Eridani:
N21 Chronicles
It has been nearly twelve hundred years since our problems with Willem’s hologram, for which I am very thankful. That was a very frightening time. Certainly, in our search for the rest of the sister ships of Centaurus, there were times that were more frightening, but something changed in me that day when my sister’s family was destroyed.
I would never let this happen to another person if I could help it. Not ever!
Before I get to the main part of this story, I must tell you something that happened shortly after Marc’s antivirus cleaned our system and Caesar’s hologram was evicted.
While several people cautiously boarded Fomalhaut IV to see what had happened there, I wat in the briefing room, glaring at the commander of the ship. We sat across the table from each other, and I believe that if looks could kill, we would both be long gone.
“John,” I told him icily, “I am second in command of this ship. I should be there.”
“Rose,” the commander, who was also my husband said just as icily, “This is not Star Trek. The second in command does not command an away team. ”
We were both fans of ancient shows, especially science fiction.
“I have experience in archaeology.”
He looked at me like I was insane. “Aside from the fact that your experience is from studying media, this is not a dig! We have no idea what we are going to find, so you are staying here until we know more.”
I glared.
He got up and came around the table to sit down beside me. I wanted to move away; to show my displeasure, but I refused to do that. At one time, I would have, but I was determined to stop wearing my emotions on my sleeve. Whether I was mad at him now, was not an issue. I respected his decisions, and I loved him to death. I was mad now, but I knew I wouldn’t always be.
He sighed heavily as he sat. “I know you’re hurting about Paula, and you want to keep busy. I understand that, Rose, but I can’t take the chance that you’ll be hurt over there.”
I looked at him, and my expression softened. I leaned over and gave him a sensuous kiss, then said, “Oh, John. I know what you’re saying, but can’t you trust that I can take care of myself? I’m a big girl, you know.”
He gave a small chuckle. “I know you are, my dear. However, when it comes to Willem, I’m not trusting that anyone can take care of themselves around him.”
I was very tempted to glare again, but I held off. I truly did know what he was saying, and why. I didn’t have time to glare at him, anyway. Bob Grissom, our head of security, contacted us about then.
“Commander, There has been a war on board Fomalhaut.”
“Like on Centaurus?” John asked.
“I’m guessing, sir. I wasn’t on Centaurus when they had their problems, but this is definitely a war zone.”
Something in what he was saying just didn’t seem right to me. I stood up and told John, “I’ve got to get over there. Something isn’t right.”
He looked at me for a long moment, then said, “All the more reason to not let you go.”
“John!” I began, then changed tack. “Alright, you go with me.”
He glared at me this time. Probably over a minute, we faced off, then finally, “This is very important to you, isn’t it.”
“It is, John,” I told him, nodding.
“Okay. On one condition.”
“Yes?”
“We go together, and you stay with me.”
“I can live with that,” I told him. I tried not to smile for having won, but it was really hard not to.
He saw the flicker of a smile, and as we were going to the lander pad, he commented, “You can be so infuriating, my dear.”
“Really?” I asked as I let the smile out. “There will be dire consequences tonight for that remark.”
“I can live with that,” he told me as we entered the lander.
We walked onto the upside of Fomalhaut IV and something just felt wrong to me. I wasn’t sure what it was yet, but it was very real. I wondered why no one else felt it, but perhaps it was my intuition? Maybe.
We entered a bay, and I realized what it was. “You’re right, Bob. This is a war zone, but it shouldn’t be.”
“Huh?” he stared at me.
“What do we know about Centaurus?” I asked him.
“They went to war.”
I shook my head. “No. They didn’t”
“Rick told us they did,” John objected.
“No, John. He didn’t.” I hurried on before they could argue. “What he said was everyone was for his or her self.” I looked around. “That’s not what we see here.”
I walked over to look between two buildings, at a barricade straight out of Les Miserables. “They would never have erected a barricade like this if they were all alone in the fighting. They would be trapped with others.”
John looked at the bay, then back to me. “You’re right,” he told me. We have at least two groups fighting here, possibly more, but they were groups. They had to have been.”
Bob was nodding as well. “I’ve got to agree, Mrs. Carlson.”
One of Bob’s detail came running into the bay. “You’ve got to see this,” he told us.
We followed as he hurried to a ‘U’ tube and started to the downside. We passed the ‘J’ tube that led to the command deck and where we should have entered the downside ring, there was another barricade.
“All of the ‘U’ tubes are like this.”
I could see no light through it the barricade. I wondered what was on the other side.
John put voice to my curiosity. “I want to see the downside.”
“Yes, Sir.”
It took about an hour to remove enough of the barricade to see through, then another half hour to get to where we could walk through. I started toward the opening, but John stepped in my way.
“Not yet, Rose.” I glared, but John would not back down. “Bob,” he addressed the security chief, not taking his eyes off of me, “send two of your men in to see what’s up.”
Before they could enter, however, an old man made his presence known. He was holding a white flag in front of him. “Who are you?” he asked.
John whirled around at the strange voice. The old man continued. “You’re not from our ship, our you?”
I stared. I had never seen anyone so old before! He was probably in his fifties!
John stepped forward, “We’re not here to harm you. We’re here to help if we can.”
The old man looked suspicious. “That’s what they said.”
“Who?” I asked. John looked like he was upset, but then he glanced at me and nodded.
I took it as permission to step forward, but he put his arm in my way again. It seemed as though if someone was going to be shot, he was determined it wouldn't be me.
“The people on the upside,” the old man explained.
“There are no people on the upside,” I told the man.
“Willem?!!?” the old man called.
There was no response.
“Willem!” he called again.
“He transferred to our ship, but we were able to eradicate him. He’s gone now,” John told him.
The man’s eyes grew wide. He seemed elated, but cautious. “How can I know you’re telling the truth?”
“I don’t know, but let me introduce myself. I’m John Carlson, and this is my wife, Rose. We’re from Neo22.”
The old man seemed to consider things, then he turned and motioned. About thirty other people appeared, all around the same apparent age.
When last we saw our protagonist:
The man’s eyes grew wide. He
seemed elated, but cautious. “How can I know you’re telling the
truth?”
“I don’t know, but let me introduce myself. I’m John Carlson, and this is my wife, Rose. We’re from Neo22.”
The old man seemed to consider things, then he turned and motioned. About thirty other people appeared, all around the same apparent age.
Back on Neo22, we were in the briefing room, just down the inner ring from the command center. Seated at the table were our normal command crew as well as Doctors Jack and Sylvia, Bob Grissom, and Georg Brown, the old man we had met in the ship. He had informed us that there were twenty-nine people left on left on Fomalhaut IV in total.
“So,” John asked, “what happened on your ship?”
“Everything was fine for most of our trip, but when our computer broke down, we had to turn on our backup. That caused problems.
“Not ten seconds after the backup went online, almost all of the people changed. Not physically, mind you. Their personalities seemed to change. They became apathetic and incredibly compliant. About a week later, Willem revealed himself in our computers. Even when we repaired our newer model he was there as well.”
“How come you weren’t changed?” I asked.
“All of us who weren’t changed are related. I suspect it’s genetic.”
“I suppose it has to do with your appearing older than us?”
He smiled at me. “You’re right, Mrs. Carlson. It wasn’t realized until I cut my finger as a child. My nanites didn’t heal it. Primarily because I don’t have nanites, I suppose.”
“Was that by choice?” Sylvia asked.
“No, Ma’am. I was injected with nanites as a child, but when I received the injury, it was found that I didn’t have nanites. Apparently, they were destroyed in my body.”
“How?” Jack wondered.
“We’re not really sure, but it happened with my siblings and cousins.”
“What about your parents?” I asked.
“Not my parents, nor my aunts or uncles.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, thoughtfully.
“Rose?” John asked when I didn’t continue.
“If it’s genetic, why would it affect all of them, but not their parents?”
“You tell me.”
“I can’t,” I responded.
“Neither can I,” Sylvia told us. “Rose is right. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Bob spoke up. “If we could figure out, we could use this as a way to disarm Willem if and when we meet up with him again.” He glanced at Georg. “Sorry, Mr. Brown. I hope you understand my thoughts here.”
“Most certainly, the old man told him. It makes sense, and if I can help, I’ll be glad to.”
Eventually, we discovered what was happening. It was genetic. Georg’s father must have had a wandering eye when it came to sisters-in -law.
A single piece of DNA souped-up hiss immune systems. Somehow the DNA pumped up the abilities of the lymphocytes and when they met up with a nanite, they destroyed it. In the lymphatic system, antibodies were produced to kill the nanites as well.
Jack and Sylvia were able to change that strand of DNA using the nanites, but very few people wanted it done. At least not yet. We were safe on our ship for now.
Marc and John devised a method of connecting the two ships together. We wanted to be on our way, but we wanted the extra space and the research platform. We needed to know how Willem’s system worked.
They were quite happy with Georg and several of his ‘cousins’. They were all very brilliant engineers, so the idea of connecting the two ships was run by them as well. Many ideas were improved upon, and eventually, the inner circle was removed from Fomalhaut IV. Then, the upside and downside were split apart. They were then placed on either side of our ship, and their engines were reconnected in a different manner and synced with ours.
The command center was brought into a bay that was empty, and Marc connected a small non-networked computer to it, then he got to work.
We were getting close to Eridani now. We could see it through our scopes, but we made sure we stayed out of range of theirs. We were very concerned about the people on board, but we didn’t want to tip our hand until we were ready.
This time, rather than on our own briefing room, we met in the Fomalhaut IV. It was a bit smaller than ours, but not by much. The whole inner ring from the ship was supported by a complex scaffolding that was able to support the structure. One ‘J’ tube was connected to another one which came to the floor of the bay.
John and I were there early, along with Georg and Marc. We watched as the others entered, then John turned to Marc. “Proceed,” he told his friend.
“Okay. What I’ve been able to turn up is this, and I’m embarrassed to say, we should have known what was up from the start.”
I was really interested in this.
“I’ve spoken to Georg at length, and he’s been here the entire time as we went through the computers.” He turned to John and grimaced. “I can’t believe this, but it was so simple. We all have crystals to help us remember things. The crystals resonate on a certain frequency, individual to each person. Our nanites are sending a signal to our own crystals, constantly, based on this frequency. Carla and Rose both wear necklaces with their crystals embedded, but they don’t have to be on their person. They could be in their homes, and even with the women here, there would be no problems with the confusion of the resonance.”
Georg spoke up. “I thought of this soon after the problems began. It was the obvious way of connecting to the nanites, so I suggested it to our doctors and computer experts.” He looked around at us, shaking his head. “It was as if anything I said regarding this was not heard.”
“So,” I asked, “We have to stop the broadcast on all those frequencies? How can we do that?”
Georg shook his head. “No. Each person’s memory unit has a receiver to connect to a radio unit, with a two-gigabyte encryption key for recognition. Mind you, that’s gigabyte… Not gigabit. This allows for the diagnosis of nanites as well as the person’s body, if the nanites, for some strange reason, can’t repair damage.” He paused for a moment. “These encryption keys have somehow been hacked.”
“Two billion bytes, and it’s been hacked?” I asked. I couldn’t even conceive of such a job. And for how many people?
“No,” said Jack. “They haven’t been hacked. I have a copy of each person’s recognition code in the hospital computers. It makes sense that the codes are present for each person, somewhere in the computers.”
“So, if I step onto another ship, would it have mine?” John asked.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“I have a solution,” Sylvia told us.
“Pray, tell.” I suspected John was pissed that we had obviously been programmed by our nanites to not think of something so obvious.
She chose to ignore his sarcastic tone, and instead explained, “Inside each memory module is a mechanical switch that can move the input from the radio receiver to a hard line.”
I stared. I had been bored at times during our trips and had read just about everything I could. Now that Sylvia mentioned it, I remembered this during my perusal of the doctoral texts.
Very deliberately, I removed my necklace. I turned it over, and with a fingernail, I pried open an access cover and saw a single switch inside. It was tiny, but using my smallest fingernail, I was able to move it. I looked up and saw everyone watching me.
“So now I’m immune to ‘Total Fun?’” I asked Marc.
He didn’t say anything. His eyes were wide as he removed his watch. He handed it to Carla. She turned it over and saw a cover on the back of the crystal and opened it. She did the same as I did. Using her pinkie nail, she flipped the switch.
John handed me his watch. Very few of the men were able to turn off the radio reception because they couldn’t get their nails to the switch. A few of the engineers had very small tools that were able to reach. Those who couldn’t handed off whatever their crystals were mounted in to those of us who could.
I looked over at my sister, Carla, and she was white-faced. I was afraid I was as well. I was dizzy as I struggled to take in the number of people who had died because of a single switch in their memories. No wonder none of our kids were exiled with us. We thought it was because Caesar would retrain them with propaganda. Instead, it was probably because they didn’t receive memory modules until they were eighteen years old.
I felt like crying but I held myself away from my emotions. I think everyone was thinking about the simplicity of the solution, and those that they had lost because they didn't know.
"The doctors," I said quietly. "They would have known."
"We didn't," said Sylvia.
"I think Sis is right," Carla said. "In the last few minutes, we've learned that we should look at the obvious solutions first. You were looking for reasons five hundred or more years after N21 left. Caesar improved his program by then, including you in those who didn’t know."
While Caesar didn't have over five hundred years free after we left, I still believed Carla was right.
Again, I was thinking, trying to keep my mind off of my late sister. "So we're immune, but they aren't." I indicated out into space. I didn't know if I was pointing in the right direction, and I really didn't care.
"You're right," Georg agreed. "We are going to have to go to their ship and turn off Willem if he's active over there."
I had a fight getting into the lander as we prepared to go to Eridani. John did not want me on that ship, but I persevered, and eventually, he gave in. I believe Carla was having the same trouble with thoughts of our sister, but she dealt with it in a different way. She devoted her time to work in Neo22 and kept herself busy.
It was hardly easy to sneak up on Eridani. In fact, it was impossible. We turned off our radio however. We were impervious to our nemesis now, but we didn't want him to know until he had to. Well… we were impervious to him. Not his subjects.
We docked. I looked at John, and he was furious with me. Now that I was ready to step into possible danger, I was thinking he had a point. Even though I knew it was Marc who pressed the button, the door slid open and my heart nearly leaped out of my chest. There was no one waiting for us, so we quietly moved through the airlock.
We searched everywhere in the center ring. The command level was empty. We moved through the 'J' and 'U' tubes then into the upside.
I don't know what I expected, but it was certainly not what I saw.
The upper ring was quite wide, and several people were lining each side. We started to push through the crowd, only to nearly be run over by a chariot!
When last we saw our protagonist:
I don't know what I expected, but it was certainly not what I saw.
The upper ring was quite wide, and several people were lining each side. We started to push through the crowd, only to nearly be run over by a chariot!
I looked at the chariot and gasped. It was black with gold trim and looked like something straight out of the ancient movie Ben Hur, except that it was not being pulled by four horses, but four ponygirls. They were obviously running as fast as they could, and another chariot was gaining on them. It was a race! And honest to God chariot race!
I stood and watched, my mouth agape. I had little doubt that Willem was active on this ship. I now saw six chariots in this race, each one being pulled by ponygirls.
The crowd was roaring at the competition. These girls were fast! They certainly weren't as fast as a real horse, but they were moving faster than they had a right to. I was in good shape but I couldn't come close to their speed.
There was a roar from down the corridor and some good-natured shouting. I looked down and saw that a chariot had lost a wheel and run into the crowd. One of the ponygirls was injured and my stomach lurched as I saw a Roman Centurion stab her with his spear. She shuddered a bit, then stopped moving.
"Pony must have landed wrong," a man to my right remarked to a friend. "Hate to see a pony put down, but it's just an animal."
I turned around and walked partway down the 'U' tube. I lost my lunch. I found myself hugged, hard. I looked into the concerned eyes of my husband. "Gonna be okay?"
I hugged him right as I shook my head. "Not for a while, John, but I'll live."
He kept his arms around me for another minute, there said, "I sure wish Caesar was alive."
I stared at him, my eyes wide.
"I want to kill him," he completed his thought.
I nodded my agreement, then we started back up the tube.
Had we known what awaited us, we wouldn't have returned to the circle. We made it to Marc's position and found three centurions waiting, spears pointed in our direction. A wagon pulled up, six oxen pulling it. At least they were large people who didn't seem to be meant for speed. They had patches of bare bone on the sides of their heads where it appeared they had once had horns.
The wagon looked to be a prison transport. Our wrists were bound behind us, and our ankles chained together, then we were ushered inside. Slowly we started down the corridor, people jeering at us.
We were taken into one of the bays on the downside. It seemed that this one was some kind of dungeon. John, Marc, Georg, Bob, and the two security people were forced into separate cells. The wagon door was shut with me still inside and we started moving again. We turned around and made our way out of the dungeon.
We moved back to the upside and into another bay. We moved to what seemed to be the very end, where I was moved out. I was brought to the front of the wagon and forced to my knees in front of a man who must have been highly placed in the 'empire'. He was very handsome and wearing gold and white toga and looked at me with disgust.
“What is that?”
“I’m a woman. What are you?”
One of the centuries grabbed the back of my jumpsuit and lifted me off the ground. He held me aloft with a drawn sword ready to cut through my body just below the ribcage.
The nobleman didn't display any concern for my predicament. He simply motioned for the centurion to set me back down.
Once he did, I felt the cold metal against the side of my neck, as if to remind me of its presence.
"It speaks, and thinks it’s a woman.” He laughed. “Take it to the stables."
I was turned and forced to walk ahead of the centurion by his sword touching my back. We entered a low building where I could smell feces and urine, as well as hear horses and cows. I was rather shocked to hear dogs and cats as well. We made our way into a long row of pens, and we started down them. On either side, were pony girls, each one with arms bound behind them. I saw several eating and drinking out of some kind of troughs hanging on the gates in front of them. The pens were barely large enough to stand in, so I wondered where they slept.
We stopped by an empty pen, and one of the workers roughly ripped my jumpsuit off.
"Ow!" I hollered as I turned around ready to tear his ass another hole. I thought better of it as the centurion pulled his sword back, ready to lop off my head. If I was considered a ponygirl, he would have no problem swinging that thing through my neck.
The man who had removed my jumpsuit used a knife to remove my bra and panties. My arms were bound together behind my back and I was quickly wearing nothing but a halter. One at a time, my feet were lifted off the ground and my own shoes removed. On them were placed some strange contraption made to make me walk like a horse, I guess. I was herded into the stall.
I found some kind of bridle being placed on my head, complete with a bit. Next, the worker held up a horsetail and grinned. He moved behind me and I felt something being shoved into my ass. The stall gate was shut, oats and hay were faced in the feeder, with a water trough beside it, then I was left alone.
I didn't sleep that night. Not only did I not have a place to lay down, but I was also worried about the men, especially John.
I noticed that somehow the ponygirls were able to doze, standing. I had heard of people with narcolepsy sleeping while standing but never had I heard of anyone doing it all the time.
My feet were killing me, as were my arms. It was also cold. The women surrounding me seemed to have no interest in me, the new pony. Instead, they simply stood there, acting like they hadn't a care in the world.
The lights came on, and a man walked down the row of stalls, pouring oats into the feeding troughs. When he got to me, he set down the pail and reached into his pocket. Be pulled out an apple and some sugar cubes. He held the cubes up to my mouth. I considered biting the hand that was trying to feed me, but I figured I'd have a better chance of living if I was considered a ponygirl. I started to take the sugar in my mouth, but he pulled it away, then for crying out loud, stuck his finger in my mouth and pulled my lips away from my teeth so he could check them.
"Looking good, pony," he told me as he patted my head. He then held up the sugar again, and let me have it. Ugh! That much sugar was disgusting! Next, he cut up the apple and fed me the slices one at a time. I was humiliated, but I knew I had to act the part. I didn't want to let these people know I couldn't be controlled.
Before he left, he gave my left nipple a squeeze. As much as I wanted to cut his hand off, I simply made some kind of whinny sound and stamped my foot.
He laughed, picked up the pail and went to the next 'pony'.
A little while later, a man came into the stable and hooked a lead to my bridle. He led me out of the stable and connected me to an exercise machine. I was tied so I couldn't really move around, then another girl was brought out. She was connected to the other side across from me. Two more times, the man went and brought out girls. Finally, there were four of us.
We were released so we could walk, and he brought out a whip. Wonderful! Not!
I resolved to watch the other girls and see what they did. I did not want to feel that whip.
We started moving, and I was quickly caught by the whip when I stumbled because I wasn't looking in front of me, and those damned hooves took some getting used to.i had noticed how the other girls walked, however, and I tried to emulate them.
We must have trained for hours before we were offered water. I was grateful for it, even though it was a community bucket. Then, we were off again.
I was sore when I was returned to the stall. The same guy who had fed me the sugar and apple earlier rubbed me down with a blanket before putting me in. Then, he cut up another apple, fed it to me, patted my cheek and left. I took a drink of water from the trough. It tasted metallic from the galvanized metal the trough was made from, but at that point, I didn't care.
My legs and feet were sore, as were my arms. They had been bound behind me for several hours now. From my elbows to wrists they were touching. It was not a natural position for them, and it hurt like hell!
I decided to close my eyes for a moment. The next thing I knew, I was trying to pick myself off the floor in extremely narrow confines without the use of my arms. Not easy!
I spent the next few weeks being trained. It was incredibly grueling because I was getting very little sleep. I kept nodding off, then snapping awake so I wouldn't fall. Finally, I think my nanites decided that I needed rest, so somehow they helped. I don't know what they did, but I seemed to be getting used to it. I even started sleeping while standing.
Finally, I was connected to a chariot with the same three girls. We were taught to pull it and follow the directions of the driver. We were even taught to trust the driver as he backed us up. Next, we were taught to walk properly, lifting our legs high. By the time we were done, my feet were sore from the whip. Thankfully, the hoof shoes helped protect them.
I was beginning to think I was going to be a ponygirl for a long time to come, but I was taken out on my own one day by a centurion. I was hitched to some kind of single person cart, and we started off through the ship. I was surprised that I was not bothered by being out completely naked, but then I realized I had not worn clothes in several weeks.
Finally, we came to a building that looked very much like the Parthenon. I was unhitched from the cart and led up the steps. I had not learned to climb steps in these shoes, and k balked. The centurion pulled on my lead, and I slowly made my way up. We were stopped at the entrance by a guard.
"You can't bring a pony in here!"
"The emperor called for it."
"And he told you to bring it inside?"
"That he did. Now stand aside."
The guard moved but glared at me. "If it makes a mess on the floor, I'm going to feed my dogs well!"
I whinnied at the implied threat and we continued inside.
I was led up to the front of the room and stopped next to a familiar man. He turned to look at me. "Rose!" I knew him. He was my man. My man? Shouldn't that be 'I was his pony?' It took me a moment, then I realized who he was. It was John! I had started believing that I was a pony but now reality was returning!
Oh, God! I wanted to hug him! I wanted him to hug me! Beside him were Marc, Georg, and a security guard from our ship.
I was startled by the blare of trumpets. Then a man walked in and sat down in front of us. I was even more startled now. It was Caesar.