere on the ship. Oh, it was all such a confusing gamble.

“I’m acting under the assumption that Willem is a holographic construct,” Marc said. “It’s all that makes sense.”

"Really?" Paula asked. She was not well. Somehow, her nanites weren't functioning. She was coughing up a thick fluid, quite regularly. I had spoken to Winston, and he told me he had seen her dinner be spat up, much like a baby would do before it's nanites were infused. There were also several blisters on her body, probably from burns.

Marc looked at her and I could see his face turn slightly green. He tried to put on a brave face, though. I understood how he felt; none of us had ever seen a sick person. "Yes, Paula. Somehow…" his voice faltered as the subject of our conversation entered the room.

I stood up and moved in between him and everyone else. I felt ridiculous, standing there in lingerie, trying to hold him back. "Don't you dare touch my sister," I told him.

I was afraid that he would take control of my mind, but he didn't.

"So you call Paula your sister? She's nine hundred years older than you, Rose."

"No matter what you think of my love for my friends, you will not touch them."

"Have you forgotten my orders to you?"

I took a deep breath, and maybe I was about to become his permanent slave, but damned if I was going to do what this madman ordered again.

"No, Willem. I haven't forgotten. I choose to ignore them."

He looked at my clothes. "You have, have you?"

Before he finished his sentence, however, I was removing my clothing, such as it was. In a moment, I stood in nothing but defiance.

He glared at me, but turned and walked away. I shakily turned to look at my friends. I saw it, and it almost killed me. Paula was dead. There was a hole from under her chin that apparently emerged through the top of her head.

I screamed.

---

Doctors Jack and Sylvia were sitting with us in the briefing room. I was weeping while I once more leaned against John for support. Carla was sobbing with her head in her arms on the table in front of her. Winston was sitting, staring at the screen.

"Her nanites were completely deactivated. In fact, many had left her body. We know that there are around twenty pounds of nanites in an adult, and our computers collect information through those nanites constantly. We lost contact with her nanites yesterday, and her body was roughly ten pounds less today than at last connection," Jack told us.

"If they were deactivated, how was she killed?" Marc asked, a look of frustration on his face.

Doctor Sylvia looked extremely uncomfortable. "There were all the signs of a stake through her head."

"How did he drive a stake through her head without us knowing about it, and where did it go?" John was absolutely furious, and it scared me. I had never heard his voice sound like that.

"Why?!!?" I couldn't take it anymore, and it burst from me like my heart was exploding. "He threatened me with slavery. Instead, he killed my sister! The BASTARD!"

I now had my head in my hands, and I was sobbing. "It was my fault. I wanted him to focus on me, not her and he killed her!"

John pulled me tight. "Rose, each of us needs to group together now. I very much doubt that this was your fault. He told her he was going to kill her painfully. If anything, you stopped her suffering more."

"You think so?" I wasn't very logical at the moment, but he was starting to get through to me. "She didn't suffer as much as she would have?"

"John's right, Rose," Marc agreed. "You know what Fred and Paula did to that piece of shit. He suffered way more than she did. You helped her."

It was a small comfort. Very small, but it helped me focus. Carla seemed to be drawing together as well. Only Winston still seemed lost to the world, probably going through memories of the joy they shared.

John said his name, but there was no response.

"Winston," Marc said louder.

Winston blinked, looked around, then stood. His eyes were red and moist, although he hadn't been openly crying. "See ya'," he told us as he turned and left the room.

"I can't imagine what he's going through," John said. "To lose…"

Suddenly we heard something very disturbing. The airlock began cycling. Jack and Marc both leaped to their feet and ran out of the room.

We heard something that will always stay with me. "You have to know! Does he have complete control or not? I don't think he does. He is concentrating on the fields! Not nanites! Somehow he blew his connection. He let Rose go! I'm going to see if we can end it!"

I heard the inner door open, then close. A moment later, the outer door opened. A few minutes later, Winston Reese, a friend for years floated away into the void.

---

We were in the steakhouse, having a wake for our family and friends. We were determined that we would not give in to the piece of shit we had been subject to for so long. Jack, Marc, and John were all in suits, while Sylvia, Carla, and I were in dresses suitable for the situation.

We were drinking a toast when the particular piece of shit walked in again.

Again, I stood. I was shaky but determined. I had not wanted to do this, but the others, including John, were adamant. He had threatened me specifically, but not carried it out. Why? That was not his style.

"Get out of here," I told him. I sounded scared to death to myself.

"I own the ship. You are violating my rules."

"Go to hell," I told him.

He laughed. "I probably will, but I'll own it quickly after arriving."

Marc stood up. He held a pad that he had been watching while I talked to him. "You are already in hell," he told Wallace. "You're not a real person. You're a virus in our computers, and you're losing the fight. Winston was right!"

"You had power at first, but you lost power over the nanites yesterday. Otherwise you wouldn’t have let Rose go. You couldn't hold on to her."

John stepped to my side and told the virus, "Never touch my wife again."

Marc continued: "you killed Paula with the shaped fields. The same as you're using right now to give yourself a physical presence. That and the holographic equipment. I wondered why you only appeared in this bay. It's the only one with the projectors for either."

"I still have power," the hologram told us.

"Not much, " Marc laughed as he looked at his pad. "In fact, you don't have enough for the fields anymore."

"That doesn't matter!" Screamed Wallace as his voice switched to the speakers.

"You can't control the nanites, and you can't control fields anymore. How will you hurt us?"

"I control the computer!"

"Good for you," said my husband. "But what can you do there? Look around. You will find that you cannot control any vital systems. They have a failsafe that will always be in our favor. You can't even open any doors. They are all mechanically locked."

I watched that horrible face go through several emotions until it faded away.

"Are you still there Willem?" Marc asked.

"You think you've won, but what do you think I've done to the other ships? I'm in each one, waiting to come out and play. And they don't have computers that even begin to compare to yours." His voice stopped in a dramatic pause. "They are dependent on their computers for everything. They can't stop me."

The voice became a vile whisper at the last sentence, then it seemed as though he was gone.

Marc looked at his pad and verified it. He turned the pad around. We saw the screen change from a blinking red eradicating virus to a steady green virus eradicated.

---

I put down the mic and look at my husband. I'm very pleased that we have been together as long as we have.

Tomorrow will be twenty-five years to the day since my sister died. We are on the way to the next ship's location to see if they need or even want our help.

I suppose I should fill in a few details. Yes, Willem was a virus, as you saw. When he lost control of me, he still had control of Rhoda. He put everything he had into holding her. We finally found her body buried in the ground near the statue of her stepfather. John believes Willem did that because she was Paula’s daughter so symbolically, he was getting his revenge.

A question that comes to mind is, how did he know how his body had died?

Marc was able to take a memory snapshot of the virus, and access its memories. He then placed them into a computer separate from any other. He questioned the thing for months.

He has informed me that what Paula told me about her and Fred's speculations on the making of Willem were essentially correct.

As to his showing up on our ship, he had a dead man switch in his nanites. If for any reason, his blood stopped flowing in his brain, his last conscious thoughts would be sent to his computers. He had kept a running recording of his thoughts, so his death was recorded and the recording process stopped.

When new computers were built, a memory crystal held the read-only memory that allowed a computer to talk to its hardware. That didn't take up much space but he made sure that added to the bios was now his mind at the moment of his death, along with instructions on how to break free and to make his way into other machines. A memory crystal can hold a lot of information.

I'm looking through my notes to see if I've forgotten to relate any information. Oh! Fred Freeman II. He was left without his mother or father, or even any siblings. He has made it clear that he has not lost all of his family, however. He has two aunts whom he loves. We love him too! He is a reminder of our dear sister.

Freddy (he doesn't mind it as his dad did) now owns the steakhouse. He changed the name to Fred and Paula's. It is my favorite restaurant now. On one wall is a holographic portrait of my sister and Fred Sr. When they were married, along with one of her with Winston.

Speaking of Winston, his death was helpful. Marc was worried that Willem would have locked us into his game as he did before. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

Wow! What a story to tell! It still hurts to think of all the friends and family that I lost. That we lost. Perl, Brandy, Kari… there are so many. I can't lose my memories of them because of the nanites.

There is a finite amount of information that a brain can hold, but one of the more frightening aspects of nanites is that we all have our brains constantly recorded. We have to, or we would run out of space.

Our nanites are hooked to personal crystals, usually held in some type of jewelry. I almost always wear mine in a necklace. John has his in a watch band. They don't have to be on your person, but most people's are. You want to make sure your memories are safe.

Some people require that after their death, the crystal be destroyed. I have always considered this line of thinking to be silly. With Willem's antics, I'm not so sure now.

So ends my account of Caesar's legacy. It was a horrible part of our history, and may not be over. I hope it is.

I plan on recording any meetings we may have with other ships, so others will know our legacy, and not just Willem's.

And now, I have a special duty to perform. John earned some very dire consequences for something today. I'm not sure what he did, but I'm certain he did it. And if he didn't, we'll just pretend he did.

Talk to you soon!