“Antarran! Why must you constantly over sleep! Get up, you lazy Royal! There is work to be done!”
“What? Who said that! Show yourself!” I shouted while scanning the apartment.
I must have searched and re-searched every nook and crannie in the place looking for a hidden speaker or listening device of any kind- even the tiniest cracks in the walls and ceiling where nothing could possibly be placed had been probed!
I found nothing.
“What’s an ‘Antarran’ anyway?” I questioned to myself as I walked into the bathroom to prepare for the day. I got as far as picking up my hairbrush and looking into the mirror.
“Oh. My. God! What is happening to my hair? Where is all the blue coming from?” I demanded as I noted a few more strips of blue had mysteriously appeared overnight.
I hurried back to my ‘nightstand’, retrieved my cell and placed another call to Dr. Ramstein’s office- this time using the word ‘emergency’. I didn’t have to fake the worry and fear in my voice when I left the usual message.
 
 
“So how did you find a stylist open on a Sunday, or do you do that yourself, Christina?” Chen asked as he walked into the garage about three minutes after I arrived. At my blank look, he pointed to my hair.
“You know…you might look really exotic if you went all the way with it.” He added before passing me and walking over to his newly assigned ‘life boat’ project.
With my calculations finished and checked for errors yesterday, I allowed myself time to contemplate several things that had happened in my life recently. First, I experienced the strange ‘augmented’ sight on Thursday during the IPD test. I hadn’t tried to recreate that ‘super power’ since, the only exception being when I woke up Friday morning. Next, was my hair’s sudden, but gradual change of color? Was it something triggered by my participation in the Gene Therapy study? Could it have been aggravated in any way by my participation in the IPD project? Finally, the voice I had been hearing just before waking. What was up with that? I had never even experienced déjà vu before, let alone telepathy.
Another matter of concern was when Dr. Smithe might- if it in his heart- pay me. When was that going to happen? Four dollars didn’t buy shit in today’s world and it was only a matter of time before my landlord would be knocking on my door for next month’s as well as the late portion of my rent from this month. The only saving grace was that Dr. Smithe continued to provide dinner the five evenings I worked down here with him and Chen. At least I got one good meal, five days a week!
For some reason the word ‘Antarran’ kept haunting me. To take my mind off that, I asked Chen if there was something I could do to help. Declining my offer and realizing I had nothing better to do at the moment, I logged onto one of the garage’s computer stations. When my login was accepted, I brought up the web browser and thought about how I would go about finding the place ‘Antarrans’ might come from. I ended up typing in ‘Antarra’.
All I got back was plenty of hits for names of people or communications companies, and a few hits referencing the Antares Nebula which the web browser said was located an estimated six hundred-eight lightyears from Earth. That was still a far cry from here.
“So why does that voice keep calling me an ‘Antarran’?”
“You aren’t an Antarran! They have blue hair and blue skin. Antennae, too!” Chen laughed from behind me.
“Those are ‘Andorians’, Anime Geek! And they didn’t have blue hair! Have you ever actually watched those old repeats of Star Trek?” I accused, only slightly irritated, but more embarrassed that he had heard me.
“Just having a little fun at your expense, Christina. Hey, could I borrow you for a few? I need a hand figuring where I can mount these maneuvering emitters.”
“Sure, no problem.” I said as we walked back to his project.
“So what’s this about voices calling you an ‘Antarran’?” Chen asked offhandedly.
“It’s nothing.” I dismissed his question quickly.
“Does it have anything to do with your hair or even those horrible cramps you had a few days ago? I promise I won’t say anything, Christina. May I fall into this Cryo-chamber and get shot out into the vast Cosmos never to return!” He pledged, holding up his right hand.
A chill shot up my spine when he made that promise and I think my mouth fell open.
“Wait! I didn’t mean that literally, Everhardt! It’s just my promise to you that you can trust me. Ummm. Mum’s the word. Is that better?” He said trying to gauge my expression.
“My scholarships and grants ran out last semester.” I began. “Now my rent is past due, my meds just went up in price again, I’m living like a homeless person with very few pieces of furniture, and the only good meal I get is here with you and Dr. Smithe.” I moaned.
“So far it sounds like any of us college students. Go on.”
I rolled my eyes in consternation.
“To try and make ends meet, I volunteered for a gene therapy study over at Pitt. The study offered a stipend for my participation. I thought that might help me stay in school so I can at least graduate next year. I’ll have to postpone attempting my doctorate til later.”
“Hey. If you need some cash, I have a little extra I’ve been saving for a new gaming system. You’re welcome to it if you’re not too proud.”
“I was hoping the money I’d get from this project might also help. So far…I’ve seen nothing but math and test data. And yes I’m too proud to accept your very generous offer, Ichi.” I hope I sounded diplomatic enough to not make him angry.
“No biggie, the offer stands. Now what about this gene therapy stuff?”
“The doctor in charge of the study told me I was the ‘perfect candidate’- that my gender disorder would be ideal for demonstrating one of the many issues the procedure might cure.”
Wait, is this ‘therapy’ supposed to make physical changes? I mean physical changes?” Chen asked looking very confused. I caught him glance to my crotch, but only for a faction of a second.
I blushed.
“Yeah, that’s one of the results I was hoping for. Dr. Ramstein assured me that it could happen. So far all I got out of it are these blue streaks in my hair and a strange female voice that has been waking me up the past two mornings.”
Just my telling him made me feel so gullible!
“So why would some unknown voice refer to you as Antarran? Is that some European nationality like ‘Armenian’?”
“The only related thing I could find online about ‘Antarran’ or ‘Antarra’ is the Antares Nebula. But that’s like half a millennia away from Earth. It makes no sense.” I complained, raising my arms to emphasize my conundrum.
“Look. When considering we’re working on space related stuff down here, your continuing change of hair color, and the fact that some unknown voice has declared you an Antarran, I’m not so sure we can call any of this a coincidence, Christina. It has to mean something and we might not be smart enough to conceptualize it. Smart enough as a race that is. I consider you one of the smartest girls I’ve ever met, by the way.”
That made me blush again.
 
 
After another round of homework and another crack at my Western Civ paper, I again slid between my sheets to get some rest to prepare for my scholastic week.
What I could remember about my dreams was filled with magnificent cities and scenery- futuristic cities the likes of which I’d never imagined! At one point I remembered being seated with several women that shared the same blue hair as me. I mean their hair was completely blue!
Was I destined to join their ranks?
One thing I remembered that stuck out about these women was their breasts, and pardon the pun, but boy did they have development! I could only hope mine stopped at half their size!
That reminded me that I needed to shop for new bras as mine were either wearing out or getting too snug!
Something else about my dream that struck me as interesting was that the women seemed to be being served… like they were some kind of royalty.
Weird.
I decided to forgo any more reflection on my strange dream and tend to my hygiene.
My reflection however, demanded I gasp! Almost a full quarter of my head now sported blue hair!
Unbelievable, but when would it stop?
My cell phone ringing stopped further questions.
“Hello?”
“Miss Everhardt?”
“Speaking.”
“Miss Everhardt, this is Mark Ramstein. I just collected my messages and yours sounded urgent. What seems to be the problem?”
“Well? I’ve…I mean my hair…its changing color, Doctor. Was this one of the observed potential side effects?” I asked in a very unsure voice.
The line seemed to go silent a minute.
“Miss Everhardt? Can you come in sometime today? I think you need to hear something you may not like- something that may make you withdraw from our study.” Ramstein said in a very worried tone.
“I can come over on my lunch break, doctor. Half past noon, if that’s alright?” I offered.
“Great, I’ll personally write in the appointment. See you then, Miss Everhardt.” He sounded relieved as the connection dropped.
“Someone screwed up.” I said to myself as I resumed my daily rituals and prepared for my first class of the new week.
 
 
12:30PM couldn’t get here fast enough and I hurried across town to the Pitt campus and just made it into Ramstein’s reception area as my phone displayed 12:30:00.
As had happened twice previously, Sharon appeared in the door and called my name, stared at me curiously then motioned me back to an exam room.
And, I waited.
The doorknob slowly and quietly turned then the door opened ever so slowly. Dr. Ramstein peeked in then fully opened the door and entered.
“Well, hello, Miss Everhardt. How are we feeling today?’ He asked trying to put a happy spin on this visit.
I simply pointed to my hair and gave him a narrow glare.
The thirty-something doctor gulped. His expression saddened.
“Yes, well, about that. You see… umm… well…” He paused almost a full minute. “We… we had a foul up in the processing lab. Yes… yes. A-a genetic indicator that we had used in previous tests to verify activity somehow was retained in our present base lot of serum…”
“You’re turning my hair blue, Dr. Ramstein.” I challenged angrily.
“So far it seems limited to just you, but our entire test group has been complaining of a whole range of… anomalies, Miss Everhardt. Twenty people of assorted nationalities and both genders. I’ll understand if you wish to press charges, since there is no way at present to rectify this error.”
“But you’re turning. My hair. Blue!” I reasserted.
“And I’m very sorry for the error, Miss Everhardt. But, have you noticed any other changes either physical or psychological? If at all possible, I’d like to keep examining your changes.”
“Really? You reprogram my genes for blue hair and you want to know if anything else has changed… or will change?”
“Weeeell…yes. Soooo…has it?” He pressed cautiously.
“Not that I’ve noticed unless you count the strange female voice that’s been waking me up from a deep sleep the past three mornings.” I said sarcastically, but with a serious expression that I continued to hold.
Ramstein regarded me for a few moments.
“You’re serious, aren’t you? You’re really hearing a female voice? In your mind? But it’s not your own?”
“Correct.”
Ramstein looked flabbergasted.
“I can also see strange orange auras from almost everything around me. I can toggle it on and off just by closing and opening my eyes. Care to explain that one, doctor?”
I got no response other than a blink or two of his eyes.
I blinked to correct him and experienced the orange aura around him too. I also noticed that I could see faint orange ‘smears’ or ‘pools’ in the walls, in the floor, and up in the ceiling.
I blinked again to turn it off.
“Then there are the vivid dreams in which I’m sitting among several other women that have completely blue hair and look to be very busty. They might even be royalty. I think they call themselves ‘Antarran’, doctor. Am I going to need to see a psychologist because of this ‘mix-up’?” I asked caustically.
“We made some allowances for that in the proposal, Miss Everhardt. I can recommend a very understanding professional.”
“Don’t bother, I’ll keep with the program and hope your people haven’t screwed anything more up. BUT, so help me, if my dick starts getting bigger…” I paused to settle myself down. “Just hope that doesn’t happen!” I threatened.
I stood from the exam table and walked out the door, only stopping to confirm the appointment with ‘Sharon’ for next week and to collect this week’s payment.
“I like what you’re doing to your hair?” She tried to compliment as I walked out of the office.
She obviously wasn’t in the loop.
Or maybe she was and that was her way of rubbing my nose in it!
 
 
“Everhardt?”
“What?!” I responded to Dr. Smithe heatedly.
His reaction was very predictable. He frowned at me.
“Having a bad day, Everhardt?” He inquired stiffly.
“Worse than any to date. Sorry, doctor. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” I apologized.
“We all have them, Everhardt. In fact, you’ve saved me from a few since you joined the project.” He said to ease the tension.
I felt myself blush again.
“I was going to ask you if you sent off your drawings and calculations to drafting so we can get the new emitter back for test.”
“I did. I actually sent the files Saturday before Chen and I locked up. They should be working on them as we speak.” I assured.
“Good, good. Well, since that’s taken care of, what say we check in on Chen’s add-on project?” He motioned me ahead of him.
The seven foot long escape pod was definitely taking shape. I could see that Chen had mounted the small attitude thrusters so that they were optimally located on the smooth chamber as we had discussed. Ten of the original IPD ‘emitters’ had been used; four at the head end, four at the foot end, and two I assumed to be the main thrust emitters mounted at the very bottom end of the chamber.
“Looks like it’s coming along, Chen. When might we hook it up to the test chamber for preliminaries?”
“I’m about ready to install the flight and Cryo control computer so it’s just a matter of programming before I hand it over for testing, doc.”
“And the positive feedback? Have we made any headway on that? I’d like to be able to demonstrate a fully operational lifeboat next week if at all possible.”
“I was hoping to get the new rev IPD into the test chamber and conduct feedback tests on that. I figure I’ll be able to scale that data back and apply it to the lifeboat when we get the new grids. My only concern is how much of a load the Cryo unit will draw. We already have valid specs on the old IPD emitters and flight computer.” Chen reported with a confident grin.
“I propose we add Everhadts’ ‘grids’ to the Lifeboat emitters and scale the results up?” He suggested.
“That’ll work too, doc.” Ichi agreed.
“Good! Good job! Both of you!” Smithe praised before turning and leaving the garage.
“And there he goes again.” I said offhandedly. I thought it strange that he only showed up to make sure we were working. “You’d think he has another job or something.”
“Before you started he was here every afternoon and well into the evening most days- weekends included.” Chen informed me.
“It’s like he trusts you or something, Christina.” He added with a quirky smile.
“I’d say he trusts you more than me, Ichi.”
“Ah, but you propelled the project past a major hurdle with your brilliant math skills and that ‘outside the box’ thinking you do.” He reminded.
“Not to mention I think he favors that outrageous hair of yours. It’s kinda grown on me too, by the way.”
“You want it? If I could, I’d give it to you, Ichi.” I smiled as I thought of something.
“You know? With the blue hair and your Asian features you would look like one of those old Anime characters.”
“Ah. But the really good ones were drawn just like you, Christina- tall, lithe, and blue-haired! Oh, yeah. They also shared that ‘royal’ attitude of yours.” Ichi laughed with a big, warm smile.
He may not have intended it, but he hit upon a recent sore spot.
“Christina? What’s wrong?”
“Remember when we talked about the dreams and that strange female voice I keep hearing?”
“Yeah? So?”
“So in the most recent dreams, the ones I can remember; the Antarran women looked like they had servants- like they were actual royalty! It seems too much of a coincidence that you would mention ‘royalty’, Ichi. I’m sorry. I guess I can get a little bitchy at times- too sensitive. Forget what I said or inferred.”
I blinked and unintentionally turned on my still mysterious, augmented sight.
Ichi Chen’s aura was somehow brighter- actually a brighter shade of orange than I had noticed previously. Something else caught my strange, modified sight.
“What’s this?’ I asked as I walked over and carefully picked up a gallon-sized, ceramic pot. I was curious why a simple container would have such a bright and brilliant orange luminescence- almost like it was filled with some brightly phosphorescent liquid.
“Um…I think they call that a crucible?” Ichi answered sarcastically, but his expression showed he was confused about why I’d asked.
“Duh!” I turned my head and stuck out my tongue.
“Well? You asked.”
“I meant what is in it. There’s some kind of luminescent liquid in it. What’s Dr. Smithe going to use it for?”
A thought hit me and I gently placed it back on the crowded worktable.
“Damn! I hope it isn’t radioactive.” I cursed as I looked at my hands. I relaxed as I saw only the ‘normal’ orange aura around them.
“Could you hand me a clean rag, please?” I asked to cover my strange actions.
“Sure, hang on.”
I felt a cloth in my outstretched hand.
“Thanks, Ichi.”
“Here, Christina, was there some grease or adhesive or something… on the… outside… of…look, if you wanted me to go away for a moment, you should have just asked.”
“What? I thanked you for the rag, Ichi, what are you mad about?” I asked as I looked back to him and noticed he still had a clean rag in his hand.
He must have brought two just in case.
“Christina, I didn’t give you any rag yet. When I came back with one, you already had one in your hand. Quit teasing.”
Ichi looked serious as he answered me.
I found myself staring at my hand and the white cloth I held in it.
“As far as anything being in that crucible? It’s empty, Christina. It’s never been used as far as I know- never been moved.
“But I can see the orange…”
My curiosity got the better of me and I cautiously extended my right pointer to the mouth of the container.
Ever so slowly, I lowered my finger toward the glowing orange substance.
“What are you doing, Christina? I told you it’s empty. Quit fooling around.
My finger made contact with the unknown substance.
I felt…something. Something I had no way of describing.
“Oh, my God! What is this stuff?” I gasped in surprise as I quickly withdrew my finger as well as my hand.
“Um, it’s called air? Christina? Are you sure that you are all right? Are you on the brink of losing it? If so, I need to get you out of here before you hurt yourself or us both.” Ichi asked, very worried and concerned.
“You can’t see this stuff?” I asked as I motioned back to the crucible in confusion.
“It looks empty to me, Christina.”
“Here, let me show you. Give me your finger.” I suggested.
“This isn’t going to turn out to be one of those ancient ‘pull my finger’ jokes is it?”
“I’m completely serious, Ichi!” I growled. “Let me show you.”
He capitulated and I slowly eased his finger toward the substance until the tip just touched the surface.
“FUCK!” He screeched, instantly pulling his finger from my grasp and away from the container in the process. “What the hell was that? How did you do that? My finger tip’s numb now!”
“Let me see.” I requested.
A bright orange, glowing smudge was visible on his fingertip.
“Is it still numb?” I asked as I debated touching it.
“Yeah. It seems to be spreading though. It feels numb up to the first joint.”
That didn’t sound good.
Taking a deep breath, I gently touched the smudge and watched in wonder as the smudge migrated to my finger! All I felt was a slight tingle.
My finger tip didn’t go numb like Ichi experienced.
“Hey? What’d you do? I have feeling in my finger again. It’s…it’s back to normal!” Ichi demanded as he stared at me, wide-eyed, with his jaw open.
“I honestly don’t know, Ichi. I saw this orange ‘smudge’ on your finger and when I touched it, it migrated to me, but my finger didn’t go numb like your’s did. All I felt was a little tingle.” I explained, just as confused as him.
“You saw an ‘orange’ ‘smudge’? But I didn’t see anything at all. What the hell is going on around here?” He swore as he looked around the disaster zone we called the ‘garage’.
“For our safety, do you see any more of that orange stuff lying around? I don’t want to step in it if I can help it.”
That was a good question and I began closely scanning some of the larger containers, bowls, and dishes around us.
In some degree or another, everything had an orange glow or aura around or in it! I conveyed my findings to Ichi.
“So you see it everywhere? Could it be something natural…ly occuring, I mean?” He asked.
I shrugged my shoulders in reply.
“That thing with the rag… think you could do that again? As an experiment to quench our curiosity?”
“You mean quench your curiosity, right? I’m not even sure I believe what happened.” I told him honestly.
“Well. Maybe try asking ‘whatever’ to manifest a rag in your hand?” He suggested.
“You mean,” I extended my hand, open palm up. “And say ‘can I please have a clean rag’?”
“NO FREAKIN’ WAY!” He shouted in shock.
A clean, white terry cloth rag sat folded neatly in my palm!
 
 
“Christina! Chris, wake up! Come on Chris! You have to wake up!” I heard Ichi shouting and felt someone gently slapping my left cheek.
“What? What happened?” I asked feeling very groggy.
“What happened? Christina! You’re a FREAKIN’ Witch! That’s what happened!” Chen answered like he had just won the MegaBall.
“Huh?” I asked intelligently.
Ichi helped me to my feet then looking squarely into my eyes he said:
“Christina, you’re a witch!”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought I heard you say. Bullshit!”
“No bullshit, Chris!”
“Don’t call me ‘Chris’!” I hissed.
“Um…no bullshit, Christina. Better?”
I nodded.
“Do it again,” my co-worker exclaimed with child-like exuberance.
I glared at him.
“I’m serious! Come on Christina. Do it just this once. Pleeeease?”
“What should I try to create next? A witch’s wand, Haggrad?” I asked sarcastically as I held out my upturned right hand again.
“Fuuuuuuuuh!” He wheased as his eyes almost popped out of his head- his mouth a gaping cavern.
“Ther…there’s a-a-a-a-a-a-a…a magic wand in my hand!” I cried in horror as I just stared at the thing!
“Sooooooo…so are you affiliated with DC, Marvel, or Dark Horse Comics?” Chen deadpanned nervously.
“What?” I looked up from the ornate wooden shaft in my shaking palm.
“Can’t be Marvel, they already have the ‘Red Witch’; so DC or Dark Horse, Hermione?”
“Hermione?” I groused as I glared at him.
“Ummmm…riiiiiight. Maybe we should get back to work?” Ichi grinned nervously.
At first I thought he was looking at my chest, but then I followed his horrified stare.
I was actually pointing the unexplained wand at him!
“Go away!” I shouted and went to drop the wooden shaft only to have it disappear!
A stifling silence descended onto the garage as we both looked to my right hand in amazement.
“Yeah…I think getting back to work is-is… it’s a great idea. I um… I’d rather we not say or-or tell anyone about this?”
Ichi’s expression didn’t change, but he nodded a few time. His attention never left my hand.
“Okay. Good.” I agreed nervously before turning and wondering back to my whiteboard in a full on daze.
Had I just um…’conjured’ some rags and then a magic wand?
 
 

 
 
“Finally, Antarran! Finally, you have discovered your true talent. Now wake up, you lazy bones!”
“Wait! Who are you? Where are you?” I shouted to an empty apartment as I jumped from my bed.
Quickly snatching my phone, I unlocked my screen and stared at the date. Tuesday? But it had felt like I was somewhere… I tried to remember where I had been but drew a hazy blank. It seemed that information hadn’t transcended from dream to reality.
Approximately one third of my head had changed from my original black to ‘Royal Antarran Blue’ as I had started calling the shade.
“If my dreams are fact instead of fantasy shouldn’t I have a crown or tiara?” I wondered aloud.
“Maybe I should be careful of what I wish for.” I chided myself as I carefully touched the bejeweled diadem secured proudly to my head.
I ‘willed’ it back to wherever it had come from and the thing vanished!
“That could be a handy talent. I wonder if I can make anything for breakfast? A nice egg and cheese omelet and a small orange juice might be nice.” I giggled as I motioned to the sink top.
‘I could really pack on the pounds if I keep this up.’ I thought to myself as I took the plate and glass to the countertop separating my main living area. Next time I’ll have to remember utensils, I thought as I took my sole fork from the silverware drawer in the kitchen.
I sat down on the rickety, old metal-legged bar stool that had been left from the previous renter and placed the plate and glass on the counter that separated my bedroom area from my living-dining area and placed a forkful into my mouth.
“Hmmm, not bad for newly discovered magic.” I said as I swallowed the first bite of ‘magically produced omelet. “I wonder where I got the recipe?” I giggled.
This magic stuff was actually fun!
 
 
The shrill whistle and shouting caught my attention and brought me back to the current reality. Somewhere close by, the campus police were in hot pursuit of some felon.
I noticed that I had my ‘augmented’ sight enabled. And scanned the sidewalks and crosswalks in my immediate surroundings.
I was amazed by the many various shades of orange surrounding my fellow students.
One man though had a deeper orange glow than anyone else near me. His aura was more of a light red.
Another whistle shrilled out and the man with the strange reddish aura looked around nervously. His pace increased and he seemed ‘spooked’
“Hey, you! Stop, Campus Police!” an officer shouted as he appeared from around the corner of a building behind the nervous guy.
The guy started to jog after looking back at the cop.
Stop right now!” The patrolman shouted. As he sped up.
Mr. Nervous broke out into a full on sprint.
I guess he was the suspect?
The cop looked like he was contacting someone on his radio and, by my observations, wasn’t going to come close to catching his fugitive.
‘Wouldn’t it be funny if the bad guy slipped on a banana peel and got caught?’ I thought humorously.
To my amazement, the escaping ‘person of interest’ slipped and landed flat on his back, sliding to a stop after several feet, and groaning in pain. Beside his head lay a discarded, blackened banana peel!
“Oh, this is one for the books!” The officer laughed/wheezed as he passed by me, slowing to an easy jog.
“I better get to class.” I said to myself as I cautiously looked around to see if anyone had seen what I assumed I did.
 
 
A large cardboard box measuring roughly three feet square by two feet high sat on my worktable as I entered the garage.
“Hey, Christina. Prototyping delivered the new emitter about an hour ago. Need help unpacking it?” Chen asked as he walked over.
“It really shouldn’t be too heavy. I calculated about seven pounds.”
“Seven? Seven pounds? Damn! Couldn’t you make it any lighter?” He asked, stunned.
“Why? Is it still too heavy for use on a spacecraft?” I asked innocently.
“We were alotted eighty pounds for the whole unit. Hell, the bell nozzle and steering servos take up most of that! About sixty pounds.” He revealed.
“I thought it was pretty heavy when we were mounting it to the test cradle.” I admitted.
“Ah! I see we got our new emitter!” Dr. Smithe’s voice rang out through the garage. “Why isn’t it installed and being readied for preliminaries?”
“Chen said they just delivered it an hour ago, Doctor, and I just got here.” I informed him.
“Oh. Well, let’s get to it! The sooner we test this baby the sooner we get paid.”
“We get paid, sir?” I asked sarcastically.
Smithe glared at me then grinned. “Yeeeeessss, we get paid. But not if it doesn’t get assembled! Hop to it!”
 
 
This evening Dr. Smithe actually helped me install the new emitter. That surprised me as he usually spent our work sessions helping Chen.
“So we’re ready then?” he asked as I clicked a control cable plug into place and securely safety-wired it.
“Not yet, Doctor. Chen needs to breakout the servo control signals, re-terminate them, connect them to the appropriate emitter array element drivers, and reprogram the controller to recognize our new phased array emitter.
“Hmmm. It looks a bit skeletal, Everhardt. Can we dress it up a skoash?”
“For the preliminaries we really don’t need cute or fancy for demonstration, Doctor.” I said but could see there was something he wasn’t telling me. “The big-wigs are coming, aren’t they?” I asked with narrowed eyes.
“I’m afraid so, Everhardt. NSA, NASA, DOD, The Pentagon… Next Wednesday. Need I say more?”
“I’ll get back to designing a protective shroud behind the emitter. Friday okay if drafting rushes it through?”
Smithe’s smile was warm and full of pride. It warmed me to my core. He quickly turned and almost ‘skipped’ over to Chen’s worktable. Within the next hour I had a very elegant and functional shroud designed and sent the files to drafting with a ‘rush’ icon in the message’s header. I also explained in the accompanying email that we needed it as-soon-as, if not sooner.
After dinner, Smithe again disappeared and left us on our own.
“He really, really likes you, Christina. You might wanna be on the lookout, he might want to adopt you.” Ichi teased as I walked over to see if he needed a hand.
“Yeah, sure. Could you go over there and grab that logic analyzer? I’m having a little trouble with the timing pulses. I think one of the data lines are hanging.
I don’t know why I did it, but I held out my hands and thought about the piece of test equipment coming to me.
“You better be glad Ol’ Smithie isn’t here to see that, Christina! He’d throw us both out in less than a heartbeat.”
“I just wanted to see if I could do it.” I said as I handed the analyzer over to him.
“Thank you, by the way.” He smiled and turned back to the lifeboat.
 
 
The rest of my week went by relatively quickly and I found my propensity toward magic developing at an astounding rate. By Sunday evening, I found several ‘novel’ uses for my wand and I discovered that my ability to cast, dare I say it, ‘spells’ improving rapidly. There were now ‘wards’ on my door and windows to repel burglars. Not kill, but repel. I figured a fall from a second floor apartment wouldn’t hurt too badly.
We also concluded our research on my proposed ‘recovery screen’. We had several manufactured for the legacy emitters Chen was using on the Lifeboat. I had adapted a larger one to our new IPDs5 Drive module and had just plugged it into a modified power converter.
 
 
“The IPDs5 looks very professional, Everhardt. In fact, it looks ready to be installed on one of our Orion launch systems.” Smithe complimented Monday afternoon.
“Thank you, but I’m not sure it’ll have enough thrust at this size to power the Orion, doctor.” I downplayed his compliment.
“AH! Eureka! Found the problem…finally!” Chen shouted from further into the garage.
“Finally found the problem, doc! One of the flash mems had the wrong access speed. I just need to change it and we’ll be golden for the demo on Wednesday. Ricky Lynn… um… Prof. Samuels would be proud of me!” Chen reported- small circuit board in hand, as Smithe and I stopped next to him. “She was right. Talkin’ to the circuitry like it’s your kid really does help.” He admitted.
Aside from a moderate sized rat’s nest hanging out from the interior of the lifeboat, it looked very futuristic, capable, and ready. It’s newly cleaned, glossy white skin reflected the bright overhead lights beautifully where dirty handprints and other various sized smudges had marred the effect before.
“So this thing really puts people into suspended animation?” I asked Chen, but Smithe answered instead.
“A proven technology from Nuclear medicine used to cryogenically statialize their varied species test subjects. I just scaled it up for higher primates: gorillas and in this case, humans. Of course I had to modify the cryo rates and thawing dwells to fit human anatomy and physiology. Want to try it on for size, Everhardt?”
A violent shudder shot through me!
“Are you feeling alright, Everhardt? Did I say something that upset you?” Smithe asked in alarm.
“No, I’m okay, doctor. I don’t know where that came from.”
“Someone walking on your grave maybe?” Chen teased.
“I don’t find that funny at all, Mr. Chen! Not funny!” I hissed, turned, and stomped back to my worktable.
The night came to a relatively calm end.
 
 

 
 
“They’re here.” Chen said excitedly as I entered the garage. It was still early and when Dr. Smithe emailed me it was a request to be here at 10AM for the first demonstration.
Last evening we had mounted the completed lifeboat into the test chamber for today’s demonstration. Dr. Smithe had decided to present it as an emergency system NASA should incorporate into every Orion. Tomorrow would be our new IPD’s turn. But first came our project introduction in one of the smaller lecture halls.
 
 
Together, we walked outside and entered our makeshift control room. There, Smithe introduced us to three uniformed military men, two nicely suited men, and two smartly dressed businesswomen.
“Initialize propulsion and attitude emitters.” Smithe ordered.
“Propulsion and attitude ‘emitters’?” One of the women, Anna McCorkle: NASA’s Orion Project Lead Engineer, questioned.
“Our new designs utilize a completely new propulsion system that consists of several small ion generators, or what we call Ion Propulsion Drives. We’ve eliminated the cumbersome exhaust nozzle and its accompanying control servomechanisms to make the system lighter, more compact, and more reliable. Everhardt here came up with the idea and I urged her to refine it. Although the emitters used on our lifeboat are actually the spares from our previous IPDs4 prototype that we have already tested for proof of concept. You’ll see Everhardt’s genius incorporated into the IPDs5 prototype in the test chamber tomorrow, ma’am.”
“Lifeboat external power enabled.” I announced. “Power bus stable at 1% load.”
“Flight and Cryo control system booting, Dr. Smithe.” Chen reported. “Flight and cryo computer online.” He added two seconds later.
“Emitter startup successful. Receiving 35% usable positive feedback. Switching to main battery power bus. Computer is modulating positive feedback into battery charging circuit.” I reported with a smile. “Charging system is online and requesting only a 0.3% charge level from external power buss. Battery bus load holding at 5%”
“What’s this ‘positive feedback’ thing I keep hearing,” the Air Force Colonel asked? I caught him staring at my hair until he noticed that I noticed and looked back toward Smithe.
“Our initial tests of the IPDs4 indicated that the unit actually fed back a noticeable potential into the main supply. We decided to use the power and not waste it. Our power conversion efficiency jumped to over eighty percent.
“Astounding. Continue.” Col. Armstrong requested sounding very pleased.
Smithe nodded to Chen.
“Enabling Cryo system start.” He announced.
“MPB load jumped to 10%. BCS requesting 5% charge level.” I said with a smile.
“Start the Cryo stasis sequence. This is the critical point in our test, ladies and gentlemen. The Cryo stasis procedure requires the heaviest power demand from the onboard supply. The higher the load we see, the shorter the occupant will stay in Cryo-sleep.
“MPB up to 35%; BCS requesting 35% charging level. Positive feedback holding at…” I rechecked my reading to be certain. “Holding at 35%!”
“What?” Chen looked over at my display screen and his mouth dropped open slightly. “Damn.”
“Is something wrong, Doctor? Was the feedback not supposed to hold steady?” Anna McCorkel’s collegue, Marta Dennis-Green questioned worriedly.
“No. The data is even better than we presumed.” Smithe answered.
Marta gently touched my shoulder as she leaned down to look over my shoulder.
“Cryo stasis sequence at 50%.” Chen alerted.
“MPB and BCS loads are still holding.” I said gleefully.
“Better than expected, I take it, Christina?” Marta whispered.
I nodded and kept my eyes on my readings.
“Love the blue hair by the way. Very daring and exotic.” She added in a whisper.
“Thank you, ma’am.” I answered quietly.
“Cryo stasis achieved. 100%. Cryo system switching to maintenance mode.”
“MPB and BCS loads dropping back to 12% and 10% respectively.” I reported.
“Okay, Everhardt. Give it 1% control signal on the positive attitude emitters. Station-keeping mode.” Smithe requested as his face went serious.
As I had done last week, I made the adjustment to the slide control and clicked ‘Set’.
“Test cradle load cells are indicating one thousand pounds of thrust, Doctor.” Chen said with a very big smile.
“Positive feedback jumped to 40%; MPB up to 12.6%; BCS to 10.1%” I read off the levels in disbelief.
“Is that even possible? Basically pulling power out of the vacuum of space, I mean?” Marta Green gasped. “and at only one percent?”
“Everhardt. Open the external power bus breaker to remove it from the lifeboat power buss.” Smithe ordered.
Reaching to the left of my console, I tripped the power breaker and watched monitor 4 to see it rack out.
“External power is disconnected, doctor. The lifeboat is sustaining itself.”
“Any change to the loads?”
“MPB and BCS loads are holding steady.” I reported.
“Bravo, Christina. Bravo.” Marta Green congratulated and patted my shoulder softly several times.
 
 
“God, I feel good!” I exclaimed to my empty apartment after closing and locking the door then re-enabling the magical ward I had placed on it. I was actually starting to get the hang of this magic stuff!
Our test of the lifeboat was an unprecedented success and the two engineers from NASA were very impressed.
“This calls for a little celebration.” I said as I pointed to the counter-topped room divider. A bottle of wine and a clean crystal wine glass suddenly appeared. I motioned with my finger and the cork ‘jumped’ out of the bottle with a ‘pop’.
Pouring a glass, I sipped the liquid and approved.
Yep. I was quickly developing my talent. Now all I needed was some good, sharp Cheddar and I could sit back and relax to watch my favorite stream on my small, hard to hear (because the speaker was so small), cell phone.
‘Maybe I should conjure up a wall-size TV?’ I thought to myself.
“Naw. That would be taking advantage of this miracle I had received. I thought about and pulled from my backpack, my latest participation check. With my magic skills advancing I could apply the whole amount to my rent.
That helped me feel even better. I actually felt lighter.
 
 
“Dammit, Antarran! Get yer lazy ass outta the sack! Times awastin’!”
“I’m up!” I shouted to the near-empty apartment as I was suddenly on my feet and shaking fiercely.
“Well, that wasn’t the same voice I heard previously.” I moaned, cradling my head in my hands after calming down a few moments. This time the voice had just about deafened me!
“Maybe I should request names before I talk to anyone in these dreams?” I suggested to myself.
Today’s inspection revealed that over half my hair had changed color, but the overall variegation gave it a muted, steel blue cast now.
 
 
“Morning, Christina. Ready for the big demo?” Ichi asked as I opened then locked my pack in the desk drawer under my worktable.
“Oh, hey. Anna and Marta from NASA asked to speak to you as soon as you arrived. They said they’d meet you out beside the Control Room. Sounds like they want to steal you away from me… us.” He said. I detected the slightest bit of red in his cheeks.
I smiled and turned to go meet the two VIPs.
“Oh! Almost forgot. Thanks for shaming the Doc. He finally let the moths escape!” He excitedly reached into his back pocket and handed me a plain, windowed, business envelope.
My eyes widened exponentially as I read the amount of the Department of Defense’s pay check and attached receipt.
“Yeah, I just went up a few tax brackets too.” Chen laughed.
“I better get out there.” I pointed to the door that led outside to the test chamber and Control room.
“Here’s to that being doubled or tripled if they offer, Christina. Go get ‘em!”
 
 
“Ah, Miss Everhardt. Thank you for seeing us. Marta and I would like to ask you a few questions. First: How do you do that? Your hair, I mean. Do you add some every night?” Anna McCorkle asked with a wide, warm smile.
“Actually, I’m participating in a gene therapy study over at Pitt. This,” I grabbed a handful to illustrate, “seems to be an unseen side effect.”
“Well don’t change it! Marta and I both agree it sets you apart.”
“Like nobility.” Marta Green added quickly.
I was stunned! How could they know?
“Miss Everhardt?”
“Yeah, sorry. I sometimes get flashes of ideas at the oddest times. You were saying?” I apologized, trying to cover my reaction to the innocuous statement.
“I hadn’t said anything else. You just froze when Marta added her two-cents. Anyway, we’d like to talk to you about your radical new propulsion system. What made you decide to use a phased ion ‘emitter’ and forego the thrust bell?” Anna asked.
Dr. Smithe’s prototype already utilized the ion generator before I joined the project, ma’am. After I found a tiny math mistake, we retested his version of the IPD. All three of us were stunned by the output of that thing.” I said with a smile.
“How much output are we talking, Miss Everhardt?” Marta asked this time. She seemed extremely interested. Maybe she was the lead propulsion engineer?
Twenty-four thousand pounds at only five percent control signal.
There was a stagnant pause outside of the Control Room that seemed to last a few minutes.
“You did say twenty-four ‘K’ at only five percent, right?” Anna sounded taken aback.
I nodded.
“Mother of God! How can that even be possible, Christina? I can call you Christina, right?”
I nodded.
“Will it work in an atmosphere?” Marta questioned.
“Maybe? Dr. Smithe didn’t discuss any tests within normal atmospheric conditions.” I answered.
“I’ll go talk to him, Marta. Be right back.” Anna said as she turned and headed to Smithe’s office.
Marta smiled at me as we waited. “Have you started to think about your post grad career, Christina? I’m certain there’s a place for you at NASA. With what I’ve seen so far, I’d gladly recommend you. You could be our ‘princess in the rough’ at JPL.” She sang as she motioned to my hair.
I looked to the woman with narrowed eyes.
What did she know that I was missing?
“Look, just think about our offer, but please remember this phrase that I use as a mantra to null the day to day stress.”
“Deorum protegas me, et custodiet me donec inventa est.”
“What’s it mean,” I asked with interest.
“Just a little prayer for protection, calm, and luck. Commit it to memory, Christina. It might come in handy one day.”
“Um…okay?” I agreed hesitantly. It sounded like Latin, I thought and repeated the phrase a few times until I thought I had it memorized.
 
 
“Ladies and Gentlemen. Today’s test firing of our latest version of our Ion Propulsion Drive System or IPDs5 as we call it has been modified somewhat. I have been asked… challenged, actually… by Dr. Anna McCorkle to conduct the IPDs5 tests in Earth normal atmosphere.” Smithe paused to address any blatant negative statements.
“So… Everhardt? Start re-pressurizing the test chamber.”
“Certainly, Doctor,” I said as I flipped the switch that disabled the chamber’s vacuum pump and enabled the sequence that would gradually let air back into the chamber.
“Re-pressurization in ten minutes.” I announced.
 
 

 
 
“Test chamber is fully normalized, Doctor.” Christina reported.
We had been patiently waiting for the ten minutes to elapse to initiate the IPDs5 demo.
“Everhardt. Bring the MPB online.” Ol’ Smithie ordered and she quickly and efficiently carried out the request.
“IPDs5 control system coming online, Doctor.” I reported, as my eyes didn’t budge from my display screen. “Controller online.” I added as my notification pop-up went green.”
“As we did before, Everhardt. Initialize IPDs5 Emitter.”
Christina clicked her mouse a couple times and we heard a slightly louder whistling noise through the plywood walls. As like last time it sounded like a turbine spinning up.
“IPDs5 Emitter initialized and online, Doctor.” She confirmed.
“1% control signal, Everhardt.”
Again Christina made the necessary adjustments and monitor 1 showed the new emitter start to glow a dull red.
“Load cells are reading four thousand pounds of thrust, Doctor.” I gasped in awe of the sheer power this thing was producing!
Behind me, our two NASA guests also gasped in amazement.
“Chen? Run the joystick around the outer extents to test the array response.”
As I had during yesterdays test of our lifeboat, I slowly moved the joystick on my console around in a circle and closely monitored the test chamber load cells.
“Tracking accuracy within 1% with only a four nanosecond response delay. WOW!” I reported and succumbed to my building excitement.
In my peripheral, Dr. McCorkle leaned down to Christina.
“So. When can you start? This thing is completely off the charts, honey.”
“IPDs5 Internal Convertor is receiving all of its power from the IPD positive feedback circuit. External MPB load is 0%.” She announced.
“Open External MPB. Let’s see how this responds on internal only.” Dr. Smithe requested.
“External power bus is now disconnected from IPDs5 test unit, Doctor.” She announced.
I looked out to the prototype lifeboat we had left on display just outside the Control room door. Several of our guests had requested seeing the inside of the highly modified Cryo chamber. I had to wheel it out earlier this morning after replacing my test program with a first rev of the actual lifeboat operating system complete with a basic star chart database. I was that sure the NASA engineers would pick it up.
“So how much can your test stand withstand, Dr. Smithe?” The Marine Major inquired. “I mean if this system is this efficient, shouldn’t we consider putting it in our next generation fighters and transports?”
“Our test chamber is certified to one million pounds of force. Each load cell is rated at over two million, Major Summers.”
“Can we take it up to… say five hundred thousand pounds, Doc?” Major Summers requested.
“Have the deadman cables been attached and tested, Chen?” Ol’ Smithie asked.
“Everhardt and I double checked them before we started depressurization last evening, doctor.” I affirmed.
“Everhardt? Start ramping up the control signal until the load cells indicate five hundred thousand pounds of thrust. Coordinate with her, Chen.” Smithie requested.
Christina’s eyes met mine. She didn’t seem too enthusiastic about complying with doc’s request, but I smiled and winked at her in support.
“2% Control signal.”
“Eight thousand pounds.” I announced.
“3% Control signal.” Christina said.
“Sixteen thousand pounds.” I gasped.
“BPS has stabilized and charging system is tending. IPDs5 Emitters are now self-sustaining. 4%.”
“Thirty-eight thousand.”
Christina’s mouth dropped open and her eyes looked ready to drop out of their sockets, but she made another adjustment with her mouse
“5%.” She announced with a slight vibrato in her voice.
“Eighty thousand!” I announced excitedly.
“6%.”
“My God! Two hundred thousand!”
Christina began biting or maybe chewing on her lower lip nervously.
“7%.”
“Five hundred thousand- eight hundred! Hooooly shit, Christina!”
“Bravo, Miss Everhardt! Dr. Smithe, you have one helluva team! Dr. Green and I can hardly believe what we’re seeing here! Astounding!”
“Take it up another percentage!” The Army General demanded. “You engineering types always underrate things.”
“Gen. Mann, I would strongly advise against any further control increase. If my observations are correct, the next percent advancement will more than double the thrust the IPDs5 is producing. Please reconsider your request?” Dr. Smithe insisted.
“Doc? The foundation cells are already reporting excessive strain. The whole test chamber might launch if we give it any more.”
“Just take the damn thing up another percent, Smithe!” The DOD isn’t paying your project to cut and run!”
“General?” Major Summers called for the man’s attention. “I’m with Smithe on this one, sir. They’ve already established what would seem to be a new benchmark in interstellar propulsion systems. If this IPD produces five hundred thousand at just seven percent, I’m sure even you can figure out the math on what it can really do! Let’s not push our luck.”
“Summers? It’s your butt that this thing is going to be hurtling through the solar system! I’d think you in particular would be curious about its max output!” Gen. Mann argued.
“General, I have complete confidence in this team’s abilities! I’m satisfied this propulsion system is our ticket to exploring our solar system in a relatively short time.”
USAF Colonel Charles Armstrong was busy tapping away on his tablet.
“General? By my calculations sir, this IPD system will produce in excess of four trillion pounds of viable thrust! Hell! That’s enough force to change the orbit of Earth by…” He tapped something else into his tablet. He gulped loudly.
“Point thirty-eight degrees!”
“Noted, Colonel, now take it up another percent, Everhardt!” Mann demanded.
As one we both looked to Dr. Smithe for his decision. With a very wrinkled brow, he gave a very slow and slight nod.
Christina’s hand was shaking violently as she reached for and moved her mouse to apply the requested change.
My load cells went haywire! Even the test chamber foundation load cells instantly turned red!
“Shut it down!” I screamed as I punched the emergency shutdown mushroom on my console.
The Foundation sensors went offline. And I noticed the test chamber- as a whole- lurch forward a few inches.
“Shit! She’s breaking loose! Everyone evacuate the Control room!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“You Fucking Asshole!” Major Summers grabbed his superior and thrust him through the thin, plywood door. “You are fucking dead meat, Mann!”
The two men crashed out the control room door and our other guests hurried out also.
“Time to get out, Christina. We’re gonna lose the IPD, but we can build another one. We can’t build another Christina Everhardt.
A loud ‘thud’ and the sound of heavy metal groaning told me that the IPD was probably free and pushing against the test chamber walls.
“Christina! We need to leave!” I urged excitedly.
“I’m resetting the control signal to 0%. I just need to set it and…done! Let’s get out of here! Hopefully there will be something salvageable! I’m right behind you.” She shouted over the disheartening groaning and moaning of the thick test chamber walls.
I made it only a few meters from the Control Room when all hell broke loose! The ear-splitting squeal of metal finally reaching its failure limit caused me to turn around.
To my horror, Christina flew from the Control Room as it crumbled and straight into our Lifeboat! The force of her hitting back first knocked the prototype from its display stand and landed flat. The lifeboat’s hatch slammed closed and its emitters initialized immediately! “Oh God!” I screamed.
Apparently the rough entry had triggered the emergency escape protocol I had just loaded in! Doc’s hand grabbed my shoulder to get my attention.
“What’s happening, Ichi?” He demanded.
“Christina’s in there. She was thrown in by whatever blew the Control building to shreds!” I rushed my explanation as I heard hushed screaming and pounding coming from the lifeboat.
“Oh, God, no!”
“Where’s Christina?” Dr. McCorkle asked urgently while rubbing her ears to clear them.
“In there!” I pointed to the lifeboat as it slowly rose off the ground and hovered about two feet above the concrete driveway.
“What on Earth?” McCorkle gasped.
“I finished the emergency escape programming and loaded it in last night so we could test it tomorrow.
I noticed the small observation window on the module fog and all noises coming from inside stopped!
The lifeboat changed orientation- becoming perpendicular to the ground- towards space- then, with several crisp sonic booms, disappeared from view.
Major Summers, currently rearranging Gen. Mann’s face, stopped and turned.
“What the hell was that?” He demanded.
“Apparently their lifeboat works perfectly.” Dr. Marta Dennis-Green deadpanned.
“Christina!” Doc screamed to the sky!
“Can one of you contact the authorities? I want this nerf-herder arrested and placed in irons!” Dr. McCorkle shouted to any of us that would listen.
“I want him charged with premeditated murder!” She demanded.

 
 
“High Priestess! There seems to be an unknown anomaly in the raw material storage compartment. Safety Protocols have been engaged.”
“Do we know the nature of the anomaly, Base?” I asked.
“The anomaly is severely encrusted and shielded with raw celestial material and has just been revealed to sensors after the last material requisition. According to my most recent sensor scans, it contains a small reserve of Current.”
“How is that an anomaly?”
“My sensors indicate that the Current reserve is shielded by a material similar to that used on the original Terran Orion series Deep Space Probe: Pegasus.”
“Yer shittin’ me!” Mom demanded in surprise.
“Pressurize the storage bay, Base. We’re heading there now.” I ordered as I started walking toward Pegasus’ hangar bay.
“Um, so do we actually know where this ‘raw material storage compartment’ is, Chance?” Charli deadpanned.
“Of course! Its right behind the manufacturing bay.” I giggled.
“Naturally.” Dad replied sarcastically.
I led our entire Coven past Pegasus and through a single access hatch then down a long set of metal grate stairs and landings. Reaching the manufacturing bay deck, we continued through an area about half the size of our Broom Closet. As we walked, we passed several pieces of huge manufacturing apparatus, a partially completed Broom fuselage, and several huge, exotic looking, elevator platforms.
“So the manufacturing bay is directly under the flight line. Makes sense.” Dad said as we reached a huge, imposing, reinforced door. “I always wondered how our Brooms suddenly appeared in the Closet.”
“Yeah, dad, you found me out.” I grinned mischievously. “Base. Status on raw material storage bay.” I asked.
“Compatible atmosphere has been established. Harmful radiation levels are well below limits.”
“Unlock and open storage bay, Base.”
The huge, airlock-style door began parting from the middle.
“Wow, I didn’t think I over commissioned that much!” I said as I saw what was left of the asteroid they said my daughter had captured and brought to Mare just a couple weeks ago.
“Mom?” Savanna pointed to the exact center of the ninety-meter wide, ‘space rock’.
“I can almost see the Current right in there. I might be able to get it out without disturbing it too much.”
Chantell, Mom, and Dad gasped as the unknown module appeared in front of Savanna.
“There. Still intact, as promised.” She smiled.
“Do you guys recognize this, Mom? Dad? Chantell?” I asked, observing their suddenly pale faces.
“Not this particular model, Chance. We had six of them on Pegasus, though. It looks like one of our emergency escape pods. Trained on one for about two weeks, but never had to use one, thank the Gods.” Chantell related.
“Charli? Y-you don’t think… d-do you?” Mom’s face was beyond white- a single tear appearing from each eye and slowly rolled down her cheeks- as she continued to stare at the battered and beaten escape module. It looked like it had seen much better days then been blasted through hell itself.
“Mom? I’m detecting a protection spell. On the inside.”
“What exactly are we looking at, girls?” Aunt Cora asked curiously.
“One of the original lifeboats incorporated into all Orion series manned, deep space probes. Circa: 2107AD. If this is the one I’m thinking of though, it left Earth 28, April, 2102AD.” Mom said, stoically trying to fight back more tears.
“You’re kidding?” I gasped. “How do you know the exact date, mom?”
“Because your mother and I… we watched in stunned amazement as it launched, honey. This was the prototype for our EEP’s,” Charli said sadly as she too broke into tears. “That poor kid! What a horrible way to go! And she had such a promising career ahead of her too!”
“What kid, Dad?” I asked softly, alarmed that there still might be someone in there- more likely their remains, though.
“What happened?” I asked as I enabled my Current sight. This definitely was the source of Current our base had detected.
“We had flown from Houston to Pittsburgh early on in our mission training, to Carnegie-Mellon University. A research scientist, Dr. Phynnias Smithe, had put together a team… just him and two brilliant students, actually. Anywho, they were given very generous funding by the DOD to develop a new propulsion system to be used on our mission through the Kuiper Belt and other more ‘classified’ applications. Pegasus was to be the first to utilize the new IPD or Ion Propulsion Drive, as they called it. Hopewell and I traveled with Dr. Anna McCorkle and Dr. Marta Dennis-Green- two of the most impressive technical minds NASA had at the time- as well as a few other high-ranking military and NSA Ass-hats to view the demonstration of the prototype they had come up with.”
“We almost lost your mother as mission commander that day, Chance.” Dad added quickly.
“I still wish I could have strung Mann up that day, Charli!” Mom growled ferociously.
“Because of U.S. Army General Phillip W. Mann, we lost a brilliant young woman in an incident he, himself had created by thinking he knew more than the designers!” Charli explained.
“He didn’t know JACK!” Mom spat venomously.
“I believe you stated that fact to infinitum at his court marshal, dear.” Dad tried to placate her before continuing.
“Their demonstration had more than proven that the IPD system was the way to go, but ol’ general ‘I’m-the-damn-boss-and-I-know-what’s-best’- oh, he wanted more! The ninety-centimeter cube of a drive was already producing a little over five hundred thousand pounds of thrust at only seven percent control signal, but the asshole wanted Smithe to have his team take it up another notch to eight percent. If I remember right, the unit became self-sustaining at only three percent. Is that right, Hope?”
Mom nodded. “I had never seen anything like it before. Its efficiency was way off the charts for the time. It seemed like Phynnias Smithe, Christina Everhardt, and Ichi Chen had somehow done the improbable, because we hadn’t heard of Current yet.”
“Looking back on it, that incredible young lady was so far ahead of her time… shit… she would’ve fit right into the Science Ministry today!” She added.
“Yeah… I’m wondering if she knew about Current at the time and held the discovery secret, Hope.” Dad offered. “Remember how she stared at that one camera monitor? It was like she knew exactly what the IPD could do- like she could see the Current.”
“I remember, Charles. She seemed awfully concerned as that thing topped five hundred thousand! You remember her hands? How they were shaking?”
Mom snapped her fingers in revelation. “She knew! She had to be a natural Current Mage! That’s why Smithe hired her, I bet! That’s how they got such crazy performance out of that engine!”
“So what happened that this escape pod is way out here? We have to be some nine hundred thousand LY’s from Terra.” Kate asked after she did a fast calculation of Mare’s current location.
“The way it took off, I’m surprised it isn’t further out. Five sonic booms! Count ‘em, ladies, five!” Dad said, holding up his hand with fingers extended, still appearing to be very impressed by that fact.
“Oh! I remember you saying something about that incident.” Chantell piped up. “That’s the chick you said had half a head of blue hair, right?”
“She had blue hair?” Aunt Cora straightened up immediately.
Chantell got this curious expression and walked closer to the battered escape pod and started to look it over.
“I’m thinking she was dying it, Cora. That was a waning fad at the time. Though, the second day we were there she had… a… a little… bit… oh shit!” Mom swore but suddenly went silent as her mouth dropped open a bit.
“She was Antarran?” Simone gasped out in shock! “But…But I didn’t think Antarra had the tech to travel all the way to the Terran system way back then?”
“We didn’t, Sugar Plum. That’s what’s so intriguing about this escape module and Hope’s story.” Aunt Cora explained. “How could a young Antarran even be on Ancient Terra?”
“Can we not call it ‘ancient’, Cora?” Mom pleaded dramatically.
“Of course, older sister.” Cora smiled deviously.
“Hey, guys?” Chantell called out. “If I’m remembering my EEP training right, I’m thinking this one is still working?”
“That’s impossible, Shan! They were only rated for five years in deep space before the battery died!” Mom argued.
“Then why is the observation port still iced over?” She asked while trying to rub away the dirt and debris that partially obscured the transparent port. “And this isn’t dirt, age, or wear etching! It’s condensation from the outside air freezing on the port, Hope!”
“What’s the external diagnostics port say?” Mom quickly asked.
“There isn’t one. The skin’s smooth except for the control emitters. No access panels at all, Hope.” Chantell replied with a look of concern.
“Base? Scan all low-band comm. channels. See if you find a repeating beacon or some other type of SOS type transmission in this storage bay.” Dad ordered hurriedly.
“I’m detecting a weak signal at approximately five point nine gigahertz.”
“Is it a repeating beacon?” Mom asked.
“I am detecting packetized data burs-.”
“Base. Reference my encrypted, historic database aboard Pegasus and search for twenty-second century, Terran transmission protocols for a match.” Charli quickly interrupted.
“Match found. Applying decryption algorithms.”
“Display to my DataTab, please.” Dad requested.
Dad produced her DataTab and began examining what was displayed.
“My Gods! She’s still alive, but barely! We have to get her out of there. The power source is almost gone. A week or two at the most before it’s flat.” Dad announced.
“Could she be powering it, Charli?” Mom speculated aloud.
“It’s possible if she really is a Current Mage, I suppose.”
“So how do we get it open?” Lyra asked as she got closer to the failing pod.
“Maybe we should get it out of here to someplace where we can quickly transfer her to a medical facility.” Sonya suggested.
“Would a modern day medical facility even have the necessary equipment to help her?” Kimbou Serangetti wondered. “I’ve never heard of this sort of emergency measure before.”
“Let’s just pry it open!” Aquia suggested conjuring her wand and taking aim.
“Hold on kid! These things were finicky when they were new. This one is over fourteen hundred years old and looks like it’s seen several epic battles.” Mom warned.
“Everyone stand back, I want to try something. It’s a longshot, but maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“Care to share, dear?” Mom nudged.
“I seem to remember that the team’s programmer mentioned something about loading the first version of his functional program into this the evening before. If there are no comm. or data ports on the outside, maybe it’s wireless…Wi-Fi, NFC, IoT, or bluetooth. Let me try to establish an open control socket… yes, there it is- the pod’s domain. Now all I have to do is establish a link to the host and hope it’s not encrypte… Shit! He did encrypt it! That guy really knew what he was doing! I need a password.”
“Um…CMU?” Mom suggested.
“No it’s something he would remember for a long time.”
“Christina’. Try ‘Christina’. The guy looked smitten with her when we met them, Charli.”
“Yep. Got it. I love you Hopewell Summers!” Dad smiled brightly then her expression darkened. “I- I don’t believe it!”
“What?” Mom gulped.
“The flight computer window was the first thing to pop up. Somehow, this thing was headed for Antarra!”
“Excuse me?” Aunt Cora shrieked. “Why would it be headed to Antarra, Charli?”
“Here. Look.” She passed her the DataTab.
Aunt Cora’s face drained of all color as she passed it back.
Dad tried several other things on her DataTab before she looked to mom sadly.
“I found a small audio file, Hope.”
“Can you play it back?” Mom said, looking very worried.
“It’s an old mp5. Hang on.”
Dad fumbled around for a few seconds then grimaced.
“It’s pretty degraded but here it is.
“Antarra……… Deorum protegas me……..”
“Well. She definitely knew about Antarra.” Aunt Cora remarked. “I don’t recognize the rest.”
“I do!” Chantell gasped- her eyes bugging out. “The whole phrase saved my life twenty-two years ago.”
“Your lifepod spell?” I asked in shock.
“Yep! Somehow she knew about our protection spell way back when. Is she a time traveler, maybe?”
“Quick! Cast the counter spell and let’s get her out!” Simone urged.
“We have to find a way into the escape pod first, Simone.” Dad reminded.
“Well, is there a disable button in there somewhere, Dad?” I asked, pointing to his DataTab.
“There should be, but I’m not sure what he called it. Do you remember what they called this back at CMU, Hope?”
“Something to do with ‘freeze’- cry, or something? That and ‘stay-zaz’, I think- whatever that acronym meant.”
“Cryo-stasis’?” Garith offered. “Mom taught a module on the practices of early space mariners and told us about how the ships of that time didn’t move very fast? She told us that some subspecies tried something called Cryo-stasis to keep resources aboard their ships practical.”
“That’s the key! Thanks, honey.”
“Way to go, baby.” Sandra praised her daughter and hugged her.
“Moooom!” Garith blushed in embarrassment.
“Found it! Initiating Cryo-stasis thaw sequence.” Dad announced as she tapped a specific place on her DataTab.
A small red light started flashing just below the observation port.
 
 
“Hey! The port is starting to clear.” Simone said excitedly five long minutes later.
She gasped!
“She’s Antarran! Aunt Cora, Link, Mom, look! She’s Antarran!”
The flashing red light changed to green and remained steady. After a minute it slowly faded off and the pod emitted a quiet ‘pop’.
“The pod’s open. Quick, get her out!” Simone cried.
“Careful opening that lid, ladies. There was a limited sanitation system incorporated…good for five years at best. This one lasted well past that so there might be some, um, buildup.” Charli advised.
Chantell, Simone, and I helped mom carefully raise the pod’s lid. It was very stiff and we tried hard not to break the hinges with our enhanced strength.
Or to ignore the… aroma.
“She’s pretty tall for an Antarran.” Simone observed as our new guest was fully revealed. “And her hair is just everywhere- probably down to her ankles if allowed to hang free.”
“Although they called it ‘Stasis’ the body still lives- only a lot slower. Skin, hair, and fingernails still grow. Everyone please stand back and I’ll do the counter spell.” Mom said as she motioned us to step back.
My current sight enabled, I watched the protective spell dissipate then mom held her open hand over the blue-haired stranger.
“She’s barely hanging on. I’m going to try infusing her with some Current.” She announced grimly.
After a moment, Mom looked perplexed.
“I’ve given her a good charge, but it isn’t doing anything. Maybe she has internal problems I can’t sense?” She reported.
“I’ll get her up to our infirmary, mom.” Savanna volunteered.
“I wouldn’t advise transporting her by ‘flue powder’, munchkin.” Lokust advised. “I don’t think she’s strong enough to survive it.
“Then we go old school.” Chantell told us as she manifested what I think was called a ‘Stokes basket’.
“You would know, Shan.” Mom ribbed.
“Stow it, Summers! This is serious.” Chantell growled. It wasn’t her playful growl though. She was very serious about this.
As carefully and cautiously as possible we lifted the fragile woman from her long internment and into the lightweight stretcher. As Simone observed, the woman’s hair was very long and very much in need of cleaning- as was the rest of her.
“We’ll take one of the elevators in manufacturing.” I suggested as Mom and Charli waved everyone else away and lifted the stretcher.
 
 

 
 
“I just don’t understand this!” Mom groused as she looked from me to our unconscious guest. “Everything these diagnostics are saying indicates she should be awake, but she still hasn’t as much as twitched.”
Aunt Cora, Link, Janet, and Simone had seen to her basic hygiene by washing then braiding her extremely long hair and cleaning whatever had accumulated on her body during Cryo-sleep. I’m thinking it was dead skin cells that would normally flake or drop off a living body on a day to day basis. In her case, there was no place to go, and no gravity.
“Her scans indicate normal brain activity, Chance. She should be awake.”
“Maybe she’s dreaming.” I suggested.
“Possibly, but how do you figure?”
“Mom, she’s been asleep for over fourteen hundred years! It’s probably become a habit after that amount of time.”
“Huh. So a typical college kid then? Hooked on sleeping in, taking flak about it, but all-nighters for parties and examine crams.” Mom laughed.
I stood beside the infirmary’s only bed and its current occupant and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. I shook it gently.
“Christina Everhardt? Time to get up, sweetie.” I said quietly.
“I already tried that, Chance- a few times.” Mom admitted. “Though, maybe she needs a little bit of a shock.”
“Antarran! You must awaken within the next few standard minutes before you are considered late for your scheduled collaboration!” Mom commanded in a loud, serious voice.
“Hey, how’s ol’ sleepin’ beauty doin’? Oooooor would that be Rapunzel with that long-assed, blue braid?” Chantell asked as she came into the room.
“Still asleep. Mom just tried to jostle her awake.” I told her.
“Ah, the Marine way. Aaaaannnnnd…that worked, right?” Chantell giggled.
“Nope.” I answered needlessly.
“Antarran! Why must you constantly over sleep! Get up, you lazy Royal! There is work to be done!” Chantell growled using her patented ‘smooth’ demeanor.
“Huh. Narcoleptic?” She asked.
“Charli hasn’t been able to find any history on her, Shan. It’s like she never existed- typical government response considering what and how it happened.” Mom alleged, with a snort of disapproval.
“Hey, her heart rate jumped when you did that, Chantell. That’s promising.” I mentioned since I had just been watching the bed’s display.
“Let’s see if I can get more of a response.” Chantell offered and she grabbed the woman’s shoulder.
“Finally, Antarran! Finally, you have discovered your true talent. Now wake up, you lazy bones!” She said loudly, shaking her shoulder harder.
“Her heart rate just jumped again! I think she can hear or feel you, Chantell!” I said excitedly.
“Dammit, Antarran! Get yer lazy ass outta the sack! Times awastin’!” Mom shouted as she stepped in and shook the woman violently.
“I’m up!” Christina Everhardt screeched hoarsely as she instantly jumped from the table, stood poker straight for a second or two then crumbled to the deck unconscious again.
“Nice one, Leatherneck!” Is that the way you woke your subordinates while deployed?” My aunt chastised as we placed our mysterious Antarran back into bed.
“I at least got her to move, didn’t I? Mom gloated. “Better than the half-assed responses you got!”
“Yeah, Hope, I’ll give you that one. Question is…will she even wake up again?”
“Hey girls. Any changes yet?” Aunt Cora asked from the doorway.
“Ooddles! Mom got her to stand at attention for about two second, Aunt Cora.” I giggled.
“You would treat Antarran royalty in such a crude, barbaric fashion, Maj. Summers?” She asked in her ‘noble’ voice.
“Of course she would! Gods Cora, how long have you known us?” Chantell giggled.
“At times like this, I feel it to be too long, Lt. Cmdr. Denison.
“Maj…or…Suuuuumm-ersssss.”
“Did she just speak?” Aunt Cora turned quickly back to our guest. “Did you just speak, child?”
“Hey! Watch it! You could kill somebody with those things, Cora!” Chantell exclaimed as she exaggerated moving out of the way of Aunt Cora’s ‘Ladies in Waiting’.
“Jealous much, Lady Chantell?”
“Hey. You have to lug those anchors around, honey, not me.” Chantell giggled.
“These are highly regarded Antarran treasures, I’ll have you know!” Aunt Cora protested.
“Annnn-tar-aaaaaah.” Our guest murmured again.
“Yes, Sugar Plum! Antarra. Your home, and I am Caroline Norge. Queen of the Norge Federation.” Aunt Cora gushed excitedly.
“I-i-i-chi Chen.” She muttered and a smile quickly crossed her face.
Christina Everhardt’s eyes flew open and she sat straight up, hands extended out in front of her- her massive chest protesting against the violent movement.
“Lifeboat! No! Let me out!” She exclaimed as her hands searched for the close confines of the escape pod.
“It’s going to be okay, Sugar Plum! We found you and rescued you from that abhorred device. You’re safe now.” Aunt Cora tried to comfort.
“Major Summers! Heard his name. Where?”
“I’m right here, sweetie. Major Hope Summers at your service.” Mom answered and stepped into her view.
She grimaced.
You’re not Maj. Summers! Summers is a man. Where am I?”
“Miss Everhardt. You are a very long way away from Pittsburgh… Earth for that matter.” Mom said as she reached out and gently placed her hand on our guest’s forearm.
“And, twisted as it may seem, I am… or was, Maj. Hopewell Summers, sweetie. As far as where you are? Um… I can tell you that you are still in the Milky Way Galaxy. That’s about all I can tell you before it gets radically crazy, kid.”
“Maj Summers is a ma-.”
“Yeah, I know he was, Christina. I’m afraid I’m not that person any longer though. I’ve changed- just like you seem to have changed.
“You know me?”
“Yeah, hun, I was there the day of the accident.” Mom admitted and cringed.
“It wasn’t an accident! That-.”
“Gen. Mann more or less demanded you scuttle the IPD project. I wanted to kill that sonofabitch! Too bad the cops showed up!” Mom growled angrily. “I had to settle with rearranging his face on scene and testify at his court marshal later!”
Everhardt seemed to accept Mom’s account of the incident.
“Dr. Smithe and Ichi?”
“Both safe, Christina. Anna and Marta too. But, honey? Honey, it took us some time to find you. Things have changed a little. No, that’s not true. Things have changed a lot.”
Mom suddenly had a wand to her throat!
“Bullshit! Where am I?”
Aunt Cora and I reacted instantly.
“You will dismiss your wand at once, Christina Everhardt.” I warned.
“Listen, Sugar Plum, Hope is a bit hard to take at times, but she…we aren’t going to hurt you.” Aunt Cora told our defensive guest.
“Her daughter, Chance, on the other hand,” She nodded to me, “wouldn’t think twice about it if you don’t dismiss that wand.”
“Wand?” Everhardt looked to her right hand and the ornate wooden shaft she held. Her eyes dropped lower than her outstretched arm and Christina Everhardt instantly dropped her wand and let out an ear-piercing scream!
“What did you do to me?!” She demanded. “These things are huge!”
“Antarran puberty. It happens to us all, but the Norges’ of old have certainly smiled on you, Sugar Plum!”
“What?”
“She’s jealous of your rack, sweetie.” Mom laughed.
“Your ladies–in-waiting are bigger than hers.” Mom clarified, sticking her tongue out at Aunt Cora.
A smile pulsed Everhardt’s face for an instant.
“What?” Everhardt questioned again.
“Hooters; Tits; Ta-tas; Sweater Puppies, Ya-yas; Funbags; Headlights… Should I go on, sweetie?” Mom rattled off in quick succession.
“Moooom!” I warned.
“If not any of those, what do they call these on your planet, princess?” Mom continued, ignoring me and cradling her own moderate breasts.
“Breasts. We call them ‘breasts’ on Earth!”
“Hope wants to know what they call them on your home planet, Christina. It’s her way of diplomatically asking where your home is, Sugar Plum.” Aunt Cora clarified.
“I’m from Meadville.” She paused. “Pennsylvania, United States, North America, Earth?”
“That’s cute, sweetie, but why did you tell the escape pod to take you to Antarra?” Mom probed.
“I didn’t…I…did I?”
“We have audio proof that you did, sweetie. You think she might be suffering amnesia, ladies? Yeah, you said ‘Antarra’ just before you started reciting a hibernation and protection spell.” Mom reminded her.
“Hibernation…protection… spell?”
“Come on, Sugar Plum! No one here has any intention of harming you! If we harbored any of those dark thoughts we would’ve left you and that escape pod stuck in the asteroid.”
“How did I get… stuck in an asteroid? Wait! What year is this?” Everhardt seemed to have an epiphany.
“Tell her mom. She’ll find out when she leaves this infirmary any way.” I recommended.
Mom sighed and prepared for the worst.
“It’s 3246, Christina Everhardt. You have been Cryo-sleeping in space for over fourteen hundred standard years.
I think we were all surprised when she didn’t pass out.
“That’s impossible. The lifeboat was only designed to work for five years max, not fourteen hundred!”
“About as impossible as producing five hundred thousand and eight hundred pounds of thrust with just 7% control signal, Christina?” Mom challenged.
“You…you really are that Maj. Summers?” Everhardt gulped. “How is it you’re still alive fourteen centuries later? What are you?”
“That’s even harder to explain, I’m afraid.” Dad said as she entered.
Charli became Charles.
“Hi Christina, do you recognize me? I was a colonel in the USAF at the time of your demonstration.
“Colonel Armstrong? How?”
It was difficult to figure how her mouth worked after becoming unhinged.
“Like I said, a much harder question to explain.” Dad answered and Charli was back.
“Let’s start simple, shall we? What do you know about Arthurian legend, Miss Everhardt?”
“King Arthur? Those were just stories, right?’
“Good, you know what I’m talking about. Do you know what Merlin was said to be?”
“He was said to be a wizard or magician. He supposedly lived his life reverse of everyone else so already knew the future.”
“In one of the tellings, yes, absolutely right. But I was looking for the fact that he was a wizard. In some cultures, a wizard is a male witch. Now, in reality, witches are just individuals that can see and use something the Gods of Old called ‘lifeforce’. Here in the 33rd century, we call it Current and we prefer Current Mages over witches, warlocks, wizards, sorceresses or sorcerers.”
Christina Everhardt blinked her eyes and began looking around the room.
“Why are you all so bright? You especially!” She shaded and averted her eyes while pointing to me.
“Our daughter Chance?” Dad asked. “Chance is a very special individual, Christina. She is the culmination of two Current Mages. She is also what we call our ‘High Priestess’ and is the most powerful Current Mage we’ve seen in fourteen hundred and sixty-two years.
“Mom and dad like to embellish,” I stated calmly. “So you are a Current Mage.”
“I guess?”
“If not, why did you shield your eyes when looking at me?” I challenged politely.
“Your aura…it’s so bright and so…orange!”
To show off, I popped over to the other side of her bed.
Our guest’s jaw dropped!
“Pay up, losers!” Chantell demanded in satisfaction as she held out her hand to Mom and Dad.
An ancient, antiqued-white, windowed, paper business envelope that seemed to have been torn open appeared in her hand instead.
“Huh? What’s this for?”
“To stop this lunacy! Please! I can only take so much bullshit in one sitting, now please cash the damn government check and leave me alone!” Everhardt demanded in frustration.
All seven of us just stood there and stared at the envelope.
“Pay to the order of…Christina Everhardt… the sum of… TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS and twenty-three cents!” Chantell read the check. “Shit, kid! Why the hell didn’t you run out to cash this and not come back for that demo? And girlfriend? We don’t want your money.” She tossed it back to our guest.
Christina looked surprised as she processed what was said and done, and us a moment.
“Doctors Anna McCorkle and Marta Dennis-Green offered me a job at NASA after I got my masters. Marta even said she’d sponsor me,” our guest said sadly. “I guess that offer is void by now.”
“So you really are a Terran?” Aunt Cora asked in disappointment.
“Lady, I have no idea what I am at the moment. I mean… I was financially broke and needed money, so I answered an ad over at Pitt for a medical study on gene therapy. Dr. Ramstein gave me a shot and promised I would soon match my body image. I started hearing a woman’s voice that kept commanding me to wake up every morning. My hair starts turning blue. I start seeing an orange aura around everything …a sight that I can control. I materialized two white cotton rags, two full bottles of my favorite white wine, and a very pretty magic wand… oh and two blocks of sharp cheddar cheese to go with the wine! You tell me what the hell I am!”
“I will. Just give me a minute.” Dad smiled as she conjured her DataTab and began searching for the answer.
“I’m actually more curious about the lifepod spell.” Chantell wondered. “How did you figure that one out?”
“Marta said it was a mantra that she always recited when she needed relief from life’s stress. She suggested I memorize it- that someday it might be helpful. I couldn’t even tell you what language it is.”
“That sounds too coincidental. When did Marta tell you this?” Dad narrowed her eyes, looking up from whatever she was searching for.
“Right before the IPDs5 test. When she and Anna asked to talk to me out by the control room. About twenty to ten.
“I smell a Greek Goddess!” Cora exclaimed.
“I smell two of them, Cora!” Chantell modified.
“It ain’t unhoida.” I joked.
“Completely probable.” Dad agreed, looking up from her DataTab a second time.
“Mind telling me what Greek Goddesses have to do with any of this? I haven’t been able to access my emails of late.” Christina Everhardt deadpanned.
“I think she’ll fit right in, ladies.” I giggled and continued. “A highly advanced civilization, one older than some of the solar systems, travels the galaxies and lends technology and knowledge to foster a new civilization to advance itself. When they are satisfied they have helped the civilization mature, they move on to the next, and the next…etc. Many of the civilizations around the Way… that’s what we call the Milky Way Galaxy? Most share common myths and legends about their ‘Gods’. Gods that helped them advance both technologically and morally. Turns out they came to Earth, too- our Greek, Roman, Norse, and other gods around the world. They can appear in different forms on different worlds to fit in.”
“I can’t find anything on a Dr. Ramstein in the preserved archives, Christina. A first name might help.” Dad asked.
“Mark. Dr. Mark Ramstein. University of Pittsburgh Medical School. He said the study was sponsored by UPMC/AHS. His office was in Scaife Hall, Room 325.”
“Perfect, Christina!” I’ll keep looking with the new search criteria.”
Mom looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Where are our manners? Would you like something to eat, sweetie? Just name it and we probably have it.”
“I could go for a double half-pounder with cheese, fries, and a large, Retro-Coke right now, Major Summers. I doubt the place I’m thinking of is still in business though- I mean way out where you say we are…when we are?”
I smiled.
“And there she goes again!” Chantell griped sounding completely exasperated. “You ever gonna tell us how you do that?”
“Ummm…no.” I giggled as I handed our guest a dark brown, rectangular, polymer tray with a pastel yellow paper-wrapped sandwich, a red box containing fried potato sticks, and a mostly white, formed paper beverage cup with a bubbling brown liquid and ice chunks. All item wrappings had a golden, stylized ‘M’ repeated multiple times over them.
“I’d eat it slowly.” I advised. “Your stomach hasn’t had anything in it for a long time, Miss Everhardt.
 
 
“And that’s the precise definition of a college student!” Chantell laughed as Christina polished off the last of her beverage with a loud ‘slurp’ from the included straw.
I wasn’t timing it, but freely admitted the food never stood a chance!
“Don’t worry, your beer shotgunning record is still intact, Shan.” Mom ribbed.
“Damn straight!” My aunt boasted.
“Though from what I hear, Kate and especially Lyra are close on your oversized tail.”
“Um…Miss Summers? Do they always go at each other like this?” Our guest asked me timidly.
“Pfffft! You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, Honey!” I rolled my eyes.
“So, what happens now?” She asked. “With me, I mean…”
“Hey, Chance! You got a minute? I want you to see something!” Katelyn Yates burst into the room excitedly. “Oh, hi, you’re awake. I’m Katelyn Yates- Wrench. Glad you’re okay. When you have a sec, High Priestess?”
“Where do I meet you, Kate?”
“We brought the, ah…’it’ up onto the flight deck.” Kate said cryptically.
“I’ll be there, Kate. Why not grab a coffee and I’ll join you in the Galley.”
“Copy, that, High Priestess!” Kate said as she ducked back out into the hallway.
“Rumor mill just went active, Chance.” Mom alerted.
“I’m surprised they aren’t lined up down the hall already.” I groaned.
“Who? What? Why?” Our guest asked.
“Our other sisters, Miss Everhardt. Needless to say, you are the newcomer to our base and naturally, the newest curiosity. It’s not every day we find and rescue a woman from the middle of an asteroid you know.”
“Chance? She has never seen a Lynxin or a Delvian for that matter; at best she’s seen an Orion in a conspiracy documentary; better warn her.”
“I’ve never met an Antarran before and now apparently I am one, so how bad could it get?”
“My Lady. I just heard the news! Oh! Greetings, Lady Antarran! I am Commander Kimbou Serangetti, Captain of Mare De Tempest, the vessel you are now on.”
“You’re a big cat!” Everhardt gasped loudly and pointed to our captain in shock.
“No, my lady. I am a Lynxin from the FeLane system: a neighbor to your Terran system. Welcome aboard my ship, my lady.” Kimbou answered politely with a courteous bow.
Everhardt smiled nervously and nodded back. “Thank you, Capt. Serangetti. I’ll try to not cause any trouble.”
“In their company?” The Captain glanced around the room with a huge smile. “Good luck, my lady! Chance? I just thought I’d let you know that I’ll be on Mare’s bridge for a few standard then be off duty for twelve. Please keep me informed on her status.”
“I will, Captain.” I answered as I walked closer. “I’m sorry for her rudeness, sir. She’s never seen a Lynxin before. Or most of the Subspecies for that matter.”
“Relax, Chance. I figured it out as soon as I saw that escape pod she was in. Oh, by the way, Ladies Kate, Simone, and Rowan have brought it up to the Broom Closet. They seem excited to share their examination results.”
“Thank you, sir, and have a good night.” I said.
“You too, my lady, and good luck.”
“So I’m not to know some things about where and when I am. I can understand that and will honor your decisions, High Priestess.” Everhardt said having probably heard Kimbou and I talking.
“It isn’t a matter of keeping things from you, Miss Everhardt. It’s us trying to protect you. The Way is even more populated than the scientists of your time ever predicted. Though a majority of the Species- that’s what we call humanity en-mass now- is Terran in appearance or physical form, many subspecies are not and can be very terrifying if not properly prepared. For instance, there are sixty subspecies that are Arachnoid in physical appearance, two hundred and four that are severely reptilian, and even a handful of Aphidic subspecies. In short, the Way is teeming with a variety of life.” I told her.
“Oh! I’ll add that while most of the Subspecies are morally sound and peaceful. There are still a few though that will eat you!” I cackled.
She didn’t get it.
“Hokus-Pokus, sweetie. Chance is a huge fan of movies and television shows from our era.” Mom informed her.
“Um… do you still have restrooms in this century, High Priestess?” Everhardt asked childishly.
“Out into the hall, turn right, and it’s the first door on the right. Do you need help, Miss Everhardt?”
“I’d like to try it on my own if you don’t mind, but thank you.” She answered and attempted to slide out of bed.
When that didn’t seem to be working, Chantell and Mom helped her.
“When she’s finished, please show her to one of our VIP suites, ladies.” I suggested as they left the infirmary.
“She sounds and acts Antarran to me, Chance. What do you think?” Aunt Cora asked after our guest and her care assistants left.
“I think we should let her acclimate to us, be straight with her and answer all her questions then ask her if we could obtain a DNA sample for comparison. Also, yes, she sure seems to be of the Norge bloodline. Oh, and she’s not as busty as she seems. Simone said she noticed slight traces of scarring under each breast. Apparently, at some time before this ‘gene therapy’ she received, she’d gotten implants. I’m not sure what size, but I’m still willing to bet most of her is natural now because of that gene treatment.”
“That’s a relief! I thought I would have to abdicate.” Aunt Cora winked.
 
 
“So, Kate. What’s up?’ I asked, walking into the galley.
“Rowan, Simone, and I brought the pod up to the Broom Closet workshop.”
“And?”
“Well, if she actually is from the 22nd century, they were freakin’ geniuses! The attitude thrusters and the main emitters? A slightly cruder version of our emitters. And know what, Chance?” Kate asked excitedly.
“What?”
“They got economizer grids! Each one of them! All ten! Can you believe it, Chance? It’s got economizer grids!”
“Ah, there you are.” Dad sounded relieved she found me.
“About Christina’s Doctor? The one that ran the study group? He wasn’t a doctor. He was a medical student that got funding to conduct a non-harmful study. The study was supposed to be for observing the psychological results placebos have on hu-Terran subjects. He probably gave her a syringe full of sugar water, Chance.”
“So how come-.”
“How come she experienced changes?” She asked, finishing my question.
“Maybe because her mind wanted to believe the guy was going to help her change her body to fit her mind. Christina was born ‘Christian Everhardt’, Chance. I finally found her medical records. She started on ‘T’ blockers at fourteen and HRT at eighteen. Her parents died under mysterious circumstances only a year before the escape pod incident.
“Oh, Gods! That poor kid!” Kate gasped sadly. “I mean…I overheard her say she wasn’t financially solvent… Now I know why! She must really feel like the Way shit on her!”
“I still think higher powers were involved somehow.” I commented.
“The Olympians?” Kate suggested, her eyes going wide.
“Two in particular.”
“But why Everhardt, Chance. She’s brilliant, but why put her through all that? That was torture, not a test.” Dad posited.
“Let’s not leave her alone so she has time to contemplate the big picture or her part in it. With all the new stimuli hitting her at once, she may want it all to stop… in a bad way. She’s already demanded cessation of the bullshit once since waking.” I let my statement hang a moment.
“I guess I should go see if she can walk. She needs to see to believe. The sooner she accepts us and her new situation, the sooner she can assume a normal life here.”
“That girl’s got the balls of an Antarran, Chance. No doubt.” Simone interrupted.
“Maybe even a Summers as well.” Kate also inserted her observations.
“Normal, Chance? Honey, we’re as far away from normal as you can get and still be in the same universe!” Dad said sarcastically.
“We’ll meet you in the Broom Closet, ladies.” I said, making my decision, as I got up.
“We, Chance?” Kate asked, confused.
“I figure we can ask Christina how she came up with her ideas. Chance, Hope and a Pair. Enable your second chair as an engineering station. I have a guest that just might find you interesting from that standpoint. We’ll be out shortly.”
“Copy, Chance. I’m making the changes now. I should be ready in twenty standard.”
“That would be great, girl. Thanks. Chance, out.”
 
 
 
“Come in. Not that I could stop any of you.” The voice on the other side of the door groaned in defeat.
Opening the door, I immediately saw the reason for the strange greeting.
“Young Lady! I thought you knew better than to just pop into someone’s room uninvited!” I reprimanded Savanna.
“Relax, mother! I used the door this time.” She groaned. “I can’t help it if Grandma didn’t set Christina’s new security access yet.”
“How are you feeling, Miss Everhardt?” I asked as I gave my daughter a quick warning glare.
Well, after peein’ like a race horse, as we ‘old-timers’ used to call it ‘back in the day’, I feel a lot lighter. I could go for a nice long shower right about now- if I knew how to use it.”
“No one showed you how the default lavatory works?” I asked in surprise.
“Look, I saw the movie ‘Demolition Man’ on ‘BlueRay 4K’ when I was about eight. I never did find out what the three damn Sea Shells were for, ma’am!” She answered sarcastically.
Everhardt suddenly glared at me.
“You changed around the fixtures just to screw with me!” She quickly accused.
“Christina, the basic lavatories on this base have always been that way as far as I know. My Grandparents re-conjured theirs to the way they were ‘back in the day’.” Savanna corrected to head off any wrongly assumed, ill intent.
“I assumed that being a Current Mage yourself; you would customize this suite to your liking, Miss Everhardt. All our personal quarters have been modified from the basic plan to suit our individual tastes.”
“I’m not that accomplished a witch, ma’am. In fact, I was elated just to make a bottle of white wine appear on my breakfast bar back home.” She explained.
“Yet you instinctively knew how to produce and threaten with your wand, Miss Everhardt.” I challenged.
“Look! I have no idea how I did that let alone how fast I did it, High Priestess! I was hoping you all would enlighten me?” She fought back.
“Show me!” I challenged and called my wand. Not more than a fraction of a second later she was griping and pointing her wand at me.
“Very good reaction time, Miss Everhardt.” I praised with a smile as I lowered my wand and dismissed it. “I would advise you to conjure and ready your wand instead of just conjuring it. A loaded weapon still is the best way to stay alive. That hasn’t changed in thousands of centuries.”
“But I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to kill anyone, ma’am.” She cried.
“No one wants to kill, Miss Everhardt. The future is just as dangerous as the past- only on a much larger scale. Now, can I pull you away from that beckoning shower for an hour or two? Three of the girls want to quiz you on that mysterious escape pod of yours.”
I had expected to levitate Everhardt to the Broom Closet. Instead, she gingerly stood up and slowly walked over to me. A satisfied smile appeared on her face.
Even Savanna raised an eyebrow.
Christina’s victorious expression became conflicted.
“High Preistess? I’m not sure I can reveal anything about the lifeboat. First: It isn’t my design or idea. It was designed by Dr. Smithe before I joined the project- in fact, it wasn’t originally included in the project.”
I stopped her.
“We can talk about that when we get down to our flight line, Miss Everhardt.”
“Secondly, ma’am, I’m not going to jeopardize or infringe on any patents Dr. Smithe or Ichi Chen may hold, if I slip, alright?”
I motioned her out her quarter’s door and into the hall.
“Again, we’ll talk out on the flight line, Miss Everhardt.” I conceded as I called the elevator.
“Third! Stop it with the ‘Miss Everhardt’! Just call me Christina! Jeez!”
Stopping her before we entered the waiting elevator, I offered my hand.
“Hello, Christina. I’m Chance. Chance Summers. Nice to meet you.” I said with a bright smile as we entered and the elevator began moving.
We shook hands.
“Now. Please follow me to our Broom Closet.” I invited as the door opened on our main floor hallway.
“We’re going to a broom closet?” She questioned. “One helluva place to put a ‘flight line’!”
“Oh…I think you might be surprised, Christina.” I winked.
 
 
My guest drew in a very large amount of air as we stepped out onto the metal landing.
“You call this a ‘broom closet’? What do you people call an actual aircraft hangar?”
“A hangar. What else would we call it?” I giggled.
“I’m either in Wonderland or Oz- though I haven’t seen the outside of this city yet.” She deadpanned to herself.
“We’ll get to that a little bit later, Christina. Let’s actually go down the stairs onto the flight line, shall we?” I hinted.
 
 
“How did you know, Miss Everhardt? I mean…back then?” Rowan asked as she noticed us arriving. She motioned to the cleaner looking escape pod.
“I’ll answer your questions as long as you promise to keep them simple and don’t make me get any closer to that thing, Miss…?” Christina said, but prompted for a name.
“Oh. Rowan. I’m Rowan Anderson- ‘Grumpy’.”
“Well, Miss Anderson- Grumpy, The original emitter design was Dr. Phynnias Smithe’s idea. He and his assistant, Ichi Chen, designed it for their Ion Propulsion Drive System. The Drive wasn’t ‘meeting expectations’ until after I joined the project and noticed Dr. Smithe had made an error in his calculations. Once I explained his error and he allowed me to correct it, we reprogrammed the IPD and placed it in our test chamber. It worked well beyond our expecta…”
“Actually, I meant how did you know about Current Economizers? I thought Lady Artemis Dell thought the idea up about sixteen years ago. Seeing that you did this eons ago, well… its incredible!” Rowan gushed.
“Oh, and ‘Grumpy’ is my callsign at present, my lady.”
“What is it with the damn ‘Renaissance Fair’ speak? Is that really how people officially talk to one another in the future?”
“Huh? Renaissance Fair? What’s that?” Rowan asked, perplexed. She then seemed to have an epiphany. “Oh. No. It’s a show of respect here in the Corps, my lady.”
“I’ll get to that too, Christina; all in due time. Now, since you think you might be disclosing confidential and proprietary information, let me share some of our tech with you. Broom closet control? Please open Hope and a Pair’s hangar door?”
Our guest’s eyes popped and her jaw dropped as my Broom was revealed.
“Is that thing real?” She gasped in shock.
“That’s my Broom, Christina.” I corrected as I guided her over. “She’s not a thing, are you, Hope and a Pair?”
“I most certainly am not, Chance. Is this the ‘thing’ I heard about? The ‘thing’ from the far past?”
“Hey! I’m not a thing!” Christina declared.
“Nor am I, my lady.” My Broom remarked angrily.
“Sorry! Geez! Even the AI’s in the future get pissy!” Our blue-haired guest exclaimed in surrender.
“Baby, Christina is from a time when Terrans still feared sentient intelligences. She didn’t intentionally mean to insult.” I explained.
“Then I too apologize, Lady Christina. I welcome you aboard. Chance? Seeker has already forwarded Lady Christina’s clearances and credentials.”
“Thanks, Hope and a Pair. I think she would like the tour before that though.”
“Copy. Security field has been disabled, Chance.”
“Does that mean I can touch her, Chance?” Christina Everhardt asked with child-like enthusiasm.
“Is that all you want to do?” I giggled.
“Actually, I’d like to take her down to her airframe to examine every nook and crannie!”
“Well, I doubt she would let you do that, sweetie. Would you want someone to take your skin off just to see what you’re made of?”
Christina grimaced. “No, not when you put it that way.”
“But she will allow a peek up her skirt, Christina.” I giggled as I motioned us aft.
Christina Everhardt’s legs began to buckle as she set her eyes on Hope and a Pair’s main emitter!
“Oh my God! My emitter!” She looked at me with tears already streaming down her cheeks. “It really worked!”
She quickly tried, but failed to stop the water pouring from her eyes.
“It works very well, Christina. Your invention is the mainstay of most interstellar commerce these days. Ours though, aren’t your standard propulsion emitters.” I motioned for her to have a closer look.
“Oh, shit! That too? It all worked?”
“Yeah, I had that reaction too, when Chance first showed me this filly!” Kate said as she, Simone, and Rowan neared.
“By the amount of drool at the corners of both your mouths, I take it we should clear the flight line, Chance?” Simone assumed with a knowing smile. They were already turning to head toward the stairs.
Finishing our walk around- and my preflight coincidentally- I asked Hope and a Pair to open her canopy.
 
 

 
 
“So, did you see anything familiar back there, Lady Christina?” Hope and a Pair asked.
“Yes. Many familiar things I had no idea would have ever worked outside Earth’s atmosphere, Hope and a Pair.” She answered then giggled nervously.
“Oh God! I’m talking to a real spaceship!” Christina Everhardt tittered even more nervously.
I waited patiently for her to stop before motioning to the ladder.
“Care to go for a spin, Christina?” I offered.
That set off another round of gleeful squealing.
“I took the liberty of configuring my second chair for you, Christina. I thought you might like to check her performance while in flight.” I told her as she reached the top rung.
“You configured… OH MY GOD! This is real!”She exclaimed, a few octaves higher.
“Yes, very. Now, I assume you know how to fasten a five-point harness, right?”
The tell-tale clicks told me she did.
I levitated into my seat and fastened my harness.
“Did you… Did? You know… float up into the cockpit, Chance?”
“Yeah. You have a problem with that, Miss Everhardt? Every witch worth her salt can do it if she wants.”
“Can I do that too?”
“I’m not in the habit of repeating myself, Christina. Hope and a Pair? Initialize all systems, please.”
“Initializing, Chance.”
Christina Everhardt shrieked euphorically as her console came alive.
Good thing the canopy was still open!
Chance, Broom Closet Control. I’m going to take our guest out for a little sightseeing. Sound the alert and start Decom sequence, please.” I requested as Hope and a Pair’s canopy closed and sealed.
“Copy, my lady. Flight line is clear. Sealing all access doors. Starting flight line Decom.”
As usual the Broom Closet illumination started to decrease.
“Are you alright back there, Christina? I know this might remind you of your lifeboat, so let me know if you want this to stop.”
“What? Did you say something, Chance? I was going over the IPD paramete… Um, no, I’m good. Promise!”
“Broom Closet Decom is complete. Opening main closet door.”
A gasp escaped my second seat!
“Oh, my God! This can’t be happening! Are those…stars?”
I smiled wickedly.
“Witch Corps Flight One, Mare Tower. Just letting you know I’m taking a recently arrived VIP on a little sightseeing cruise.”
“Copy, Witch Corps Flight One. Should we alert Capt. Serangetti? He just went offline.”
“Negative, Mare Tower. I’m sure he already knew this Flight would happen. As usual, I’ll disappear from your sensors once I hit the gas.”
“Copy, Witch Corps Flight One. Hope your VIP enjoys the ride. Mare Tower, out.”
“Witch Corps? Chance, I don’t understand. What is Witch Corps?”
“Chance? Departure vector has been received. We’re ready to go.” Hope and a Pair reported.
“Initializing attitude and main propulsion systems.”
“Attitude and main emitters online, Chance.” Both Hope and a Pair and Christina Everhardt reported at the same time.
“Thank you, girls. But I only need confirmation from one of you?” I giggled.
“Sorry, force of habit.”Christina apologized.
“I think Lady Christina should be the one to convey information to you, Chance. She seems to know what she’s doing and I have no problems with her doing it on this flight.” My Broom offered.
“Huh? Current reserve reservoirs reading 100% and tending? What the hell does that mean, Chance?”
“Of course I could have overstated my previous assumption, Chance.” Hope and a Pair reappraised flatly.
“OH! MY! GOD! The orange stuff is everywhere!” Christine exclaimed in shock.
“Apparently you missed my statement earlier?” I smiled. “The one where I said we called the ‘orange stuff’, ‘Current’? That’s what powers everything these days, sweetie.”
“Um…sorry?”
“Not a problem. Shall we continue?”
“Uh huh!”
“Grav clamps released.” I said as I raised us to hover about a meter off the deck and slowly began to move us out to the center of the flight line.
“We still good back there?” I asked as I began to slowly exit the Broom Closet.
“Everything is in the green, ma’am. I’m barely registering anything on the main emitter.”
“Shall we change that, Christina?” I suggested.
“Uh Huh!”
“Going to warp.” I announced as I pushed my throttle forward. The stars filling the canopy began to blue-streak.
“Twenty percent… OH. MY. GOD!” Christina balked. She must have looked up from her displays. “Are we are we near the speed of light?”
“Look again, sweetie.” I suggested.
The screech was deafening!
“According to this our velocity is 2LY’s a second! Does ‘LY’ mean what I think, High Priestess.
“How else would you abbreviate ‘Light Years’, Miss Everhardt?” I asked.
“And if you keep screeching like that, we both may go deaf, Christina!” I tried to clear my ears with my finger.
“Hey, would you like to see what Hope and a Pair can really do?” I asked.
“There’s more?”
I pushed the throttle almost to the stop.
“FUCK!” She exclaimed!
“Sorry, sorry! I forgot where I was! I apologize for my potty mouth, High Priestess. Sorry!”
I laughed loudly.
“Um…Is this right? Are we really traveling at forty-five light years per second, High Priestess?” she asked with a definite, coarse vibrato in her voice.
“Yes, and I have the option to eject you at this velocity too, if you don’t start calling me ‘Chance’! We usually save the High Priestess stuff for when we’re out, officially, in the public. Around Base we just use our given names. While in our Brooms, or on sensitive missions we use our callsigns. Got it ‘Perfessor’?”
“Who’s ‘Perfessor’, Chance?’
“You are Christina. You can change your callsign if you wish, but I thought it appropriate.”
“But I never got to finish school, Chance!” She choked back a sniffle.
“Charli found, unlocked, and decrypted, highly classified Pentagon files that turned out to be your records, Christina. Hope and a Pair? Please relay Seeker’s findings to Perfessor. Apparently, you were posthumously awarded a doctorate in Applied Astrophysics from Carnegie-Mellon University in 2103AD. Congratulations, Doc!”
My second seat went quiet for a few minutes; occasionally a sniffle or sob could be heard.
“Well, I guess we better head back to base. They’ll send out a search party for us if we’re gone too long. Hope and a Pair? Please plot a return course back to Mare De Tempest.”
“Course ready, Chance.”
“Christina? You alive back there, sweetie?” I asked, despite knowing her exact emotional status.
“Yeah, uh huh. Sure.” She answered slowly- quietly.
I eased the stock over and changed course back to Mare.
 
 
“A word of warning, Christina, Mare De Tempest might be a bit overwhelming when first seen.” I warned as I slowed us to sublight.
“Witch Corps Flight One, Mare Tower. We’re back, and all in the same day, too! We’ll be coming alongside and vanishing from your sensors, as usual.”
“Copy, Witch Corps Flight One. Welcome Back. We’ll alert Earth’s Horizon’s Tower too.”
I had forgotten Kitty’s flagship was still alongside!
“Copy, Mare Tower. I forgot we had visitors. Sorry about that.”
“It’s all good Witch Corps Flight One. They said they’re used to it. Mare Tower, out.”
“Are those…?” Christina gasped.
“The bigger one is Mare De Tempest. The slightly smaller one is FeLane’s Royal Flagship, Earth’s Horizon. I’m sure you’ll get to meet Kitty as soon as we land. Be warned though, she’s Lynxin, an accomplished Current Mage, and one of my best friends.”
“Didn’t Capt. Serangetti say FeLane is one of Earth’s neighbors, Chance?”
“Next solar system over, sweetie. Earth and FeLane have been allies for fourteen hundred years.
“And what about Antarra? How does that place fit in?”
“Antarra, because of her treaties with FeLane, joined the Galactic Alliance about seven or eight hundred years ago. Because they’re located on the exact opposite arm of the Way from both Sol and FeLane systems, we don’t see them very much. Until recently that is. I’ll let Aunt Cora tell that tale when you both have the time.”
“Aunt Cora? The short, blue-haired, chick with the big boob fetish?”
“Yep! Queen Caroline Norge of the Norge Trade Federation.”
“Oh shit, I’m in trouble now, aren’t I.”
“Broom Closet Control I need an approach vector and start flight line Decom, please. What was that, Perfessor?”
“Copy, Chance. Welcome back. How’d she do?” Lokust asked.
“I think I diss’d the royalty back in your infirmary earlier, Chance! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to face her now, knowing she’s a queen!”
“She’s not going to sleep for a week, I’m guessing. See you in a few. Chance, out.” I concluded my official communication. “Just talk to her like we’re talking now, Christina. You’re practically family already, but I think Aunt Cora might ask you for a DNA sample so she can authenticate our observations.”
You mean my boobs and blue-hair?” She asked as I started my final.
“And that genuine Antarran attitude.” I giggled. “That’s a very strong trait of the Royal Norge family, sweetie.”
“I didn’t mean to come off like a bitch, Chance.” She apologized yet again.
“It happens to us all at one time or another, sweetie.”

 
 
“So?” Lokust asked as I opened Hope and a Pair’s canopy.
To our surprise, Christina levitated out of her seat and landed clumsily on the deck!
“I think she likes it, Mikey!” I smiled as I also levitated out and down to the flight line deck.
“Hi, I’m Lokust Grunfuller. Nice to meet you, Lady Christina.” Lokust said as she offered her hand.
“Christina Everhardt. Back at ya.” Christina replied with a smile and shook her hand.
“So, how do you like the future so far?” Lokust asked,
“I’m afraid that I’m dreaming and am still stuck in the lifeboat. I’m kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop? Hey, Chance? I meant to ask about the hat and crossed brooms on your upper control surface. What’s EFMC stand for?”
“Oh. Earth Force Marine Corps. We’re the ‘dread unit Witch Corps’, Lady Christina.” Lokust answered with a devious smile.
Christina tensed and her face paled.
“What’d I say? How come it always works for you, Chance, but not for me?” She moaned.
“Forgive my significant other, Christina. Not all of us can quote the classic movie lines and be successful. Lokust meant to adapt the ‘Princess Bride’s’, ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’.
“Yeah. Didn’t I do that?”
“Not very well dear. Not well at all. Keep practicing though.” I advised.
“I’m sorry for terrifying you, Christina. I’ll just be heading back inside. I’m due at my workstation in thirty minutes anyway. If you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them when I get off duty- without the movie references though. Bye.”
“Are you the good guys or the bad guys, Chance?” Christina asked cautiously- concern tainting her voice.
“Oh, we’re definitely the good guys, sweetie. Mom- Maj Summers, Chantell Denison, and Charli Armstrong became the original Witch Corps when they returned to FeLane the second time. Queen Libra Sinae chartered and gave funding to them after a new group of bad guys called Hobgoblins came on scene. Witch Corps was established to fight the Hobgoblins and protect the galaxy from other evils like slavers, pirates, fanatical rulers…you know, the self-important types that want to rule the Way?” I told her.
“But I never wanted to be in the military, High Priestess! I wanted to be an Astrophysicist and study the universe.”
I sighed heavily.
“Christina? None of us are asking you to join us. We just want to help you acclimate to your new life here as best you can. We just want you to be happy here-”
“You don’t want me to freak and find a permanent way out! Just say you guys are afraid I’m going to get depressed and off myself, ma’am.”
“You’re absolutely right, Christina.” I decided to let her know some of the more important facts. “We’re afraid you might kill yourself and waste a better life than you had been living before the incident. Yes, we know of your parents’ tragic ‘accident’. But, I’ll bet this is something you didn’t know. That study wasn’t what it promised, Christina. Charli found out it was a psychological study to see how the use of placebos affected the human mind. In essence, how the human mind can be tricked into believing. How you got an actual dose of the real gene therapy serum isn’t in the records, though we do have our theories.”
“So, that’s it in a nut shell. Pardon the unintended pun. Now. Here, in this life, you more than likely are an Antarran. The blue hair and large assets are trademarks of Antarran royalty so you should never have to worry about money ever again. You are definitely a Current Mage- a natural one by what you can already do with your Current. If you want, we can instruct you on how to use it for good and not evil. Think of it as taking a self-defense course or three. We can teach you how to fly a shuttle or Broom, or even a real Witch’s broom- straw bristles and all- your choice. We strongly hope that you accept us as your friends in this time so that you’ll never be alone again. And lastly, be warned that most Current Mages live a very, very, verrrry long time. Case in point.” I pointed out Mom, Charli, Chantell, and Aunt Cora walking toward us.
“Do I lose points when things start getting weird and I do something stupid?” She asked.
“Define ‘weird’, Christina.” Dad giggled. “Around here ‘weird’ is normal.”
“Will I need to fight? Join Witch Corps?”
“Not unless you want or need to, sweetie. We just finished taking out some of the bigger bad guys, but the Way always finds something to throw at us. I think just to keep us busy.” Mom answered.
“Okay. So I don’t have to enlist, but you said I can customize the apartment you assigned me…”
“Sweetie, you have to live somewhere! Sure, you can pay rent, but try finding someone around here that can change a twenty. Money is based on credits here, not platinum, gold, silver, or even latinum. Also, Witch Corps is self-sufficient with sound, secure investments going back fourteen centuries. Honestly, we don’t need the money, honey.” Mom explained, laughing at her little rhyme at the end.
Aunt Cora stepped forward and looked up to Christina.
“My, Sugar Plum, you sure are a big one.”
“Majesty! I’m very sorry for my rude behavior earlier. I didn’t really comprehend the scope of my new reality and had no way of believing you where actual royalty. Forgive me, Queen Caroline.” Christine begged from her knees.
“Alright, which one of you told her I was royalty?”
“YOU DID!” Five of us responded.
“Oh. So I did.” Aunt Cora admitted with a shrug. “Whatever. Sugar Plum? I have two requests.”
“You would like to sample my DNA for verification. Of course, Majesty. And the second?”
“No one here calls me anything but Cora or Aunt Cora. Got it? There will be times when proper respects are required- usually when I hold court. Any other time, I’d rather you think of me as either a close friend or you’re strange ‘Aunt Cora’.”
“Emphasis on ‘strange’, girlfriend.” Chantell snickered.
“Got it.” Christina stood, stuck out her hand and grinned cheerfully.
“Hello, Aunt Cora! I am Christina Everhardt. I think I might be your long lost relative from way, way, way far away.”
“Pleased to meet you, Christina.” Aunt Cora accepted her hand, gently shook it, and smiled broadly. “And I accept the challenge. Let’s go back into the Base and get to know each other over beverages, shall we?”
“Gee, Aunt Cora, I really would like that, but I promised myself a long, hot shower. Can I reschedule? I know your time is precious so whenever is convenient for you?”
“She’s been awake for less than a day and already she’s picked up the Summers talent for bullshit!” Aunt Cora exclaimed as she smiled proudly. “Welcome to the family, Sugar Plum.”
“That’s all it took to get accepted by you?” Christina questioned in astonishment.
“Let’s see,” Aunt Cora said, as she looked Christina up slowly then down even slower, “blue hair? Check. Ladies-in-Waiting? Biiiig check! Sarcastic diplomatic attitude? That’s a check too, Sugar Plum. Yeah, you’re definitely a Norge.”
“Well, now that the homecoming is over, let the girl go have her shower, Cora! I mean; she hasn’t had one in over fourteen hundred years! I think she’s due.” Mom said holding her nose.
A self-concious Christina did a quick sniff of both armpits.
“She’s kinding, right?” She asked. I smiled.
“Of course she is. Go in and don’t worry about how much water you use. It’s all recycled anyway. The left Seashell in the shower is a body wash and moisturizer; the middle- a shampoo/conditioner that reacts and changes scent with the person; the right shell controls the temperature and volume. Enjoy.”
“Oh wow! I finally found out what the three seashells are for! It only took me fourteen hundred years to find that out.” Christina lampooned. “Now to learn the answer to life, the universe, and everything.”
“Forty-two, honey. Everyone knows that one!” Charli spoiled the set up.
“Forty-two?” Aunt Cora asked in confusion.
“Challenge accepted, Aunt Cora.” Christina laughed as she bowed courteously, turned, and hurried up the steps into Base. Meanwhile, four of us were too busy laughing at our stumped Antarran sister!
 
 

 
 
“Feeling more human, Christina?” I asked as I entered the galley about two hours later.
“Um…not really? I’d say I feel more Antarran than anything, Chance.” She corrected.
“Well, that’s something at least.” I smiled.
“You asked to see me, High Priestess?” Link Anderson asked as she entered the galley.
“Have a seat, sweetie.” I offered, motioning to the chair beside Christina.
Both women appraised each other carefully.
“Hi, I’m Link Anderson. Rumor has it that you didn’t always look like this, correct?” She introduced herself.
“Yep!” Christina answered. “I’ve changed quite a bit in the last fourteen hundred years.”
“Oh. It hasn’t been that long for me, Lady Christina. I was just activated about four weeks ago. My changes have been gradual since then. How long did it take for your hair to change color?”
“Hmmm. Well my hair started changing a few days after I got my gene therapy shot, Link. Half of my hair was blue when I got locked into the lifeboat just a little over a week later.”
Mine took almost two and a half weeks to fully change and I think these things are still growing.” Link related as she cradled her sizable breasts. "I’ve also been getting these strange cravings since becoming female. Are you dealing with those also? I just wanted to know if it was only me.”
“Cravings?” Christina asked in confusion.
“You know… Cravings, my lady?” Link repeated even more awkwardly as she also surreptitiously nodded to her lap.
Christina blushed instantly!
“Ahhhhm, not yet. I haven’t had that part of my new anatomy all that long. It wasn’t there before the incident.”
“Neither have I. Have you been curious yet?” Link dove further.
“Ummm…can we change the subject, please? Chance? Help?”
“Link, Christina lived in a time where it was considered rude to discuss such things in public. It was a very backward and rigidly structured culture compared to today. Please. Try not to embarrass Christina more than she is.”
“You set this up. Why, Chance? And what is this ‘activated’ thing she’s talking about.”
“Hey, Chance! I came as soon as I got off duty and cleaned up. What’s going on?” Simone greeted as she walked in and sat next to me.
“Hey, Christina! How they hangin’?” She greeted.
“Seriously?! ‘How… are they hangin’?” Christina groaned.
“Hey! I’m Antarran Royalty! I’m allowed to ask that.” Simone defended.
“Christina and Link were just discussing Antarran puberty. I thought you three could commiserate.”
“Answer my question; don’t side step it, Chance.” Christina strongly suggested.
I fought hard not to laugh at her tenacity.
“I was activated by Savanna four weeks ago, my lady. By activated, I mean I was changed to a female so that my Current usage would be optimized and my Current reservoir capability was also increased. Along with those benefits, my physical strength and reactions increased as well.
“She changed you into a girl? Magically?”
“It isn’t magic, Christina.” Simone interrupted. “In my case, Chance activated me to help her free this ship from an invasion. The Hoblins had overrun Mare and before I could get to safety, the bad and uglies captured me and conscripted me.”
“Wait. These things ‘conscripted’ you?”
“Yeah. It was the most terrifying, horrendously excruciating thing I’ve ever experienced. It felt like everything about me was placed into some kind of machine to be pulled and twisted and turned inside out and-.”
“I think I get the idea, ma’am.”
“Anyway, Chance and Lokust rescued us from that conscription by first purifying the tainted Current in the thing that four of us had merged into then reconstituting us to our individual, original forms. After I woke up, Chance offered to ‘activate’ me so I could help her help everyone else. Having experienced that and surviving a previous Hobgoblin invasion on my home planet where I lost family, I agreed quite quickly. I didn’t know at the time I’d look like this. Not that I mind. I feel more comfortable in this form than my previous, so I’m good.”
“Sounds like ‘magic’ to me, Simone.” Christina insisted.
“Magic is a word used to describe something we don’t understand, Christina. We,” Simone motioned to Link and I, “understand how to use our Current and how it helps us do the things we do, so it’s not magic anymore.”
“At least you had the choice, Lady Simone.” Link began. “I was reclining on my bed pleasur…never mind, you don’t need to hear the particulars…any way, I was on my bed when things suddenly didn’t ‘feel’ right. That was when I heard my siblings scream and shout in unusually high voices about being changed. That initial shock devastated me, though I too am strangely comfortable in this form.”
“So you’ve decided? That’s wonderful, Link!” Simone smiled happily.
“Between us, I had decided while returning to Base from the mission, my lady. I’m still not ready to make it official with Aunt Cora yet. I want her fixation with me being her double to subside first.
“You two do look and sound alike, Link. But, you didn’t ask to be ‘activated’?”
“No, but I understand and accept why Savanna did it, Christina. Chance and our older sisters hadn’t returned from their mission and Savanna prophesized that we were needed to perform the rescue. Like I said, I’m comfortable…I like who I am now. How about you? Do you feel comfortable in your new form, Christina?”
“I do, Link. I feel…complete. See, I grew up feeling…odd… um… different. At fourteen, I approached my parents about that feeling and after talking, they allowed me to start on ‘T’ blockers-.”
“What are ‘T’ blockers?” Link asked.
“They ‘block’ normally occurring testosterone from making you any more male. I started seeing a psychologist that specialized in gender correction procedures then started Hormone Replacement Therapy when I turned eighteen. I think fourteen was a bit late to start though, because I had already started into male puberty. In order for me to look somewhat passable, mom and…and… dad…”
Christina stopped as tears began to escape her eyes and she valiantly fought to quell their flow.
“Sorry. I lost mom and dad a year ag… right after I turned twenty. They had offered then paid for implants to help me pass as female a little easier. Right after they were gone, my educational grants and scholarships ran out because I had been obviously distraught and absentmindedly failed to renew them. Then I saw the ad asking for participants in a medical study hung on a bulletin board on the nearby Pittsburgh University campus as I walked home from one of many failed job interviews. It seemed like a way to have some sort of income since my rent was due and I basically was surviving on my nearly bankrupt meal plan. I was elated when Dr. Ramstein told me it was a study for gene therapy and that he could possibly make me whole… a genetic female.”
Christina looked across the table to me.
“After you told me the actual purpose of that study, Chance, I got to thinking and some of the puzzle came together. Since Ramstein knew the injection would be harmless, it explains why he was so surprised when I had an almost immediate reaction. That would suggest your theory of someone substituting the real deal into that syringe. Someone had to have known what it would do, and to who specifically.”
“So, like me, you basically had no say in your change, Christina?” Link summed it up, as she seemed to cheer up.
“I guess so, Link. Though, I really did want this to happen. At the time, it was mostly a fantasy for someone like me…someone that looked like a six-foot guy with average-size boobs.”
“Hey, guys. I came over as soon as I could ditch Tua. He’s been herding over me like a lonely muskvine shepherd; you that new girl ‘Christina’? Hi, I’m Kitty Sinae. Nice to meet you.” Kitty said as she hurried right past us to the Coffee Urn and poured a cup while still talking. “Ah! Finally I can indulge in the good stuff! Much better than that ‘healthy’ swill ‘my’ doctors want me to force down!”
Christina’s mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged.
Sinae turned around and stopped in her tracks.
“Okaaaay? What’d I do now? What’s with the Antarran Aphideater, Chance?”
“Aside from Kimbou, you’re the only other Lynxin she’s ever seen. Her expression reminds me of when you first noticed that your tail had grown back.” I laughed.
Sinae’s tail came to attention on her left side and its end looked up at her like it was sentient.
“Yes, I know you’re still sensitive about that. Chance was trying to be funny.” She said as her tail turned to me and ‘frowned’.
Christina’s head hit the table hard and we heard her laughing and crying at the same time.
“Oh! Oh, God! I really am in Wonderland and it’s even crazier than it was written!”
Sinae suddenly changed clothes! She was now wearing a heavy, richly embroidered, long regal gown in blood red.
“Off with her head,” she screeched and began laughing hysterically.
That only made Christina laugh and cry harder!
“Did I come to get something to eat at the wrong time, sisters?” Lyra’s voice asked as she walked into the galley and stopped with a curious look on her face.
“I would expect this regal look more from Aunt Cora than you, cousin.”
“Just entertaining the new girl, Cuz. Have you met Christina yet?” Sinae explained as her clothes reverted.
“Not out of her escape pod, no. Greetings, Lady Christina. Serangetti Lyra of Sonya and Kimbou. I am pleased you have recovered so quickly from such a long internment.”
“So you’re the Captain’s daughter?”
“I am. And have you determined how you fit into the modern Antarran social structure yet?”
“I haven’t begun to understand how I fit into any of this crazy world yet, honey! Never mind the Antarran part.
“That piece is easy. I am told you are a Current Mage like us. That one fact makes us sisters, Lady Christina.”
“Chance? Does Witch Corps have any regulations about drinking… heavily?”
“Just not while on a mission or before training, Christina.” I giggled.
“Good, would you all like to join me?” She asked as five tall silica glass bottles and five clear, silica wine glasses appeared on the table. The bottles quickly began to condense water vapor.
“I like her, Chance. Can we keep her?” Sinae smiled as she poured her untouched coffee back into the Urn and sat down with us.
“So what are we drinking to?” She asked.
“How about my arrival into the craziest, most topsy-turvy, screwed up beyond all rational thinking, most amazing future I’m imagining?!” Christina suggested.
“Hmmpf, you had me at your arrival here, kid!” Sinae laughed as the synthetic cork in her bottle popped on its own.
“Chance? You think maybe just this once?” Link asked timidly.
“I’ll vouch for ya, Sweet Pea.” Simone giggled as she poured the young Antarran half a glass from her open bottle. “After all, we can blame it on Christina.”
“I, um, I take it you aren’t twenty-one yet, Link?” Christina asked guiltily.
“Fifteen standard years, Christina.” Link shied away.
“And they’re that big already?”
“Again, Antarran physiology, Christina.” Simone laughed.
“I’m a year older than Lyra.” Link frowned.
“And you know that Lynxins mature quicker than most Terran subspecies, too, Sweet Pea.” Simone chided.
“I know it’s not fair. I was already six feet tall when I was fourteen, Link. I just didn’t look like I could kick ass then take names like her.”
Both Lyra and Kitty seemed to appraise Christina at that comment.
“I would be willing to test that statement, my lady.” Lyra said as she smirked. “Lady Greer also underestimated herself before put to the test. You too might be surprised by your talents, Lady Christina.”
“What do you mean by that?” Christina asked, narrowing her eyes.
“My body guard and steward, Lt. Niger Greer. Savanna also took it upon herself to activate him as well. When put through our defensive competition simulation, she tied Kitty and I in the rankings. Here. I have the stream.” Lyra explained as she conjured her DataTab and played the training video.
“Very good special effects. Can I see that at regular speed and before those hideous CGI’s were added?” Christina smiled wryly.
“Special effects…? CGI’s, my lady?” Lyra puzzled.
“Yeah, just her in front of the green screen before the computer generated monsters were added.”
“That’s actual footage, Christina.”
“Yer shittin’ me?!”
“Oh, hey ladies. Thought I’d grab some lun-.” Aquia greeted as she entered. Lyra jumped from her chair and in a blur, disrobed and disarmed Aquia before she even had a chance. “ch? Dammit, Lyra! I thought we had cleared things up! Why start things up again?”
“She was only proving what Christina doubted. I take full responsibility, Lady Aquia.” Sinae apologized as Aquia found herself fully clothed again. “Cousin, you went too easy on her and I saw you disarm her, now please give her back her wand.”
Christina looked very pale and frozen to her seat!
Aquia gasped then rolled her eyes.
“Sorry, my lady. Christina doubted Lady Greer’s training stream.” Lyra apologized as she handed back her wand. “Still, you do know it would be safer to dismiss your wand instead of keeping it on you?”
“It’s a deterrent to my siblings, Lyra. One never knows with them, when or where.” She explained as her eyes jumped to Link then back.
“Huh? Bad home life I assume?” Christina asked.
“Aquia is one of eight children that another of our sisters, Sandra Anderson, adopted after the Mare incident, Christina. We lost a lot of good people that day.” I told her. “Sit and have a drink with us, m’lady.”
“Hi. Aquia Anderson- ‘Water Lily’. I heard you are the woman responsible for our Brooms’ propulsion system. I’m very impressed and am honored to meet you, my lady.”
“Suck-up.” Kitty stage whispered.
Christina began laughing hysterically again.
“What’s up with her?” Aquia questioned.
“Oh! Sorry. This is all so amazing. I’m expecting a guy in an oversized top hat to come rushing in and babble something about being late-.”
“Hey guys? I just got word from the captain!” Lokust dashed in already in uniform- large pointed hat and all. “Mare just received a request for Witch Corp from Terr’lai. They claim people are disappearing mysteriously and some ugly, unknown subspecies have been seen in areas of disappearance. Sounds like a cell of Hoblins. I already have Pegasus being readied. I just need to know our crew count and Broom loadout for this mission, High Priestess.”
“Sinae to Earth’s Horizon. Tell PM Tua that I’m going on a little jaunt with the girls. Tell him not to worry, I’ll be fine. Sinae out.”
“You didn’t even give them a chance to answer, cousin?” Lyra questioned.
“Relax, he’ll be waiting for us at the Broom Closet door!” She waved her hand to dismiss Lyra’s concern.
“Chance? Who are we taking?” Lokust pushed.
“Obviously Kitty.” I said, rolling my eyes. “You, you, you, you, annnnnnd you.” I said pointing to Lyra, Simone, Aquia, Link, and lastly, Christina.”
“Me?!” Christina gasped. “Why me? I said I wasn’t keen on fighting, Chance!”
“I thought you’d just like to go along for the ride, sweetie. We’ll do the dirty work. Maybe you’d like to get acquainted with our systems?”
Christina’s eyes seemed to twinkle!
“You know the answer to that already! Sure…I’ll tag along… but only as a passive observer, got it?”
“Crystal, Sweetie. Lokust? We’ll meet in the situation room in ten. I want everything we have on the Terr’lai system. Load our seven Brooms and configure Pegasus for six staterooms. Kitty gets the presidential suite. Lyra and Greer will share one of the staterooms, Link and Aquia share the second, Christina gets one to herself and so does Simone. You and I get the ‘Captain’s’ quarters.” I said as we all stood.
Simone, Link, Lyra, Aquia, Kitty, and I changed into our uniforms instantly.
Christina just sat there, dumbfounded and stunned!
“Coming?” I asked the unmoving, novice Antarran.
“Uhmmmmmmm.”
“Look, these are our uniforms. Consult my mother on their design. They are more durable and protective than they look. You coming or not, Christina?”
“I’ll…Yeah, I’m game.” She said as she stood and walked around the table.
“You’ll need one of these for protection too, Sweetie.” I said as I conjured her uniform on her. She almost fell face first, not anticipating the heels.
“God! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more humiliating! Am I wearing stockings, garters, and a corset?”
“Bustier, and you’ll thank me if you happen to get hit by a Hoblin blaster, Sweetie. Let’s go next door.”
 
 
“Hey! Lookin’ good, Perfessor!” Simone greeted as I motioned Christina to take a seat.
Greer entered the room and sat between Christina and Lyra.
Of course Christina gasped in surprise!
“Terr’lai is eight standard hours away at full transdimensional…” Lokust started the briefing as we set our attention to her.
 
 

 
 
“Let’s get going.” I said as Lokust finished our briefing.
“My lady. Forgive my late greeting and introduction. I am Lt. Niger Greer, ‘Alley Cat’. If I can be of any assistance feel free to approach me at any time.”
“Thank you, Lady Greer. Christina Everhardt. And I might just do that.” Christina accepted looking eye to eye with Greer.
 
 
“Tau! What a surprise! I didn’t expect you.” Kitty greeted her Prime Minister sarcastically. As predicted, he was waiting…pacing back and forth at the as of yet undefined Broom Closet door.
“No, I suspect not, my queen, though you did alert the bridge of, and I quote, your little ‘jaunt’. I had to order the regularly scheduled shuttle to hold on our flight line so that I would be here before your departure.” Tau answered in a stiff, very proper, and controlled tone.
“Broom Closet Control, we’re ready. Open, please.” I said trying to hold my laughter.
“HOOOOOOOly, Fuuuuuck!” Christina exclaimed at the top of her lungs!
“Honestly, kid! You’ve seen the size of Mare and Earth’s Horizon, why would you be more impressed with our Pegasus?” Kitty exclaimed.
“She’s beautiful!” Christina shrieked as she free-jumped right over the railing down onto the flight line’s deck, missing the steps entirely! She began looking Pegasus over and over. On each pass she stopped at the main emitters and screamed excitedly!
“Is that the Antarran? The one from ancient Terra?” Tau asked.
“Yeah. Doesn’t take much does it?” Lokust commented causing the Prime Minister to shake his head a few times.
“Pegasus, status?” I requested, ignoring them both.
“Current reservoirs at one hundred percent, High Priestess. I’ll be ready as soon as you can get Lady Christina onboard.”
We were all laughing at the Antarran’s exuberance.
“Perfessor! Wipe off the drool and get inside!” I shouted to get her attention.
When that failed to work, Simone hurried over, took her hand firmly, and began to forcibly pull her toward the ramp.
“Park Christina in your aux seat and let her watch the engineering preflight. Answer any of her questions.”
“Got it, High Priestess. Christina? Follow me.” Simone requested.
“Hold up a sec! Christina, stay with me a moment. I need to set you up with Pegasus’ A.I and security.”
After waiting for the bridge door to close, I began my instruction.
“This is our secure access system. It requires you to supply Current to activate it then it requires both voice and retinal authentication for admittance to the secured area. So, place your thumb here, look at this tiny window here, and say your name clearly. Got it?”
She nodded. I nodded to the scanner.
“Christina Everhardt.” She said as she did exactly what I had told her.
“Welcome, Lady Christina! You are now officially recognized by my systems as a valid member of the crew. Hope you enjoy the trip.” The Bridge door opened and we entered after I validated myself to the ship’ security.
“Christina, sit over here. This is the Engineering console. To my right is Communications. Lyra will be handling that this duty shift during the mission. To our left is Environmental. Greer has that console. However, we can emulate or migrate those system controls here by split-screening this console.”
Link was standing just ahead of the Navigation station tube.
“Back here, Lady Christina, is the Navigation tube. This station gives me full control of any system aboard Pegasus, but mostly we use it for navigation and sensors.” She explained just as the sleek transparent tube behind her became opaque and started glowing blue. Christina gasped.
“Hey! Who’s in there?” Link cried out in surprise.
“Pegasus systems initializing. Complete. Navigation and sensors are good, High Priestess. Don’t worry, Christina, I’m fine; it was a bit to get used to the first couple times I was in here though.” Dad… Charli announced.
Now how did she get-
“Environment online.” Aunt Cora reported.
I rolled my eyes. I had seen her on the flight line, but failed to note her presence when Christina and I entered the bridge.
“Communications are online and go.” Lyra confirmed.
“Weapons online, High Priestess.” Kitty reported as Aquia nodded from her Weapons Safety Panel.
“Helm is ready, High Priestess.”
“Mom? Why are you here, too? We have this one.” I growled.
“Chance, she was in my seat when I got here!” Lokust tattled in a whiny little voice.
“Oh, poor baby! I decided to come along, Chance. Someone has to watch Christina anyway, right?”
I rolled my eyes again as I took my station and started my own preflight checklist.
“All…”
Damn, how did I miss that?!
“All eight Brooms report secured to pylons, tethered, and networked.” I replied, scanning my inventory display quickly as I sat down. I wondered how many more of the Coven had crashed this party.
“Lyra, Alert Broom Closet Control.”
“Pegasus, Broom Closet Control. Requesting Flight Line Decom, closet door activation, and departure vector.”
“Copy, Pegasus. Initiating Decom. Issuing departure vector. Mare Tower has also been alerted as well as Earth’s Horizon’s Tower.” Dell’s voice repeated.
“Departure Vector received. Course to Terr’lai calculated and forwarded to Helm.”
“Make it so, number one.” I giggled.
“Well I would if Major would get out of my seat, High Priestess!” Lokust whined.
“X to plus 1, High Priestess.” Mom reported.
“Um, Pegasus? Are you going to let the door open first?” Dell asked angrily.
The lights hadn’t dimmed completely.
“Mom? Am I going to have to send you to the corner? I thought we talked about this?”
“One cannon shot, Kitty, that’s all I’m askin’” Mom requested while ignoring me completely.
“Is she always this…um…full of energy, Simone?” I heard Christina ask.
“Parents! You give them candy and this is what they give you in return.” I lampooned.
“Aw, up yer’s, High Priestess!” Mom showed her middle finger to me. “Ah! Finally!” She hissed and space filled our viewscreens.
“”Deep Space Camo. ETA to Terr’lai?” I requested.
“Everything is menu driven, Christina. Just touch the controls to actuate them or choose the arrows at the top to change pages or Station Consoles.” Simone instructed.
“Terr’lai in eight standard hours, High Priestess.”
“So if I wanted to review the main emitter stats I’d do this?”
“Exactly! You’re a natural, Perfessor.”
“Thank you.” Christina and I said at the same time.
“Lokust, you have the bridge. Perfessor? Time for our tour. Follow me, please.”

 
 
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.”

 
 
“Hey. It’s Link. Can I come in?” Link asked from the passageway side of my door.
I answered ominously.
“Um…does that mean I have permission to enter your room, Christina?”
On a whim, I motioned to the door and Link was instantly on this side of it.
Her eyes were as big as pizza pans.
“Speaking of pizza.” I said as one extra large with the works appeared on the bed in front of me- pan and all; the aroma of which set my mouth awash and my nose into euphoric ecstasy.
“Buuuut…um….Christina? Nobody said anything about p-p-p-pizza. Gods and Goddesses that smells wonderful!”
“Help yourself, sis. I think we earned it.” I said as I carefully took a steaming hot slice off the pan and tried not to lose any of the toppings.
Link observed my actions and decided to conjure a plate before extracting a slice onto it.
“Gods and Goddesses! This is fantastic! What’s it called again?”
“Pizza. It’s an American staple of parties, general get-together’s, and just about any other reason there is to eat.” I said in between bites.
An urgent knock sounded on my door.
“You better have brought enough of that for the whole class, Christina Everhardt!” Hope Summers demanded angrily.
Link and I- and three extra larges with the works- were now in the Galley. It took a few minutes for our sisters to catch up.
“My word! What is that delicious bouquet?” Prime Minister Tau exclaimed as he entered the Galley behind Hope, Charli, Chance, Greer, Lyra, Simone, and Kitty.
I motioned to the still steaming delicacies.
“My thanks, my lady.” He said as he took a plate then a slice. “Ladies Lokust, Kate, and Cora will be down shortly after they put Pegasus on autopilot.”
“Someone already did that, Prime Minister. Wonder who?” Lokust announced as she, Kate, and Aunt Cora walked in. Lokust stared at me a few seconds before the food caught her attention.
“Oh, my Gods, that smells amazing!”
“I didn’t know that place on Negley still delivered, Christina.” Charli admitted then smiled after taking a bite. “I don’t wanna know what the delivery charge was on this though. God, this hits the spot! I hope you tipped the driver handsomely!”
Charli stepped over and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Thanks, sweetie.”
“You all act like you’ve never had this before… or not for a very long time.” I stated in amazement.
“It was declared unhealthy and unkind to the livestock in the late twenty-fourth, sweetie. It fell out of favor right after that and never made a comeback.” Hope explained. “What the hell did they know?!”
“Well, I, for one, think it just made a big comeback, Hope.” Aunt Cora grinned before she pushed another slice into her mouth.
“Careful, Cora, it may go straight to your Ladies-in-wait.” Hope giggled.
“Or your hips, Hope.” Aunt Cora replied with a full mouth.
“Ya know… This would be really great if we had-.” Chance said as cold, frothy, amber drinks appeared on the counter.
“You read my mind, sister.” I said as I quickly reached for a tall sweaty glass and tasted it. “Hey, not bad.”
I proceeded to empty the glass and placed it back on the counter where it magically refilled itself.
“Oh, God! An open bar. I’m in heaven!” I exclaimed to the laughs of all my sisters.
“I propose a toast!” Lt. Greer announced to get everyone’s attention.
To my astonishment everyone in the room raised their glasses. I hadn’t seen one of them pick a glass up.
I think I like this place.
“To our new friend and sister, Christina Everhardt. May she find our time and company beneficial to her continued well-being, and may she continue to grace us with her friendship, beauty, and wit!”
“Here, here!” They chorused.
I suddenly found my eyesight blurred from tears and my voice failed to add to their revelry.
Instead of fighting it, I silently raised my glass high then downed my second drink.
Everyone began clapping- big smiles on all their faces.
 
 
Oh, my head!” I groaned as I woke up on my right side.
“Not so loud. I have a monumental hangover.” A groggy, female voice pleaded at just above a whisper.
It was still too loud!
Wait, I thought Chance said I had a private room. Who was in my bed pressed up against my back, spooning?
I tensed.
“Oh, relax. So we woke up in the same bed. It’ll happen thousands of more times.” Aunt Cora whispered. “We’re both Antarran; we’re both female, and we both had needs.”
An intense pain flashed through my head as my eyes shot open in shock!
“We ‘had’ needs?” I asked quietly as I scanned the part of the room I could see from where I lay, mortified. Clothes were thrown here and there.
“Oh boy.” I groaned in worry, expecting the worst as I lifted the covers and looked down.
I gulped, seeing nothing but me under there- al natural.
“I suppose you’re going to jump out of bed, turn around, and declare: ‘Oh. My. Goddess!’ several times in hysterics then lock yourself in the lavatory until we get back to base. Am I close?” Aunt Cora predicted.
“You have anything extra that I should know about, Aunt Cora?” I asked quietly.
“Same equipment, differing proportions, Sugar Plum.”
“Then we’re good.” I said as I repositioned my pillow under my head and closed my eyes again.
 
 
“Dammit! They never told me this thing came with a smaller bladder.” I swore as I got up a few moments later and trudged to the bathroom.
 
 
“How’d I get into this little green number?” I asked as I squinted into the mirror over the basin. I continued to inspect myself as I became accustom to the brightness.
“I’d do me.” I said to myself in acceptance with an impish smile as the urge to pee came back with vengeance.
 
 
“You took long enough in there.” Aunt Cora exclaimed as she hurried past me and quickly closed the bathroom door.
“Sorry. You didn’t say to hurry, Auntie.” I grinned.
To satisfy my curiosity about this all being a dream, I decided to kneel on my bed and look out the porthole at the blue streaks whizzing by. This was still so amazing! I thought about how Einstein would absolutely piss himself if he were here.
Someone knocked on my door.
I invited.
Chance and Hope entered with gleeful smiles.
“I want a doorbell like that, High Priestess.” Hope grinned.
“So, you had company last night?” Chance assumed correctly, as she raised an eyebrow to me then looked around the room.
“Oh, sorry.” I said as the strewn clothes disappeared.
A shriek exploded from the bathroom!
“Oops.” I blushed. “I didn’t know Aunt Cora was going to take a shower.”
Hope burst into crazed laughter and needed to hold herself up with the doorframe!
Chance just rolled her eyes.
“We just wanted to alert you and Aunt Cora that we’re diverting to the Tarantis System. We received a distress call claiming pirates were causing chaos in their shipping corridors. It’ll add a few more days to our mission. I didn’t know if you’ve had your fill of Witch Corps, Christina. If so, I think I can talk Aunt Cora into taking you home.” Chance glanced to the bathroom door. “Then again, maybe not.”
“With all due respect, High Priestess. It hasn’t been too bad so far. Boot camp has been a breeze.” I said as my uniform appeared- hat and all. I even remembered to stand on my toes as the heeled boots manifested. “I’d like to help if the offer still stands?”
Chance’s smile lit up like a billion watts!
“It does; even more so now, Christina. So, please convey an invitation to Cora. We meet in the Lounge in fifteen minutes.”
“Copy that, High Priestess.” I said as I saluted her.
“Sweetie? We don’t salute anymore.” Hope giggled while still trying to compose herself.
“You might want to patch things up with Aunt Cora first though. She looks pretty pissed.” Chance’s smile grew even bigger before they hurried away.
“You two put her up to that, didn’t you?” Aunt Cora accused our fleeing sisters.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Cora! I didn’t know you had hopped into the shower. I take full responsibility, Auntie.” I apologized profusely.
“We have another job, don’t we?” She asked as her expression changed to a smile. With a wink and a nod to me, her clothes changed and she was now standing a little higher in her uniform and boots.
“Chance asked me to pass along that we meet up in the lounge in less than fifteen minutes.” I said.
We were standing in the middle of the lounge instantly.
“Norges’ be merciful! What the hell just happened, Christina?” Aunt Cora exclaimed in surprise.
“I guess I brought us up to the Lounge.” I shrugged. “One of these days I’ll get the hang of this Current Mage stuff.” I added. “Maybe you can give me some pointers on using my magic.
“Sugar Plum, not all of us can do that. Only you, Chance, and Savanna can use ‘flue powder’ to travel from place to place.”
“Just the three of us? I thought everyone could do it.” I was stunned and felt my body start to shake.
“Don’t get too freaked, Sugar Plum! We all have our specialties and we’re all Current Mages of varying degree, so there is no ‘standard’. I venture to guess though, that you, Christina Everhardt, Lady-in-Wait to Queen Caroline Norge, are several magnitudes higher than most of the sisters. It isn’t anything to be ashamed of or concerned about.”
I gasped again.
“Did you just proclaim me ‘family’, Aunt Cora?” I asked with my mouth hanging open.
“No, Sugar Plum, I just decreed you a ‘princess’ of Antarra- a ‘Lady-in-Waiting’ to Queen Norge; me. I declared you family yesterday. Please try to keep up?”
I found myself feeling slightly faint and instantly reclining in one of the lounge chairs.
Aunt Cora was staring at me strangely. “How do you do that?”
“When I find out, you’ll be the second to know, Auntie.”
“Oh? And who will be the first, Sugar Plum?” She asked.
“Me.” I said pointing to myself.
“Sugar Plum, you are a very talented witch. Please stop under-rating yourself. Confidence in ‘self’ is the key to understanding. The more you understand about Christina Everhardt, the more you learn about your abilities.”
“I understand the concept, Aunt Cora, I just have to get past the first hurdle.” I replied.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“I still have to prove to myself that I’m not dreaming. When I came from, magic didn’t really exist- at least ‘real’ magic. Sure, we had illusionists, street and stage magicians, but as far as science could prove… real magic was just fantasy. It only existed in the mind- the imagination. Now can you see where I’m coming from and why I’m having a hard time with the 33rd century, Aunt Cora?”
“Well, Sugar Plum, the only evidence I can provide is that you are a very talented witch; this is the 33rd century; and we are definitely in a spacecraft that is the fastest - only second to rumor- when it comes to travel throughout the known galaxy. Oh, and you are among people that love and care for you! Does it sound like a fantasy? Sure. Even I find it hard to believe sometimes… and then someone materializes my clothes on me while I’m taking a shower!”
I sat up. “I said I was sorry, Auntie! All I did was think about cleaning up my room- return the clothes to their owner-.”
“Ah, I had a feeling you’d already be here.” Chance said calmly as she walked out of the elevator.
“She uses ‘flue powder’ just like you and Savanna, Chance. Less intentionally though.” Aunt Cora explained.
“I noticed. She seems to do a lot of things like Savanna, Aunt Cora. Charli has a theory about that and she’s been in Navigation searching her private archives for the possible explanations to prove it.”
“So even in the future, I’m still a freak? Is that what you’re saying, Chance?” I asked, fear tainting my voice.
“I am saying nothing of the sort, Christina Everhardt! Get that idea out of your head right now!” Chance commanded in anger. Her eyes began glowing orange.
“Link was right.” I muttered to myself as I looked off to my right.
“What was she right about, Christina?” Chance asked as I looked back to her; her eyes had returned to normal.
“That our eyes glow orange when we’re pissed.” I answered. “She told me we all do that when we get angry.”
“Those of us that have reached threshold do, Christina. I noticed you doing it the first day we met- when you pulled your wand on mom. Your eyes were bright orange.”
“They were?” I gulped. “Oh my God, I’m sorry! What- what am I, Chance?” I asked as a shiver passed through me. “I mean I seem to be able to do things only a few of you are capable of. That doesn’t seem normal… even by your standards, that is.”
Lyra and Greer were next to walk from the elevator.
“Flue Powder?” Lyra stated calmly as she looked from Chance to me then back to Chance.
Chance nodded.
Lyra smiled, closed her eyes, and shook her head. Greer seemed to seriously appraise me for a moment.
“I trust your hangover has abated, Lady Christina?”
“It has, Lady Greer.” I giggled. She was so…polite. “Thank you for asking.”
“Hey, ‘Sugar Plums’! You two have a good time last night?” Kitty asked, walking out of her suite with a wide smile and Prime Minister Tau in her draft.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Aunt Cora giggled.
“Actually, I was thinking about it, but you two just, ‘poof’, disappeared.” She said snapping her fingers once. “That ‘flue powder’ is pretty cool stuff. You’ll have to show it to me sometime.”
“If I can figure out how I do it, I’ll show you.” I admitted.
“You don’t know?” Lady Kitty asked, aghast.
“I believe she doesn’t, but Charli has a theory. Hopefully, she’ll bring her findings to this meeting.” Chance confirmed.
“Greetings, ladies.” Link greeted as she and Aquia stepped off the elevator. She appraised me carefully then smiled. Aquia just nodded.
“Feeling better, sister?” She asked me specifically.
“Yes, but I have no recollection of what transpired overnight. I just know I’m a little sore in one less than familiar place and two, more familiar, places, sis.” I answered.
“And you didn’t think to invite me?”
“And what part of: ‘I don’t remember’, don’t you understand, sis?” I responded.
“Actually,” Lyra cut in, grinning from ear to ear- amazingly like the Cheshire Cat in Wonderland. “Aunt Cora and Christina both wanted you to participate, but you had already slipped the bounds of consciousness. For an Antarran, you really need to develop your beverage resistance, Link.”
“Huh?” Link seemed confused.
“She said you need to learn how to hold your liquor, sis.” I translated.
“Actually, that didn’t seem to be the problem. Lady Link needs to pace herself. She was tied with you, Christina, when she dropped. She drank beverage after beverage in such short order that it hit her faster.”
“Hey! It was my first time drinking!” Link protested.
“Actually, it isn’t, Link.” Aquia corrected. “I seem to remember several incidents a few years ago where mom was missing several containers of her favorite beverages, and your name was placed at the top of the list.”
Link blushed, and looked down guiltily.
“Sounds like a Norge to me.” Simone said having arrived in time to hear Aquia’s recollection.
“That she is, Sugar Plum. And I’m very proud of her, too. Christina too, for that matter! Chance? We going to get this meeting underway? Before those ‘old’ people show up?”
“Aunt Cora, I kinda resemble that remark, remember?” I reminded.
“Sorry, Sugar Plum, you just seem so ‘with it’ and more modern than Hope and Charli.”
“Wow, I hear an old crone cackling incoherently again. Hasta’ be Cora, Charli.” Hope sang out as both appeared from the elevator.
“So, nice of everybody to be here on time.” Chance rolled her eyes at her parents. “Let’s get this started.
Everyone found and took a seat.
“As everybody knows, we’ve been asked to intervene in shipping disruptions in the Tarantis System. It has been conveyed that pirates and other ‘mysterious’ marauders are attempting to destabilize that system’s economy. Tarantis has been dealing with several years worth of slumping commerce due to the diminishing purity of their chief export, silk.”
“Christina, Tarantis is an Arachniod society of five billion. Tarantins have two legs and six arms.” Chance informed me.
“Think Tarantula, only Terran-sized, Sweetie. They’re vegetarians’, though. They don’t eat people.” Hope added. “Not usually.”
“So the silk? It comes out their-.” I started to ask, but Hope cut me off
“Yep! You got it in one, sister.”
“Ewwww!” I exclaimed as I made a sour face.
“Can I please continue?” Chance inquired.
“Sure. Go right ahead, High Priestess.” I motioned her to continue with my hand.
Chance glared at me for a second or two.
“Our mission is to dissuade whomever from ransacking the Tarantis shipping lanes so that exports can leave the system and much needed medical supplies can be imported.
“Is that the reason their export quality is dropping, Chance? Some sort of sickness?” I asked.
“It is. For the past several years, a plague of sorts has spread over the four habitable planets in the system.” Chance explained.
“Weak spiders produce weaker silk, sweetie.”
“Mother? I thought we talked about this years ago?” Chance growled.
“Oh, poo. I was just explaining it so Christina could relate.” Hope argued.
“Anyway… This will be mostly an escort mission for our Brooms with Pegasus providing support planet-side where necessary. Any questions?”
“So all we’re doing is flying escort sorties?” Aquia said.
“Mostly, but I think we might also be able to render assistance on the planets, too.”
“How so?” I asked.
“I’m thinking you, Charli, and Link might be just the persons Tarantis needs to solve their health mystery, Christina.”
“Me? How do you figure?” I asked in shock.
“You’re the closest we have to a medical expert.”
“Ah’m an Astrophysicist, not a doctor, dammit!” I growled in disbelief.
“Somehow, I knew she was going to say that.” Hope giggled.
Chance glared at Hope before turning her attention back to me.
“Actually, you’re both; a ‘doctor’ of ‘Astrophysics’, remember? You’re also the only person I know of to experience Gene Replacement Therapy. Maybe you’re Current can help diagnose the Tarantins’ ailment since it knows what to look for?”
“You think someone tampered with the whole subspecies, Chance?” Kitty asked.
“I’m not sure, but there was something in that distress call that has me wondering if the Hoblins might have something to do with it.”
“But the Hoblins never bothered with the Tarantis System in the past.” Hope stated. “There is something about their physiology that didn’t allow conscription.”
“You’re thinking it’d be a really good place to lay low if that incompatibility could be resolved, Chance?” I asked.
“Yes. Which brings us to the next topic of this meeting.” Chance said and paused.
“Everybody? I’d like you all to meet the newest member of Witch Corps; Lady Christina Everhardt.”
Everyone applauded me then took turns hugging me.
“Now to make it official.” Chance said as she conjured her wand.
Had I just conjured mine faster?
There was a loud gasp in the lounge.
“Very good reaction time, Christina. And you even readied it too! Very, very good, my lady.” Chance praised with a bright smile, which disappeared quickly.
“However. I was not challenging you nor was I attacking. Please dispatch your wand?”
I did as asked while blushing profusely- extremely embarrassed.
“Welcome to Witch Corps, Lt. Christina Everhardt.” Chance proclaimed and pointed her wand toward the tip of my hat.
“A three, High Priestess?” Lokust asked.
“A ‘three’ what?” I asked, not having a clue.
“A three o’clock. It’s how we display rank and ability. Chance is our two o’clock and I’m the ten o’clock. Everyone else is between three and nine.” She explained.
I quickly took off my pointed hat and noticed its tip folded over crisply. With one hand, I tried flipping the point in the opposite and various other directions but it consistently returned to three o’clock.
“Interesting.” I mumbled as I placed my hat back on my head. It seemed to fit only one way as I turned it in one direction then the other. “So why am I a ‘three’, Chance?”
“It’s because of the way you responded to those Hoblins. You sensed their presence and handled the situation like a seasoned pro; you purified then reconstituted the conscripts faster, and without any weaponry other than a wand. You also went above and beyond by depositing them all safely on the ground close to where emergency services were waiting. Basically, you have the talents a three o’clock should have, Christina.”
“Oh. Is that good?” I asked innocently.
“What do you think, Christina?” Chance asked sincerely.
I just shrugged my shoulders once.
“I guess? As I said before, I thought I felt some ‘creepy’ thing sneaking up behind me- its objective fixed on doing something harmful. I thought that if I didn’t hold it together, I’d make you and the Corps look bad, Chance. I then felt said ‘creepy’ was intent on taking Pegasus from you… from us. I thought… greedily…that I couldn’t let that happen because I would be stuck on an alien planet with no way of getting back home… to base.”
“Then, I thought, ‘what the hell, if I was going to be stuck here, I might as well go for broke and take out some of my worries and pent-up frustrations on the bad guys.’ Only then did I consider that reconstituting however many innocents in the Engineering bay might not be a good idea and that they should be handled carefully and responsibly- like the victims they were instead of enemies.”
“I see it now, Chance. Good call.” Lokust said, thoughtfully.
“Spoken like a true Demigoddess, Christina Everhardt.” Charli applauded.
“Come again?” I turned to her in shock.
“I think I’ve come across evidence that may just explain your proclivity to Current usage, Christina.” Charli said as she smiled.
“Okaaaay?” I narrowed my eyes a little.
“You’ve spent fourteen centuries inside a very confined container.”
“And I would ask that you all stop reminding me of that morose fact, malady!” I winced as I shivered at the thought.
“Before I go further with this, Christina, allow me to ask several perceptual questions?”
I nodded.
“Could you always see Current? Even before you underwent GRT?”
“You mean HRT, Hormone Replacement Therapy?”
“No. Before you underwent Gene Replacement Therapy. Had you always been able to see the orange auras surrounding all things?”
“No. It was only hours after I got the shot that I started having what I thought were hallucinations of seeing orange auras- right after I had experienced the first of many excruciating, cramp-like pains.”
Charli seemed to accept my answer and continued.
“And at any time after that first sighting of Current, did you interact with it? Um, touch it… feel it?”
“A few days after, Ichi and I were alone in the ‘Garage’. He was working on the Lifeboat and I had just finished the new emitter calculations. As I was walking over to him, I spotted a crucible on the next worktable over. It seemed to be filled with… with Current. I was completely mesmerized by it and pointed it out to Ichi. I thought I was hallucinating again when he told me there was nothing in the container. I reached in and barely touched it. I felt a tingle as it seemed to absorb into my finger. I had Ichi try it and as his finger made the slightest of contact, he retreated in surprise claiming his fingertip had gone instantly numb and that it was spreading up his finger quickly. I carefully touched his finger and the Current absorbed into my finger. Is that what you wanted to know?”
“That answers a few questions, Christina, thanks. Now, I need you to think back to the morning of the Main Emitter Test. Can you recall if there was anything in or around the Lifeboat? Where it was setup for display to us… how it was setup for display… if anything had been added or removed for the display?”
I thought back. Since my rescue, the memories had been retreating into my dreams… well, my nightmares. How I wished that these people- my new friends could see what I saw that fateful day.
 
 

 
 
“Morning, Christina. Ready for the big demo?” Ichi asked as I opened then locked my pack in the desk drawer under my worktable.
“Oh, hey. Anna and Marta from NASA asked to speak to you as soon as you arrived. They said they’d meet you out, beside the Control Room. Sounds like they want to steal you away from me… us.” He said. I detected the slightest bit of red in his cheeks.
I smiled and turned to go meet the two VIPs.
“Oh! Almost forgot. Thanks for shaming the Doc. He finally let the moths escape!” He excitedly reached into his back pocket and handed me a plain, windowed, business envelope.
My eyes widened exponentially as I read the amount of the Department of Defense’s pay check and attached receipt.
“Yeah, I just went up a few tax brackets too.” Chen laughed.
“I better get out there.” I pointed to the door that led outside to the test chamber and Control room.
“Here’s to that being doubled or tripled if they offer, Christina. Go get ‘em!”
 
 
“Ah, Miss Everhardt. Thank you for seeing us. Marta and I would like to ask you a few questions. First, How do you do that? Your hair, I mean. Do you add some every night?” Anna McCorkle asked with a wide, warm smile.
“Actually, I’m participating in a gene therapy study over at Pitt. This,” I grabbed a handful to illustrate, “seems to be an unseen side effect.”
“Well don’t change it! Marta and I both agree it sets you apart.”
“Like nobility.” Marta Green added quickly.
I was stunned! How could they know?
“Miss Everhardt?”
“Yeah, sorry. I sometimes get flashes of ideas at the oddest times. You were saying?” I apologized, trying to cover my reaction to the innocuous statement.
“I hadn’t said anything else. You just froze when Marta added her two-cents. Anyway, we’d like to talk to you about your radical new propulsion system. What made you decide to use a phased ion ‘emitter’ and forego the thrust bell?” Anna asked.
“Dr. Smithe’s prototype already utilized the ion generator before I joined the project. After I found a tiny math mistake, we retested his version of the IPD. All three of us were stunned by the output of that thing.” I said with a smile.
“How much output are we talking, Miss Everhardt?” Marta asked this time. She seemed extremely interested. Maybe she was the lead propulsion engineer?
“Twenty-four thousand pounds at only five percent control signal.”
There was a stagnant pause outside of the Control room that seemed to last a few minutes.
“You did say twenty-four ‘K’ at only five percent, right?” Anna sounded taken aback.
I nodded.
“Mother of God! How can that even be possible, Christina? I can call you Christina, right?”
I nodded.
“Will it work in an atmosphere?” Marta questioned.
“Maybe? Dr. Smithe didn’t discuss any tests within normal atmospheric conditions.” I answered.
“I’ll go talk to him, Marta. Be right back.” Anna said as she turned and headed to Smithe’s office.
Marta smiled at me as we waited. “Have you started to think about your post grad career, Christina?” I’m certain there’s a place for you at NASA. With what I’ve seen so far, I’d gladly recommend you. You could be our ‘princess in the rough’ at JPL.” She said as she motioned to my hair.
I looked to the woman with narrowed eyes.
What did she know that I was missing?
“Look, just think about our offer, but please remember this phrase that I use as a mantra to null the day to day stress.”
“Deorum protegas me, et custodiet me donec inventa est.”
“What’s it mean,” I asked with interest.
“Just a little prayer for protection, calm, and luck. Commit it to memory, Christina. It might come in handy one day.”
“Um…okay?” I agreed hesitantly. It sounded like Latin, I thought and repeated the phrase a few times until I thought I had it memorized.
 
 
Marta and I continued chatting until everyone else had arrived. I remembered inspecting the Lifeboat and initializing its system for Marta since she was curious about its control system.
“Now, how long might this emergency system perform if needed, Christina?” she asked.
“Ichi claims it can suspend the occupant’s life for up to five years if conditions are optimized. This is just the prototype and therefore does not have the battery source my calculations spec’d out.”
“And why not, Miss Everhardt?” Marta inquired.
“Dr. Smithe ordered it a week ago, but we hadn’t received it in time for yesterdays demonstration, ma’am.”
“Okay, Marta. I think I got through to Smithe. He’s agreed to test Christina’s new propulsion system in normal atmospheric conditions.” Anna said as I turned toward her voice.
I noticed our other VIP’s behind her. Dr. Smithe and Ichi were last in the parade of dignitaries and Smithe animatedly motioned for me to unlock and open the control room door.
 
 
“Ladies and Gentlemen. Today’s test firing of our latest version of our Ion Propulsion Drive System or IPDs5 as we call it has been modified somewhat. I have been asked… challenged actually… by Dr. Anna McCorkle to conduct the IPDs5 tests in Earth normal atmosphere.” Smithe paused to address any blatant negative statements.
“So… Everhardt? Start re-pressurizing the test chamber.”
“Yes, Doctor,” I said as I flipped the switch that disabled the chamber’s vacuum pump and enabled the sequence that would gradually let air back into the chamber.
“Re-pressurization in ten minutes.” I announced.
 
 
“Test chamber is fully normalized, Doctor.” I reported.
We had been patiently waiting for the ten minutes to elapse to initiate the IPDs5 demo.
“Everhardt. Bring the MPB online.” Dr. Smithe ordered and I excitedly carried out the request.
“IPDs5 control system coming online, Doctor.” Ichi reported but his eyes didn’t budge from his display screen. “Controller online.” He added as my notification pop-ups went green.
“As we did before, Everhardt. Initialize IPDs5 Emitter.”
I moved and clicked my mouse a couple times and we heard a slightly louder whistling noise through the plywood walls. Like last time, it sounded like a turbine spinning up.
“IPDs5 Emitter online, Doctor.” Ichi confirmed.
“1% control signal, Everhardt.”
I moved my mouse over the thrust control slider, made the necessary adjustments and monitor 1 showed the new emitter start to glow a dull red.
“Load cells are reading four thousand pounds of thrust, Doctor.” Ichi gasped in awe of the sheer power this thing was producing!
Behind me, our two NASA guests also gasped in amazement.
“Chen? Run the joystick around the outer extents to test the array response.”
As he had during yesterdays test of our lifeboat, Ichi slowly moved the joystick on his console around in a circle and closely monitored the test chamber load cells.
“Tracking accuracy within 1% with only a four nanosecond response delay. WOW!” Ichi exclaimed, succumbing to his building excitement.
Anna McCorkle leaned down to my ear.
“So. When can you start? This thing is completely off the charts, honey.”
“IPDs5 Internal Convertor is receiving all of its power from the IPD positive feedback circuit. External MPB load is 0%.” I announced as I composed myself and concentrated on my screen readouts.
“Open External MPB. Let’s see how this responds on internal only.” Dr. Smithe requested.
“External power bus is now disconnected from IPDs5 test unit, Doctor.” I announced.
“So how much can your test stand withstand, Dr. Smithe?” The Marine Major inquired. “I mean if this system is this efficient, shouldn’t we consider putting it in our next generation fighters and transports?”
“Our test chamber is certified to one million pounds of force. Each load cell is rated at over two million, Major Summers.”
“Can we take it up to… say five hundred thousand pounds, Doc?” Major Summers requested.
“Have the deadman cables been attached and tested, Chen?” Smithe asked.
“Everhardt and I double checked them before we started depressurization last evening, doctor.” He affirmed.
“Everhardt? Start ramping up the control signal until the load cells indicate five hundred thousand pounds of thrust. Coordinate with her, Chen.” Dr. Smithe requested.
My eyes met Ichi’s. He smiled and winked at me in support. I had a bad feeling about this and therefore was less confident.
“2% Control signal.”
“Eight thousand pounds.” Ichi announced.
“3% Control signal.” I said.
“Sixteen thousand pounds.” Ichi gasped.
“BPS has stabilized and charging system is tending. IPDs5 Emitter is now self-sustaining. 4%.” I reported.
“Thirty-eight thousand.”
I felt my mouth drop open and my eyes opened in amazement, but I continued with Dr. Smithe’s order. I made another adjustment with my mouse
“5%.” I announced with a slight fear that this might suddenly spiral out of control.
“Eighty thousand!” Ichi announced excitedly.
“6%.”
“My God! Two hundred thousand!”
I began biting my lower lip nervously.
“7%.”
“Five hundred thousand-eight hundred! Hooooly shit, Christina!” Ichi exclaimed!
“Bravo, Miss Everhardt! Dr. Smithe, you have one helluva team here! Dr. Green and I can hardly believe what we’re seeing here! Astounding!” Anna complimented enthusiastically.
“Take it up another percentage!” The Army General demanded. I turned to stare at him for a second. Was he serious? “You engineering types always underrate things.”
“Gen. Mann, I would strongly advise against any further control increase. If my observations are correct, the next percent advancement will more than double the thrust the IPDs5 is producing. Please reconsider your request?” Dr. Smithe insisted.
I felt my heart rate suddenly double as my feeling of catastrophe flew through the roof!
“Doc? The foundation cells are already reporting excessive strain. The whole test chamber might launch if we give it anymore.” Ichi advised.
“Just take the damn thing up another percent, Smithe!” The DOD isn’t paying your project to cut and run!”
I really hated this guy!
“General?” Major Summers called for the man’s attention. “I’m with Smithe on this one, sir. They’ve already established what would seem to be a new benchmark in interstellar propulsion systems. If this IPD produces five hundred thousand at just seven percent, I’m sure even you can figure out the math on what it can really do! Let’s not push our luck.”
“Summers? It’s your butt that this thing is going to be hurtling through the solar system! I’d think you in particular would be curious about its max output!” Gen. Mann argued.
“General, I have complete confidence in this team’s abilities! I’m satisfied this propulsion system is our ticket to exploring our solar system in a relatively short time.”
USAF Colonel Charles Armstrong was busy tapping away on his tablet.
“General? By my calculations sir, this IPD system will produce in excess of four trillion pounds of viable thrust! Hell! That’s enough force to change the orbit of Earth by…” He tapped something else into his tablet. He gulped loudly.
“Point thirty-eight degrees!”
“Noted, Colonel, now take it up another percent, Everhardt!” Mann demanded.
Please don’t do this, general! Please?
As one, Ichi and I looked to Dr. Smithe for his decision. With a very wrinkled brow, he gave a very slow and slight nod.
Shit!
My hand was shaking violently as I reached for and moved my mouse to apply the requested change.
Ichi’s load cell readouts went haywire! Even the test chamber foundation load cells instantly turned red!
“Shut it down!” Ichi screamed as he punched the emergency shutdown mushroom on his console.
The foundation sensors went offline. And I noticed the test chamber physically lurch forward a few inches.
“Shit! She’s breaking loose! Everyone evacuate the Control room!” Ichi shouted at the top of his lungs.
“You Fucking Asshole!” Major Summers grabbed his superior and thrust him through the thin, plywood door. “You are fucking dead meat, Mann!”
The two men crashed out the control room door and our other guests hurried out also.
“Time to get out, Christina.” Ichi said from the doorway. “We’re gonna lose the IPD, but we can build another one. We can’t build another Christina Everhardt.” Ichi commanded.
A loud ‘thud’ and the sound of heavy metal groaning told me that the IPD was probably free and pushing against the test chamber walls.
“Christina! We need to leave!” Ichi urged excitedly.
I had to do something!
An idea suddenly occurred to me.
“I’m resetting the control signal to 0%. I just need to set it and…done! Let’s get out of here! Hopefully there will be something salvageable! I’m right behind you.” I shouted over the disheartening groaning and moaning within the thick test chamber walls.
I hadn’t reached the broken Control Room doorframe when all hell exploded! The ear-splitting squeal of metal finally reaching its breaking point caused me to turn around. I instantly felt myself hitting against something hard enough to knock the breathe out of me. My dazed perspective of the shattering control room building became the moderately cloudy sky and a door… the Lifeboat door, slamming closed in front of me.
A female voice requested a rescue point. Still quite dazed, I heard myself say ‘Antarra’ just before I began reciting Marta’s mantra as I continued to pound at the Lifeboat’s door for help.
It began to get very cold…

 
 
“By the Gods and Goddesses! Did I just experience that?” Link gasped, making me open my eyes in surprise.
Everyone around me was either wiping tears away or staring at me as if I was some monstrous alien!
“How did you do that, Christina? It was…it was like I was reliving that day… but…but from your perspective- every thought; every feeling; every emotion.” Charli Anderson sniffed sadly in awe.
“What?” I asked in surprise. I thought I had just been remembering the events of that day fourteen hundred years ago.
When I thought about it like that it seemed so far away, but right now, right here, it felt so fresh in my mind- like it just happened!
“Damnedest thing I ever experienced.” Aunt Cora proclaimed. “And you were kinda handsome back then, Hope.”
Instead of looking saddened or depressed like everyone else, Hope Summers looked very, very angry- her eyes blazing bright orange!
I was suddenly right in front of her?
”Ma’am? Please? I didn’t do this on purpose. Charli just asked me to relate the events of that day. Please don’t be mad for… um…” I looked off to the side a second, “for my sharing?” I pleaded, taking her hands in mine tightly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
“You marvelously ingenious witch.” Lady Hope muttered to herself. She then looked between my face and our clasped hands a few times. Then her attention seemed to return to the present and she looked to our hands again.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m not mad at you! Your memories just brought back my memories of that asshole. Gods, I could never be mad at you! You’re the one whose quick thinking probably saved our lives. If you hadn’t issued that last command- for the IPD to go back to idle, none of us would probably be here today. You saved our future, Christina Everhardt. Because of what you did, Charli, Chantell, and I were able to make it to FeLane and establish relations that united a galaxy.” Hope comforted, pulling me into a tight embrace that felt so wonderful I didn’t want it to end.
“Hopewell? Did you recognize ‘Dr. Anna McCorkle’, dear?” Charli asked quietly.
“We good, Christina?” Hope asked as she released me and moved back so she could appraise my condition.
I nodded.
“Morgana.” She said with a nod. “Though at the time I had no idea she was anybody other than who she claimed.”
“Her real name was Morgana McCorkle? That almost sounds made up.” I joked at how comical it sounded.
“Basically it was, sweetie. You see; Morgana is a very old Current Mage we met almost nine years ago on a mission to the Magellan System. She had been one of the conscripts we recovered on their moon-turned-Deathstar. I shit you not about the Deathstar. Looked just like it.” Hope insisted.
“Did you guys blow it up?” I asked fearing we would, at some point, revisit it or they would make it bigger like in later movies.
“We recovered the conscripts and returned control back to the Magellan people, sweetie. We only disabled the makeshift, fake reactor that Morgana had manifested to test us.” Hope answered.
“Test…you?” I was curious now.
“Test us. She claimed she needed to see which side we were on, and, to what extent. Chance bested her though and we parted company amicably.” Hope giggled
“I upgraded some of her ship’s systems and installed a hot tub for her, mom.” Chance giggled. “She loved it and thanked me.”
“A hot tub? In a spacecraft?” I asked in disbelief and waited only a few seconds for a reply that never came.
“Hey, why not?” I deadpanned as I shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes.
“That explains some things, but raises even more questions. Like who played the part of Marta Green? I remember working with her all the way through training and during our mission prep. She’s as knowledgable as they come. The real deal.” Charli pondered.
“Who do we know that would know Latin, dear?” Hope hinted.
“What’s the population of Olympus, Hope?” Charli giggled.
“Ninety gazillion mortals knocked up and counting, I’d guess.”
I had to giggle at her answer, and I had to ask.
“So, Olympus, heh? What’s that place look like?”
“Lush green meadows, a big, steep mountain with a huge, white Parthenon atop it. Lots of toga clad gods and goddess’ frolicking around the place; the usual.” Hope described nonchalantly.
I couldn’t help but to snort in laughter!
“Yeah? I’d love to see that place!”
I found myself on a huge grassy meadow! A woman clad in a long, white gown trimmed with gold had apparently just walked past me. She stopped suddenly and slowly turned around as if suddenly ‘feeling’ my presence. She quickly composed herself- confused smile instantly changing to a pleasant, welcoming smile.
“Welcome, sister. We weren’t expecting you for another couple of your weeks. I am Artemis, and you must be Christina Everhardt. Come, walk with me.”
I was wearing a similar flowing, white gown!
“Hang on a sec.” I said as I tried to take everything in. “Is this some kind of Witch Corps hazing ritual for the newbie? When did Chance slip me a Mickey or do a whammy? I’m still on Pegasus, right?”
“So many questions, young one. All in good time though. Let us continue into the mountain.” This ‘Artemis’ answered with a pleasant smile.
“Um…shouldn’t we climb it instead? Should I conjure some climbing gear, ma’am?” I asked.
“Why do all you girls ask that question? No. We’re going into the mountain and that is the only place we are going!”
“Saar-rie! I just thought that while I’m having this crazy-assed dream about Mt. Olympus I might as well follow the myth!” I answered with some attitude.
“And that is exactly what you are doing, Christina! Following the ‘Miss’.” She laughed brightly.
And legend, apparently, I thought.
“Yes, as in ‘miss’ and legend, Christina.” She replied, still laughing.
“That’s what I get for being a smart-ass.” I mumbled, chastising myself.
‘Artemis’ laughed harder for a moment.
“That’s what you get for being affiliated with Witch Corps, Lt. Christina Everhardt. But, I too, hold membership in the Corps.” She giggled and turned with her hand held out. She was suddenly dressed in a Witch Corps uniform. “Lt. Cmdr. Artemis of Zeus, Lt. Christina Everhardt. Nice to finally meet you.”
“A-a-a-a-artemis of Zeus? The Goddess of the Hunt?” I gasped in shock as her uniform instantly changed back to her toga.
“Meh. More of less these days but yeah… that Goddess.” She bobbed her head side to side. “Shall we continue?”
“Um… where are we continuing to?” I asked as we neared a cave entrance. “I…um…I never went in for Spelunking. Just thought you ought to know.”
“Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, and still able to quote movie lines? You are the gem everyone’s been talking about, aren’t you, Christina?”
“People have been talking about me, ma’am?” I asked in disbelief. So far I hadn’t seen anybody else here.
“You sound surprised.”
“Weeeeell…I haven’t seen anyone else around, and-.”
“And you wondered about those I was including, right?” She continued my question as she continued leading us further into the mountain.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“We do have jobs, Christina. Some of us are just on vacation as is my situation or, sabbatical. I thought I had another few weeks, but you seem to be in a hurry.”
“Oh God! I’m dead, aren’t I? This is my own personal hell and you are the man himself here to see me suffer!” I declared fervently.
Laughing erupted and echoed from somewhere deeper in the cave; a deep, pleasant sounding laugh that reminded me of Santa Claus- only way deeper.
“Di? Why do you insist on teasing the girl? Have you been among Nike and her Furies long enough that you mimic their playful nature?”
“Oh, kiss it, Hephie! I wasn’t the one teasing her; she was doing that all on her own. Are they ready?” ‘Artemis’ inquired mysteriously.
“Just placing the finishing touches to them now, Di. Come on in.” The deep, male voice boomed from just ahead.
“Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts.” I repeated over and over.
“You might want to stop that before you bump that pretty blue coiffed head of yours.” Artemis recommended.
I looked down to see I was several feet off the cave floor.
“Eeeep!” I squeaked as I hit the floor harder than I expected. How had I done that? Hovered above the ground?
Oh, duh, witch.
“Greetings, Christina Everhardt. I welcome you to my humble forge.” The huge man boomed with an equally huge smile!
“Christina? Hephaestus, God of the Forge. Hephie? Christina.” Artemis introduced.
“Allow me a moment, Lady Christina. As a fellow engineer and designer, you must be familiar with the need for last minute ‘tweaks’ and refinements to get something juuuust right?”
“But I’m an Astrophysicist.” I corrected.
“Yes you are, but you are also a gifted designer, mathematician, and aerospace engineer in advanced propulsion systems, are you not? Or, do you disagree with those credentials awarded you fourteen mortal centuries ago? Posthumously, of course, but they count and are well earned despite that little detail.” He answered in a very understanding tone. “The muse’s were right about you, Christina. You reshaped the Milky Way with your achievements and once more honor your galaxy with your courage and intelligence.”
“Heph? The girl can’t take much more. I suggest we conclude her business here before she decides to leave without your gift.” Artemis strongly suggested.
“Ah. Forgive me, Lady Christina. It is such a pleasure to meet someone I hold in such high esteem that I feel I must compliment infinitely. I meant not to frighten you, sister.”
The actual God of the Forge… was my number one groupie? How screwed up is this?
“Forgive me, my lord.” I said, hoping that was the correct way to address a god. “I’m still getting acclimated to all the recent changes- both in myself and my surroundings. I also didn’t know I was such a celebrity.”
“Completely understandable, my lady. Here, I think these perfectly suit you. What do you think?” The huge, well-built guy asked as he held out a pair of delicate, but beautifully designed earrings. The intricate design looked similar to the old Native American ‘Dream Catchers’ I had seen at the Carnegie Museum a few years bac- relative to my old life, that is. At the center of each earring was suspended a fascinating, dark blue gem. It seemed to sparkle no matter which way you held it to the light. I instantly fell in love with them and wished I hadn’t left my pierced ears heal over.
The earrings disappeared from his palm and I instantly felt weight on both my ears.
“HOOOO! Marvelous! My lady, you out-talent yourself! Why, I’ve never seen one so young adapt so quickly! Obviously the things they’ve been saying about you are all true, Lady Christina! You truly are remarkable.” Hephaestus boomed happily, but blinked in confusion as he looked at me.
What was that all about?
“Come now, Lady Christina, we should be getting you back to Pegasus.” Artemis politely suggested.
“Thank you, Lord Hephaestus! I shall treasure them always and they will constantly remind me of you- they’re designer. Thank you, my lord.” I said in appreciation as Artemis took my hand and gently began pulling me away.
“And I shall always remember this day, my lady- the day I met the incomparable Lady Christina Everhardt; unifier of the Milky Way and beyond!” He boomed as we started to make our way back up the natural rock tunnel.
“He really deifies you, Christina. I think, of all the citizens of Olympus, Hephaestus is your biggest fan.” Artemis giggled as we reached the mouth of the cave.
Why did it seem to take less time to get out than to get in?
“Why? Why would he do that?” I asked.
“I’ve already told you, dear sister. Have you not been listening?”
“I have, Lady Artemis; it was rhetorical.” I answered.
Artemis turned and smiled at me.
“Now, the earrings have special attributes, Christina. Every member of Witch Corps has a pair that is specific to the wearer. One attribute is a transdimensional link that gives the ability for an Olympian to contact and appear or be heard by the wearer. Another is a passive protection spell of sorts that limits the amount of damage sustained in any given battle. But the best feature allows any of your talents- as powerful as they now are- to be amplified by a finite degree. In other words, as your talents develop, the earrings amplify that power by a constant amount. Be warned though, that these innocent looking pieces of jewelry are intelligent and will not function properly when revenge, jealousy, or greed is detected. With those and similar negative emotions, the earrings will suppress to the same degree, a certain amount of your talent instead. You are a very powerful goddess, Christina Everhardt! Always use logic, wisdom, intelligence, and above all, caution in your day-to-day life as a Current Mage. Listen and learn from our sister, Nike, but…” Artemis paused as a sad, tormented look crossed her face. “Please look after her as well, Christina. Nike is a very sensitive sister and as such, very fragile at times. And please, look after all our ‘Furies’ in the years and eons to come.” Artemis advised as she brought us to a stop.
“It is here that we must part for the moment, Christina, but I along with others of our family will continue to watch and advise you where we can. Farewell for now, Lady Christina.” Artemis said dramatically, but after a moment she looked confused.
“Why aren’t you gone? You were supposed to return to the mortal realm when I released you.” Artemis puzzled. She looked off to the side for a moment then turned back to me having possibly found an answer.
“That was your cue to return to Pegasus, Christina.” She deadpanned sarcastically. “Why must there always be one?” She paused. “Though, I stand corrected in the case of Witch Corps. Why must there be so many?” Artemis looked up and rolled her eyes.
I giggled.
“Please go home, Christina Everhardt? Our business here has concluded and it is now time to rejoin your coven sisters. Shoo!” She motioned me away with both hands.
With a laugh, I was back in the lounge of Pegasus. Everyone was staring at me.
“Wow, a new worlds’ record for a visit to Olympus. Ten whole seconds.” Hope said cynically.
“I like the earrings, Christina.” Chance smiled.
“Who did you meet there, sis?” Link asked excitedly.
“She called herself Artemis?” I answered, unsure that I’d even been there. “I like her.”
“Meet anyone else?” Aquia seemed to expectantly hold her breath in wait for my answer.
“Hephaestus.” I replied. “You know- huge, well-built dude with fantastic looking pecs, biceps, and abs? Booming baritone voice, and makes you wet in a place an’ it ain’t sweat?” I answered by way of description.
“Yep. She’s definitely Antarran.” Kitty laughed.
“I thought it an apt description.” Link and Aunt Cora said at the same time. They looked at each other and began giggling.
“I can see that getting very old in the coming days, months, years, centuries!” Simone shook her head in annoyance.
“So who else did you meet, Christina?” Aquia pressed, still excitedly awaiting my answer.
What did she want from me?
Hmmmmm…
“Well. He was blonde.” I started.
“Yes?”
“He was very well-built- physically.”
“Yes?”
“He had this nicely groomed beard and moustache.”
“Yes?”
“He was around six-six, maybe six-seven.”
“Mmmm, yes?” Aquia prompted dreamily.
“And he looked like he might have a decent package.” I finished my description.
“What was his name? Did he give you his name?” Aquia pushed harder with even more excitement.
“I don’t think so.” I answered as I paused in thought.
“Why not? Why didn’t you ask his name, Christina?” She just about demanded.
“Well, I hadn’t gotten to that yet, I just made him up.”
Aquia looked devastated, while I think Hope almost pissed herself laughing so hard! She had fallen, face down on one of the couches, pounding the furniture’s arm with her left fist, hysterical. Chance had her eyes closed and was shaking her head side to side with half a smile.
I could hear Kitty snorting uncontrollably into PM Tau’s shoulder while Lyra and Greer were laughing so hard they were tightly embraced, crying into each other’s shoulders.
Aunt Cora, Link, Lokust, Kate, and Simone were staring at me as if I had four eyes…strike that… staring at me as if seeing a yet to be seen, new subspecies.
“Yeah, without a doubt, you’ll fit in around here, Christina.” Charli giggled as she went to check on Hope.
“Well, I met Ares when I was there! I’m the daughter of Ares, you know! I’m Nike! That’s what he called me!” Aquia hissed petulantly.
Chance’s eyes lit up bright orange and her demeanor changed noticeably. Even her stride changed as she approached our furious sister.
“Child,” Chance said, but her voice echoed mysteriously throughout the lounge, “You are no more Nike than I am Zeus.” She said calmly, but the orange intensity of her eyes said otherwise. “Father has spread his genetic code around several galaxies and is far from able to identify his progeny individually. Yes, you are one of many thousands of sisters, but you are not me. Understand, Aquia Anderson, granddaughter of Ares?”
Aquia gulped and backed down immediately- nodding as tears rolled down her face.
“You,” Chance…Nike turned to me- her orange eyes burning into mine, “you are being a pain in the ass and as a daughter of Zeus you should honor and respect your nieces as Grandfather does his whole family.”
“Um. Par-don me for interrupting?” Hope cut in, stepping in front of me. “But Zeus is the biggest tease there ever was, Lady Nike! He constantly screws with us mortals with his games and tests and challenges and… well, you know how he can be.”
Thunder echoed through the lounge!
“Oh up yers, Allfather!” Hope shouted as she shot her middle finger to the ceiling. “You know I’m right! We’ve known each other for almost fourteen centuries.”
“And you are the only Fury that he lets get away with such arrogance, Hope Summers.” Chan…Nike glared at Hope.
“Oh contraire! Chantell Denison has a similar rapport with the old man, honey.” Hope challenged, wavering her eyebrow confidently.
Chan…Nike’s eyes dimmed to a dull orange. “You speak the truth. Grandfather has mellowed as of late. Even Hera never pushed his boundaries as Witch Corps does.”
Nike thought a few moments.
“I will now reintegrate with our High Priestess and continue to learn and experience.”
“Now what did she do?” Chance’s normal voice asked apparently a little upset by being possessed.
“Oh, she just asked Christina here to tone it down with our sisters. Apparently, she has this ‘thing’ against teasing, Chance.” Hope grinned evilly.
“Gods, is she in the wrong circle!” Chance giggled. “I’ll try to explain things to her when I have the time to induce a conversation between the two of us.”
“Nike lives in there with you, Chance?” I goggled.
“It’s complicated, sweetie.” Hope assured as she touched my arm. “She’s not schizo if that’s what you’re worried about. Chance is genetically Nike. That being said, Nike’s um, eternal soul… took up mutual residence. She’s quite stable, sweetie.”
“Gee thanks, mom. What would I ever do without you?” Chance’s remark dripped with sarcasm.
“From time to time, Nike pushes forward if she doesn’t understand how this reality or the people around her work. She never really got to experience life before she exiled herself to oblivion the first time around.” Hope continued.
I suddenly felt the urge to comfort Chance. Taking her hands in mine, I looked deep into her eyes.
“I understand the insecurity and trepidation you feel, sister. I too, feel like a stranger in this wondrous, mysterious land. Baum, Poe, Asimov, Howard, and Carroll couldn’t have collaboratively dreamed up this frelled-up reality.”
I blinked and released her then stepped back, confused.
Did her eyes just sparkle at me?
Freaky.
“Well… We’re almost to Tarantis. Meeting adjourned.” Chance said with a quirky smile. She clapped twice. “Places everybody.”
I was back in my room.
 
 

 
 
“I really wish you would stop that, Christina.” Link groaned in exasperation. And, we weren’t alone. Simone and Aunt Cora were here too.
“So…” Simone said as she paused to rub her forehead. “I was heading for the Bridge, but thanks for the ride this far, Christina.”
Simone bowed courtly, turned, and exited my room in silence. Aunt Cora and Link just stood where they were, observing me cautiously.
“I know! I have to get my act together. Any idea about how I can do that?” I replied to the unspoken concerns I saw on they’re faces.
“Maybe don’t think so hard?” Link suggested as she made a silly, contorted, lopsided face.
“I would suggest you ‘learn’ the ‘feel’ of your magic, Sugar Plum. Pay closer attention to what’s inside you before you try something.”
I suddenly did feel ‘something’!
“Something’s wrong. We’re dropping out of warp too soon.” I gasped.
“We are?” Link seemed surprised and hurried onto my bed to look out the viewport.
“No we aren’t. Christina, why did you say…I’ll be damned! We just did.”
The three of us were suddenly on the bridge!
“Lt. Everhardt! It is customary to use the door when entering MY Bridge!” Chance warned without turning around.
“She sensed us dropping out of transdimensional about thirty seconds before we actually did, High Priestess. What’s up?” Aunt Cora explained.
“Sensors have picked up a Scavenger apparently making a run on a system bound transport. You want first crack at him, Porno?” Chance answered.
“Sure, give Pin-up a wake up call. Christina? You wanna come?”
“Um, sure.” I nodded hesitantly.
“Okay. Aquia, you’re her wing.” Chance ordered.
“Oh goodie!” she squealed.
“Lyra, launch control, please.”
“Aye, High Priestess.”
“Come on, Sugar Plum, we have a broom to catch.” Aunt Cora touched my arm. The three of us exited the bridge and hurried down the passageway. “We’re in Docking Ring Two.”
Zero ‘G’ was interesting. It felt like I was constantly falling.
“Hey, girl? Ready to go?” Aunt Cora asked as she activated the security pad with Pin-up’s nose art image beside it.
“Ready and raring to go, Porno. Hey, Perfessor! Nice to have you along.”
“Thanks, Pin-up.” I answered.
“Back seat first, Sugar Plum.” Aunt Cora nudged me to head into the short, somewhat narrow tunnel. I quickly seated myself and buckled my five-point harness.
“Ready all systems for immediate departure, Puddin’ Pie. We got a Pirate ship to neutralize.”
“All systems are online and awaiting Pegasus Launch Control departure vector, Porno.”
“Porno, Pegasus LC. I’m ready. Where’s my vector and clearance?”
“Pegasus 9, you are cleared for launch as soon as you receive your vector.” Lyra’s voice answered.
“Vector received, Porno.” Pin-up announced a second later.
“Pegasus 9. Vector received. Releasing moorings and umbilicals.”
“Good hunting, Porno.” Lyra wished us luck.
Hearing just the slightest ‘clunk’, we pulled away from Pegasus and I watched my instruments as Aunt Cora slowly brought her throttle up.
At point one percent, we matched speed with Pegasus.
“Water Lily, Pegasus. Ready for launch.” Aquia broke over the comms.
“Pegasus 15. Vector sent and you are cleared for immediate launch. Good hunting, Water Lily.” Lyra again wished our sister luck.
“Porno, WaterLily. Pull in tight to my port and we’ll light ‘em up. Puddin’ Pie? Set course for our quarry, please.” Aunt Cora requested.
“Course ready and set, Your Highness.” Pin-up replied in an irate tone.
“We going to start this again, Puddin’ Pie? In front of my niece, no less?” Aunt Cora sounded annoyed.
“I’m a Broom, not a damn desert, Porno. Just a reminder.” The A.I. protested.
‘Porno’ sighed heavily.
“How we doin’ back there, Perfessor?” She asked with concern.
“Not my first rodeo, Auntie.” I answered.
“Water Lily, Porno. Hey, Ladies! Miss me?” Aquia’s voice asked over our Comms.
“Like a good back rub, Water Lily. You ready to hit the swells, Puddin’Plum?”
“On three, Porno?”
“Three.” Porno said as the streaks of blue around us sped up considerably. “Deep Space Camo, Pin-up.”
“Deep Space Camo enabled.”
We were at ninety percent thrust, and our velocity indicator said we were traveling at forty-five-point-eight LY’s per second.
I squealed out in excitement, despite knowing how loud that would sound in our closed cockpit.
“I had the same reaction my first time in Pin-up, Perfessor. Just try to keep the volume down a bit. So you know; I’ll probably be flying some tight aerobatics in about four seconds.”
Our throttle reduced to point zero five percent and the speeding blue streaks became stars once more.
“What’s the plan, Porno?” Aquia asked.
“Knock out their propulsion and weapons.” Porno answered. “Pin-up. Enable weapon systems. Water Lily, you got her port side defenses and maneuvering emitters.”
“Copy, Porno.”
“Particle and optical weapons are online, Porno.”
“Targeting their main emitters.” Porno announced and a tight, blue beam shot out from our bow with a high-pitched hiss. A red flash erupted from the pirate vessel.
“Lucky shot, Your Highness. Main Emitters offline.”
“Quiet and target their port side defenses and emitters.” Aunt Cora growled. “Damn! Looks like they made some modifications.”
I quickly brought up the enemy ship’s scan in a pop-up window. I counted forty gun emplacements on the starboard side alone.
“How’s your aim, Perfessor?”
“You want me to use the weapons?” I asked in shock.
“Pin-up? Enable the Perfessor’s seat for aft weapons and enable. Answer your question, Sugar Plum?”
I swallowed hard as my system’s display switched to a tactical display of the enemy ship. Several red ‘X’s’ highlighted specific points the aft weapons were tracking.
Aunt Cora opened up on her designated targets and a second later I placed my finger on and squeezed my trigger. Several blue beams shot out from behind me followed by about a dozen red flashes.
“Nice shootin’ Tex!” Porno said as she put us into a tight turn to come back around for another pass. “One more run, Sugar Plum.”
I wondered why I didn’t feel any ‘G’-forces. Turns as tight as she just made should have pegged the ‘G’ meter! As a matter of fact, I hadn’t felt any gravitational or centripetal forces since we left Pegasus.
Duh! Inertia dampers!
Porno opening up on the ship again refocused me and I pulled my trigger once more. Again, about a dozen- dozen and a half red flashes erupted.
“I need one more pass, Porno. I don’t have a tail gunner.” Aquia reported.
“She did pretty good for a rookie, yeah?”
“Pegasus, Porno. You got two more coming in at a high two.”
“Perfessor and I’ll go start on the new bad guys while you finish this one off, Water Lily.”
“Copy, Porno. See you in a few.”
“Pin-up. On to the next contestants.”
“Course plotted and set, Porno.”
“Ready, Perfessor?”
“Sure am.” I answered enthusiastically.
“Good to hear, but don’t get trigger happy. Always inspect the target before you pull the trigger. Some of these ships look very similar and it is possible to disable the good guys instead of the bad.”
I got one of my ‘feelings’.
“Target the lead craft, Porno.”
“And just how do you know that, Perfessor?”
“I just had a ‘feeling’ about the lead ship. They’re trying to stop the freighter of the same model.” I revealed.
“Here’s hoping you’re right, Sugar Plum.” Porno slowed us and immediately opened up, taking out the ship’s main emitter. As we passed, I targeted the port weapons.
The trailing ship immediately swung wide to port and increased her velocity to avoid possible confrontation.
“Porno. Surf’s Up is telling me two more are coming in on an intercept vector.”
“Copy, Water Lily. I see them now. I’ll follow your lead.” Aunt Cora responded as she opened up on our present target’s starboard weapons. I finished the job of disarming it just before she advanced Pin-up’s throttle.
Aquia’s Surf’s Up pulled alongside.
“Damn, Perfessor! How long have you been shooting,” Aquia asked, sounding very impressed?
“I grew up on a small farm in northwestern Pennsyl-tucky. We had a problem with groundhogs, swamp-rats, polecats, and opossums. The hogs, opossums, and polecats were easy, but you had to lead the swamp rats pretty good to get a headshot, Water Lily.”
“Sounds like a wonderful childhood, Perfessor.” She responded dourly.
“Daddy’s experimental rail gun was a little heavy at first, but you should’ve seen how far those rats flew when I dead-nutted them. Didn’t want to eat them anyway.” I laughed.
“Hey, would you look at that? Two on a platter.” Aquia seemed to want to change the subject.
I got another feeling. It was different this time though.
“Porno? I’m feeling something again. Not the same as before, though. It feels like back at Palatial Haven.” I tried to explain.
“Water Lily! Prefessor thinks we have other concerns with these two. Switch modes.”
“Copy, Porno. Switching weapons to Current Purify mode.” Water Lily responded.
“Good call, Perfessor. I’m picking up eight taints in the closest freighter.” Aunt Cora praised.
“Porno. I’m seeing ten taints in that trailing freighter.” Aquia replied sounding very excited.
“Hobgoblins?” I asked.
“Looks like it, Perfessor.”
“Is this normal? For Hobgoblins to steal ships”
“If they get onboard before take-off, they conscript the whole crew. You have to be careful cause they have a bad habit of sabotaging the Current reserve tanks to cause an overload that takes out everything within about two LY’s.
“Doesn’t anybody ever try to stop it?” I asked innocently.
“When that happens, we shit-‘n’-git, Perfessor. Nothing can stop it; unfortunately.” She explained- sadness in her voice.
“All those people…condemned. I wish there was a way I could stop that from happening with these two ships.” I said as I was suddenly on a very foreign, very empty bridge!
 
 

 
 
“Water Lilly! Abort! Abort! Perfessor’s disappeared!” Porno screamed from my comm pendant.
“Nobody’s onboard this thing, Porno.” I said into my pendant.
“What the hell are you doing on that ship, Perfessor?” Chance shouted over the comm next.
“I’m going to try and stop the overload.” I explained.
“I’m not reading an overload yeeee-shit! Get the hell out of there, Perfessor!” Aunt Cora shouted hysterically.
“I’m heading aft to see if I can seal the leak.” I said calmly as I hurried through the vacant ship looking for Engineering. I blinked on my Current sight.
The orange Current flooding the passage was a pretty good indication of where the Current reserve tank was. As I ran along the passage, I felt the Current flowing into me. Turning to look back, I saw that the passage was Current free! Huh? Was I absorbing it all? I hurried through the access hatch and stopped just inside. Several large, ugly, creepy Hobgoblins turned to greet me.
A blue bolt of lightning hit me in the stomach and I was glad I had my uniform on.
“Hey, boys. So this is where the party is, huh?” I greeted with a pleasant smile.
I was met with another shot to my stomach. It didn’t bother me in the least.
“That’s not very nice.” I said as I conjured my wand and flicked it at the disgusting group.
I immediately felt the surge of Current enter me and I quickly reversed the flow. Ten unconscious, strange looking, multi-limbed crewmembers appeared on the floor.
With that accomplished, I began to inspect the Current tank and immediately found the gaping hole on its side.
“That shouldn’t be there,” I said, and it suddenly wasn’t! The tank seemed as solid as the day it was made.
“Well, now that that’s fixed, I guess I should put back what leaked out.” I said to myself as I pointed my wand toward the top of the reservoir.
Bright orange Current flowed out of my wand and disappeared into the reservoir’s opaque tank!
“Wow. That’s different.” I said impressed by what I was accomplishing.
“Christina! Get the hell out of there! You’re running out of time!” Aunt Cora shouted over the comm.
“I need to get over to that other ship to save those poor people.” I said as I was suddenly on a different bridge.
A smaller, ugly Hobgoblin greeted me with a loud stomach-wrenching growl/shriek.
I returned the rude greeting with a loud raspberry and flipped him the finger.
My wand went into action and a second later two more of those multi-armed people lay unconscious on the floor.
Blinking on my Current sight again, I followed the orange brook back to a similar hatch and opened it.
Seven equally rude, ugly, disgusting Hobgoblins greeted me.
Within a few more seconds I had recovered seven more people, absorbed the freed Current and fixed the reservoir tank.
“Christina! Get the hell out of there! You’re running out of time!” Aunt Cora shouted over the comm. again.
Why did that sound so familiar?
“I need to get over to that ship to save those poor people.” My own voice replied from my comm.
“Huh? What the hell?” I demanded as my eyes went wide, but I thought about Aunt Cora’s Broom instead.
“Okay, I’m done.” I said, finding myself back and seated in Pin-Up’s second seat again.
“Norge’s have mercy! What is wrong with you, Christina? Do you have a death wish or something?”
“I fixed both ships and recovered their crews, Auntie. Just like I had hoped to do.” I told her.
“But those two ships are going to…” Aunt Cora was suddenly very quiet.
 
 
“Porno, Pegasus. See any other hostiles?” She finally spoke. She seemed very rattled.
“Board is clear, Porno. Come on home, ladies. Is Perfessor still on one of those freighters?” Chance responded.
“Negative Pegasus, Perfessor is back in her seat.”
“Copy, Porno. Water Lily and Porno. Sending approach vectors. Docking order: Pegasus 9 then Pegasus 15.” Chance answered.
“Copy, Pegasus.” Aunt Cora acknowledged.
The rest of our way back to Pegasus was deathly silent.
I think I jumped- head first- into a deep pile of it this time!
 
 
“Christina Everhardt! My quarters! Now!” Chance growled angrily as I stepped out of Docking Ring Two and into the artificial gravity of the passageway.
“Yes, ma’am.” I said as I followed submissively with my head down.
She opened her quarter’s door and motioned me inside, closing the door behind her; she stared at me intensely for several minutes in complete silence- her eyes burning brightly.
 
 
“I was under the assumption you didn’t want to die, Christina- all that fear, lack of confidence, and especially reluctance to get near that Lifeboat of yours? Is that complete and utter bullshit, Miss Everhardt?” Chance started to chew my ass off. “Cause what I heard over comms sure seemed like you didn’t give a damn about it to me! What were you thinking, girl?”
“I just wanted to help those people, High Priestess. I-.”
“You could have been killed, Christina!” She shouted as tears sprang from her eyes and poured down her cheeks. “We could have lost you!”
“I’m sorry, High Priestess, but I managed to save both freighters and their crews from a major catastrop-.”
“That’s not the point, Christina! We could have lost you- because of your own recklessness! I refuse to let, or watch you commit suicide! You have so much more to live for!”
There was a gentle knock on her door.
“Yes, Kate?” Chance said angrily to the closed door.
“Not to spoil a spectacular ass chewin’, but I think you both should come up here and listen to the comm. files. There’s somethin’ really strange goin’ on.” Kaitlyn Yates said through the door.
“We’ll be there in a few minutes, Kate.” Chance replied in a commanding tone as she wiped her eyes dry.
“Bully for you, High Priestess! Give her round two for us!” She said excitedly.
I prepared myself for ‘round two’.
Instead, Chance approached and wrapped her arms around me tightly.
“Please, Christina, We really don’t want to lose you! If you are having difficulty adjusting to this time period and life, we can tap resources that can help with that. Please don’t think you need to end it all by pushing your luck.”
“Chance? I…I just wanted to help those people. It wasn’t my intention to kill or do harm to myself. I just wanted to return the lives that were going to be taken prematurely by the Hobgoblins. In order to do that, I needed to purify and recover them then repair their Current tanks. I couldn’t do that from the back seat of Aunt Cora’s Broom.”
“Do you realize how reckless that was? Did you even think about your own life before you acted, Christina?”
“I had to do something, ma’am. I know how it feels to be bullied. I’ve been victimized constantly since coming out at age fourteen and know, very well, the feeling of helplessness. If I can help others through their own darkest hours, I’ll do as much as I can- however I can.” I answered solemnly.
Chance placed a chaste kiss on my cheek.
That caught me completely off guard.
“And we would like to help you do that, Christina. After all, that’s what Witch Corps is all about. Let us help you though, sweetie… as a team.”
I nodded.
“Come on. Let’s go see what Kate found.” She nodded to the door.
 
 
“Good thing the uniform is so durable. You can’t even tell she’s had her ass chewed off.” Kitty teased as Chance and I entered our Bridge. “She must heal really fast, too!”
“The issues have been discussed and worked through. What have you got, Kate?” Chance said as she stopped behind Kaitlyn and Simone at the Engineering consoles.
“First this, High Priestess. This is our archive of their comms from the latest sortie.”

“Unfortunately, that’s happened a few times, Christina.” Simone blushed.

“That’s what I want to know, Christina.” Lyra agreed.

“Apparently you were, Christina, but how?” Kaitlyn wondered.
“She can answer that later. Keep listening.” Simone interjected.
 
 

“Pennsyl-tucky, Christina?” Hope giggled. “Sounds like you have a few issues about your childhood home?”

“That’s kinda what I thought.” Aquia inserted in a worried tone.
“Sounds like my own.” Hope added.

“Couldn’t handle the ‘rural life’ description, Aquia?” Hope giggled. “We lived on base. Pops always had the real guns. Where’d your dad work to be able to build a ‘rail gun’, Christina?”
Kate paused the playback.
“Are we going to discuss ‘back in the day’ or continue with my findings?” She asked with some attitude.
“Daddy got the plans out of a ‘Mechanics Illustrated’ magazine when I turned ten.” I responded easily. “Please continue, Lady Kaitlyn.”
Kaitlyn eyed me carefully for a moment before starting the playback again.
 
 

“That really was a good call, Christina. Thanks.” Aquia complimented.
 
 

“Like there would be any other bad guys capable of doing that?” Lokust snorted offhandedly.

“The thing is, Christina, we’ve lost so many ships to their kamikaze tactic.” Hope said sadly. “The collateral is hundreds of times more frightening than losing a couple dozen conscripts.”
“I never thought of it that way. Of course, I’ve been out of the loop for some time, too.” I acknowledged sadly as I looked to the floor.
Kaitlyn had stopped the replay and waited for our attentions to refocus on her, silently pointing at the voice pattern charts now on the display. There were six voice traces- one labeled for Aunt Cora, one for Aquia, one for Chance, and strangely three for me. She pointed to each and told us whom they represented. “Christina? I designated three traces for you, because you are the anomaly. Each of your traces are filtered solely by background noise and voice. You’ll all see what I’m talking about in a minute.
“This is where things get wonky. Have a listen.” She said restarting the audio after backing it up slightly.
“All those people…condemned. I wish there was a way I could stop that from happening with these two ships.” My voice appeared on my designated third trace.
 
“Water Lilly! Abort! Abort! Perfessor’s disappeared!” Aunt Cora screamed.
 
“Nobody’s onboard this thing, Porno.” My voice said on my first trace- trace one.
 
“What the hell are you doing on that ship, Perfessor?” Cora demanded.
 
“I’m going to try and stop the overload.” I replied, again on trace one.
 
“I’m not reading an overload yeeee-shit! Get the hell out of there, Perfessor!”
 
Aunt Cora looked up to me in confusion.
 
“I’m heading aft to see if I can seal the leak.” My voice informed on trace one.
 
“Hey, boys. So this is where the party is, huh?” My voice asked. Trace one.
 
“That’s not very nice.” My voice continued after hearing some kind of explosion. Trace one.
 
“That shouldn’t be there.” My voice continued. Trace one.
 
“Well, now that that is fixed, I guess I should put back what leaked out.” I stated in a very serious voice again on trace one.
 
“Wow. That’s different.” My voice was still on trace one.
 
“THHHHHHWWWWWWP!” My voice said, but the background noise had changed and trace two now displayed my voice pattern.
 
“Christina! Get the hell out of there! You’re running out of time!” Cora screamed in fear.
 
“I need to get over to that other ship to save those poor people.” My voice, trace one.
 
“Huh? What the hell?” My voice switched back to trace two.
 
“Okay, I’m done.” My voice said as the background noise silenced and I knew I was back in Pin-Up. This time on trace three.
 
“Norge’s have mercy! What is wrong with you, Christina? Do you have a death wish or something?” Cora sounded incensed.
 
“I fixed both ships and recovered their crews, Auntie. Just like I had hoped to do.” I said calmly on trace three.
 
“But those two ships are going to…” Aunt Cora sounded even more confused.
 
 
“Does anybody else have a major problem with that audio record?” Kaitlyn asked as she turned to both of us.
“It sounded like I was in two different places at once, but that’s impossible. I would’ve had to travel back in time a little to do that! And I distinctly remember being on both ships- one after another!” I protested.
“I’d like to copy and download the personal stream from your pendant, Christina? I want to try something. It might sound crazy, but I think you might be right about jumping backward in time a little.”
I nodded and we waited for Kate and Simone to copy and download the pendant’s memory.
Kate brought up the media file and advanced it until we heard Aunt Cora scream for me to ‘get the hell out’. She then brought up another copy of the file and advanced it even farther until she heard the same phrase. Synchronizing the identical files in that one place, she began the duel playback again and we watched, as I certainly appeared to be in two places at the same time!
I was dumbfounded, and I valiantly struggled to comprehend what I had seen.
How had I done that?
Could I actually travel back and then forward in time?
 
 

 
 
“Chance? Honey, I’ve gone through Simone and Kate’s synchronized version of that mission log and I’m afraid they line up exactly. Somehow Christina was able to arrive on the second freighter five minutes before she left the first freighter.” Charli gave her analysis through the speakers.
“But that isn’t possible…is it?” I questioned.
“Technically, when we go transdimensional, we in essence do time travel, Christina. By Einstein’s thinking, the blue shift is all we should see as we get closer to the speed of light. It stands to reason that as we move faster than light, we should experience a red shift, but traveling through dimensions- especially the one we use, is essentially colorless. Because the laws of time-space are different- actually reverse of ‘our’ dimension- for the dimension we enter and transit through, we still see the blue shift around us, but we’re moving faster than light.” Simone elaborated.
Her theory made sense to me. The ‘multiverse’ theory had been proven in collider experiments about twenty years before I’d ‘left’ Earth. Nobody had found a way to utilize it though.
“Got it. Thanks for trying to help, Simone.” I smiled. “But the simple fact that I don’t have an Ion Propulsion Emitter strapped to my butt or a Transdimensional Discriminator on my person negates it and places us back at our starting point. How could I do what I obviously did?
“Let’s just call it ‘magic’ for right now- until we can explain it, that is.” Lokust suggested.
“Agreed. Now, how much longer to Tarantis?” Chance brought the deliberation to a close.
“Twenty-five minutes at our current sublight speed, High Priestess.” Charli answered.
“Good. I’d like Christina, Charli, and Link to go planetside and investigate the theory of Gene Modification.”
“Um? Question?” Simone raised her hand looking very confused.
“Christina? How is it you know about the Transdimensional Discriminator? I don’t recall Kate or I releasing that information to you.”
“What else would you call a device that helps determine which dimension you want?” I answered logically.
“She got ya there, Blue.” Kate laughed.
“Ladies, we’ve known about alternate dimensions since the late twenty-first century. Hell, the comic book people speculated about it a hundred years before that. Ask Ladies Hope and Charli.” I provided as proof.
“She’s right about that, girls. The major comic book companies started using the ‘multi-verse’ ‘concept’ in the 1960’s and 1970’s to explain revamping their popular characters to newer audiences.” Charli confirmed as she exited the Navigation Tube.
“It just took Science a while to catch up.” I concluded. “As usually happens.”
“Marvel actually wanted to adapt Witch Corps in the mid twenty-second, but they cancelled us after twenty-four months because they claimed readers thought our adventures were too tame and not dramatic enough to hold interest.” Charli giggled as she shook her head.
“Yes, dear, but a few centuries later we hit the ‘motherload’ when ‘Team Witch: Galactic Peacekeepers of the Way’, issues 1 through 24 became cult classics and their value went through the roof!” Hope gloated. “And you and Chantell thought I was nuts for holding ten full sets.”
Hope stuck her tongue out at Charli.
“How true-to-life were the adventures, Hope?” I inquired. “If any still exist I could use them to familiarize myself with our original mission statement.”
“Chance made sure to include the whole 24 issue collection up in the lounge, sweetie. They are beyond valuable today so be very careful with them.” Hope smiled.
“She did?” Charli seemed surprised. “I thought we left them back on Gaia Four. When … never mind.” She continued, but suddenly looked pale.
I’m sure there was a story there. So I tried to change the subject.
“So…I can move through time to a certain degree. How did I do it though?”
“Well, I noticed you said ‘I wish’ before you actually moved backward in time, sis.” Link offered.
“So, if I wanted to take us back a few, I should probably say, “I wish we could go back-.”
“NO!” Everyone shouted at the same time.
I closed my mouth promptly.
“Unknown Vessel. Please identify.”
Everybody froze!
“What did you just do, Christina?” Chance growled with narrowed eyes and a very uncharacteristic scowl.
“Of course she moved us backward in time, Chance. Where would the comedic humor be if she hadn’t done that, while at the same time putting us into orbit and disabling our Camo?” Kitty deadpanned sagely.
“So how far back did she take us, Smart ass?” Hope challenged.
“This is Witch Corps Flight One, Webb City Control.” Greer answered the comm as she looked panic stricken.
“Witch Corp Flight One? We just issued a request for your help. How on Tarantis did you know we needed you?”
“We were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by.” Greer answered, but with a tense grin, pained eyes, and pinned back ears. Her tail even stiffened and looked up at her in confusion. “We heard rumor you were having shipping lane troubles.”
“Hmmm. She can even lie like her older sister.”
“Hey! I barely ever ‘lie’, Tau! I do however, not include the whole truth at times.” Kitty rebuked.
“How very ‘diplomatic’ of you, my queen.” Tau deadpanned.
“That we are, Witch Corps Flight One. Sending you an approach vector for Spaceport dock 4. Welcome to Tarantis.” The guy on the radio sounded relieved that we were here.

 
 
“Why did you do this, sis?” Link asked in disbelief. “What purpose does it serve to arrive here earlier than we would have?”
“So. We’re here, and just after they called us? That puts us here about five hours before our original arrival.” Charli figured.
“So we can stop those two freighters before they get conscripted?” Link assumed.
“Negative. According to our sensors six outbound freighters have already left orbit. They must be left for Porno, Perfessor, and Water Lily to encounter.” Charli replied sadly.
“Why?!” Aquia demanded. “We could rescue them now and not later!”
“Time symantics, Aquia. If we stop them now, you wouldn’t have encountered them when we first neared the system. Christina wouldn’t have felt the need to rescue them and we wouldn’t be here five hours into the past.”
“Huh?” Aquia seemed completely baffled.
“If I hadn’t stopped the Hobgoblins in those two transports when I did, I wouldn’t have back-stepped in time. Chance wouldn’t have ripped my ass to shreds, and I wouldn’t have frelled-up and back-stepped us through time again.” I tried to explain it better.
“It had to happen this way or it wouldn’t have happened at all.” I summarized.
“Oh…yeah. That didn’t help like, at all, Christina.” Aquia said sarcastically.
“She explained it better than I could have, sweetie.” Charli admitted.
“Charli? We get that vector yet?” Chance asked, a little annoyed by our banter. She seemed like the only person in the room that understood what I and Charli were saying.
“Course calculated and passed to the helm, High Priestess.”
“Take us in, mom.”
“Aye, High Priestess.”
“Same pageantry on arrival, High Priestess?” Lokust asked Chance.
“Naw. They know who and what we are, so casual attire, dear.” Hope answered.
“Glad to hear that. I only packed the white one and the blue one for this mission. I really didn’t want to conjure up another formal gown. I’d have to conjure another full set of accessories, too.” Lokust expressed her relief.
 
 
“Pegasus is in full anti-Hoblin mode, High Preistess.” Kate reported. “I tweaked the filters to reject anything other than our own body and Current parameters. Hopefully that will eliminate any ‘surprises’.”
“Then let’s go see how we can be of assistance, ladies.” Chance grinned. “And Christina? I’d rather not watch myself exiting Pegasus? You copy?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I sighed despondently. “No wishing, wondering, considering, speculating, or supposing. Got it.”
“Oh, come on, Christina. She didn’t kick your new puppy! She doesn’t want to overly ‘dazzle’ the locals. Just be on the lookout for Hoblins, so tune your ‘feelers’ for them and definitely power down your Flux Capacitor.” Hope tried to cheer me up.
“Easier said than done. I’m still not sure if I’m the one doing all this.”
“In my fourteen centuries of experience, sweetie, it’s all you- no one else.” She giggled as she motioned me toward the open Bridge door.
 
 
“Welcome, ladies of Witch Corps. It is fortuitous you being near our system at the exact moment your unit was considered for inclusion into our local dilemma.” A six-armed, six-foot tall, very handsome man greeted. He spoke quite eloquently, but my attention was drawn to his four, beautiful blue eyes.
“Governor Sceptus, so good of you to consider calling us. So, to start off, I’d like you to meet our newest Coven sisters.” Aunt Cora began introductions. “My niece, Simone, you already know. This is my other niece, Christina, and this…this is my daughter, Coraline, but she prefers ‘Link’ for some strange and unknown reason.”
“Huh?” Link choked in surprise.
“Don’t mind her, Governor, I promised her I wouldn’t use her given name, but I lied. Queen’s privilege and all that, you know.” Aunt Cora explained, but kept going.
“Over here are Aquia Anderson, Katelyn Yates, Lyra Serangetti, and Niger Greer. We are also joined on this occasion by my dearest friend and ally, Queen Kitty Sinae of FeLane and her Prime Minister, Tau Orin.”
“An honor to meet you all, ladies.” Gov. Sceptus offered five of his hands to us and we each shook one. “Kitty, it’s a real treat to see you again, and Prime Minister Tau, it is an astonishing pleasure to meet an administrator willing to work with Her Majesty.” The Governor bowed regally- his six arms each giving a flourish as he did.
“You always were a smart ass, Sceptus.” Kitty laughed.
“I’ve learned from the very best, Highness.” He smiled as he looked over to Hope and Chance.
“Figures. Anywho… Christina here, has been briefed on the ongoing problems your population is experiencing and she has proposed a theory you might consider absurd, but it also seems to explain several things. Christina?” Kitty motioned for me to explain.
“Huh? Oh…um…okay… um…Your Eminence? After hearing about your system-wide… um… epidemic, I think you might be dealing with some sort of genetic manipulation that, at present, is undetectable by the usual equipment. After referencing all available research on the subject, I believe I might be able to detect the specific genetic carrier used and possibly stop it from overrunning Tarantis. With your permission, would it be possible to harmlessly scan a sample of your population for these suspected anomalies?” I asked. I hoped I had spoken in a way that wouldn’t be rude or insensitive.
“A bit off the norm, but I can see how your mind is working, Lady Christina. By all means, you will have the cooperation of all citizens on all four of our globes.” He smiled politely, but then all four of his eyes zeroed in on me and his expression neutralized. I suddenly felt very nervous.
“Would it be too much to ask if I be the first to undergo this scan you propose? You see, I am what Ladies Hope and Chantell call a ‘control freak’. I therefore would like to know if I will not be ‘me’ soon.”
I caught myself swallowing hard, but quickly noticed a teasing smile form on his face.
Yeah, he was fracking with me. Yep! Screw with the new girl’s head. Classic tease protocol!
To show him I’d caught on, I began to concentrate on him and blinked on my Current sight.
What I saw made me gasp!
Apparently, the Tarantins were slightly different in both physiology and lifeforce…
Where had I picked up that word, ‘lifeforce’, from, I wondered. I shrugged mentally. I would debate that later.
Tarantins’ apparently had a yellowish-green… aura about them.
Sceptus though had small red dots mixed in with his pastel current.
“Lady Christina? My lady, can you hear me?” A man’s voice was calling to get my attention.
“Is she alright, Lady Chance? She just blinked and froze with a very serious expression! What can she possibly be seeing in me?” Gov. Sceptus sounded terrified.
“High Priestess, Might I have a word? In semi-private?” I asked quietly. “Please stay right where you are while I consult with Lady Chance on one matter, sir.”
“What’s up, sweetie?” Chance asked after we took a few steps and turned away from our host.
“Just a matter of clarification. Does Tarantin Current have a different color than we normally see?” I asked carefully.
“You mean like a pastel green instead of orange? Yes, why?” She answered with a giggle.
“Tell me what you see, when you look at him with your Current sight?” I suggested.
Chance turned around after blinking, observed Sceptus for a few seconds then turned back and looked at me.
“His Current looks the same as the last time we were here, Christina. What is it you see?”
“I’m seeing small dots of red Current interspersed in his normal Current. I think that is the genetic mechanism responsible for their epidemic.” I told her.
“Any idea as to how we get rid of it? Tarantis has a very big population. Four planets of over six billion people each.”
“I have an idea, but I need his and your permissions, High Priestess.” I said cautiously.
Chance nodded and she turned around.
“So, Sceptus. It seems you are infected as well. Christina was unsure how to inform you of that fact. She has suggested a treatment but is unsure of how it will affect you and therefore is dubious of success.”
“Lady Chance, I could’ve simplified matters by informing you of my affliction. I didn’t want to alarm you or your Coven.” Sceptus turned his attention to me again.
“What would you propose, Lady Christina,” he asked- his eyes and expression, nervous?
“Are you familiar with the term Current, Gov. Sceptus?” I asked.
“The energy that flows through everything? Of course. And I also know that the women of Witch Corps have a proclivity toward seeing it. Am I out of balance? Is that all this is?”
“To my eyes, your ‘energy’ is a yellowish- green, whereas Terrans are orange. As Lady Chance has explained to me that is why your subspecies readily rejects Hobgoblin conscription.” I explained.
“Yes, Lady Chance explained that on her first visit many years ago. Please continue.”
“Your ‘energy’ seems to have very small specks of red ‘energy’ mixed in with your normal energy, Governor Sceptus.
“You say I am afflicted with the taint?” Sceptus’ mouth dropped open and all four of his eyes went wide and blinked in unison.
“It would seem the case, Sceptus. Somehow, someone has found a way to diminish your immunity to the Hoblin scourge. As we speak, it is possible that a Hoblin infiltrator may be on one or both of the transports we sensed leaving the system. In that case, the crew has already been conscripted if similarly infected.” Chance answered.
“Then by all means I submit to your suggested course of treatment, Lady Christina. Just specify when, where, and how long.”
Chance looked to me and nodded.
“When and where is now, Governor, How is like this.” I said as I called my wand.
He immediately stiffened and a very horrified look befell his face! Obviously he’d seen their use before.
Holding my wand horizontally, by its center, in front of me, I blinked, and began to concentrate. As I slowly drew my wand down his body, I concentrated on purifying the small red dots of tainted Current within him.
Concentrating on my patient, I barely heard the comments of my sisters.
“By Libra! Are you seeing this? How is she doing that?” I heard Kitty’s excited voice exclaim.
“Shhhh! Let her concentrate and do her work, Sinae. We can ask how later.” Chance urged.
I paused. “How are you doing, Governor? Should I stop?”
“I have felt nothing since you began treatment, my lady. Please, continue.”
I nodded and continued my slow scan down his body. Finally reaching his feet, I gave him another quick scan and motioned for him to turn. I scanned his back and noticed more red speckles.
Another pass was needed.
 
 
After another thorough scanning, I pronounced him free- for now- of the genetic miscreants.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“I felt nothing during the whole process, Lady Christina. Are you sure it is eradicated?”
“We’ll see over the next few days.” I answered truthfully. “There may be a benign agent responsible for the red taint. The only way to know is to see if it reappears after a given period of gestation.”
“My thanks to you all the same, Lady Christina. I am as always, pleasantly mystified by the women of Witch Corps.”
“And we, equally perplexed, since Lady Christina’s induction, Sceptus.” Hope offered in return.
“A worthy addition to the Corps, this Antarran. Lady Cora, have you known of her medical prowess? Is that what prompted her membership?” Sceptus asked.
“I would say she is certainly the rare find, my dear Sceptus. One in a trillion, I’d say, and quite worth the effort.” Aunt Cora answered, looking to me lovingly. “She does the Norge Clan proud… as do all my Ladies-in-wait.” She motioned from me to Simone and Link, and the Coven as a whole.
“I quite agree, my lady!” Sceptus said then turned to address us all. “I wish to extend invitation to your Coven, Lady Chance, for dinner, in celebration of your timely arrival. Tonight at sixteen-thirty-three?”
“We shall be there, Governor Sceptus. May I ask the severity of dress?” Chance asked, smiling brightly.
“As always, semi-formal, High Priestess.” He smiled back.
“Then we must return to our beloved Pegasus to prepare, Gov. Sceptus. If you will excuse us?” Chance bowed politely and the Governor bowed in return.
Right before I turned to follow Link up the ramp, Sceptus caught my attention.
“Lady Christina? Would it be too forward of me to ask that you be seated by my side at the dinner? I have interest in your thoughts process regarding this genetic contagion you have brought to my attention.”
Was he hitting on me?
“Of course, Governor, I would be happy to discuss the specifics, but will keep it light so as not to affect our dinner appetites.”
“Wonderful! I shall see you then, my lady.” He smiled enthusiastically and politely motioned me onto the ramp.
“Christina’s got-ta booooy-friend.” Simone sang out childishly as she followed me up the ramp into the ship.
 
 
“So... What does ‘semi-formal’ mean in this day and age, Auntie?” I asked as I looked out the viewport in my quarters at the strangely beautiful ‘organic’ cityscape. “I didn’t get the chance to send a change of address card to the post office before I left Terra, so no fashion magazines as of yet.”
“Hope always called it ‘club wear’ if that helps, Sugar Plum.”
I thought about it for a moment then decided to try something.
“Like this? I said as I carefully lowered myself into the severely heeled, open-toed shoes- the sinew straps wrapping and weaving themselves up and around my ankles and calves magically.
“By all the Norges past! You look fabulous, Sugar Plum! Sceptus won’t be able to keep his hands off you tonight!” She said as she strained to look me in the eyes after inspecting me from head to toe a few times.
“That isn’t the results I’m expecting tonight, Auntie. You said ‘Club wear’ and this is what I recall that looking like.” I responded.
“Well, you hit it right on the head, Christina. Hope is going to be sooooo jealous! I can’t believe how that short, silver dress brings out your hair and eyes!”
 
 

 
 
“I must say you are stunning, Lady Christina! I am hard-pressed for words at the moment.” Sceptus said as all four of his eyes zeroed in on me and only me.
He was a nice enough guy, but it was still creepy.
“Trust us, Christina; that is something he never had a problem with on previous visits.” Hope teased as she walked behind me.
“Lady Hope is quite correct with that statement.” Sceptus admitted as two of his eyes stayed locked on me and two followed Hope. “Though trust me in that it is only a temporary setback.”
“I thank you for your compliment, Gov. Sceptus.” I said with an honest smile and a bit of color in my cheeks as he graciously seated me.
“Your ear adornments? I am simply fascinated by them.” Sceptus stared at me fully, two of his eyes locked on my ‘Olympus’ earrings as he sat down. “They remind me of prehistoric drawings and ceremonial artifacts found in archeological excavations of some of our extensive cavern systems under the older cities. They are quite beautiful, though the artifacts and drawings I speak of relate back to more barbaric times in our development as a civilization.”
“Thank you, Gov. Sceptus. It has been my experience that every civilization has historical artifacts that harken back to more barbaric, harsher, and very violent times. Perhaps such artifacts and art were left to remind us all of how we developed and where we came from. Possibly to hint of what would happen should we fail to advance and instead falter?” I proposed philosophically. I had made up my mind that I would not reveal how I knew such things, as it would bring about inquiry into my actual age. I figured the ‘learned scholar’ approach was best for now.
“Such heartfelt words were never spoken by one so beautiful and wise, Lady Christina. I too, share that philosophical view.” His voice seemed emotionally influenced by my statement.
“These earrings were given to me by one of our sisters as an initiation gift. I believe them to be reproductions of an ancient Terran civilization and called… um…’dream catchers’. She explained that the ancient ‘tribes’ of Terra used them to catch evil and/or mischievous spirits before entering into their encampments…a form of mystical protection.”
Again, I didn’t reveal the whole truth of how I knew such things.
“How similar that story is to one of our own! Strange how civilizations can be at opposite ends of the galaxy and still share commonalities.” He postulated.
“I have observed that in my travels.” I said honestly. “It would suggest that some highly advanced beings or civilization had visited all our planets at one time or another.”
“I concur. How coincidental would that be?” He asked as two of his eyes slowly scanned my Coven sisters while two stayed on me.
Aside from feeling awkward from that, I also got one of my feelings. Someone or something was approaching from behind us.
Why was it always from behind?
So cliché.
“Lady Christina? Is everything satisfactory?” Sceptus asked quietly, suddenly worried. “You suddenly stopped talking, even moving.”
My sisters suddenly quieted and looked to me for an answer.
Knowing- from our very first meeting fourteen centuries ago- that Hope and Charli both knew American Sign Language, I signed that I felt a ‘presence’ behind me.
Hope signed back her acknowledgement. Chance nodded also.
That made sense- that they would teach their daughter such useful skills.
“Curious. Communication without words. What were you saying, Lady Christina?” Sceptus interrupted.
Charli signed back that she could see no one behind me so that left only one conclusion.
“We are being watched, Governor Sceptus.” I said just above a whisper. “I believe by a Hobgoblin. I suggest you ready yourself for what Witch Corp is really good at, sir.”
He froze and I thought I noticed a shiver or two rack his body.
“Those… things… they give me the quakes. I had hoped never to see one again, Lady Christina. Our medical community has even named my fear. Arachnophobia: the fear of little ugly, creepy, crawly things, unseen until they hop on you.”
I was stuck for words as I glanced at him in shock.
A six armed, two legged man with four eyes and able to spit silk out his butt…I think(?) was afraid of Hobgoblins? Here I was, at first trying to keep it together as I met several human-sized tarantuloid people, afraid of spiders. Something we Earthers called Arachnophobia. Seems that was also the Tarantin word for creepy-crawlies?
The feeling of someone coming up behind me growing stronger refocused my attention.
It felt very close now.
I signed that it felt like it was right behind me.
Hope, Charli, and Chance blinked on their Current sight.
“High Priestess? I think I left something for our host back at the ship. Charli? Would you be a dear and help me find it?” Hope said as she stood. She winked at me and smiled.
“You forgot that, Hope? I thought you had it when we left the ship?” Charli played along as she also stood.
“Gov. Sceptus. Please excuse us. The three of us will be right back.” Chance apologized as she also stood. Chance walked clockwise around the large round table and Charli and Hope walked counter clockwise.
“Well. This is a bit awkward, Governor.” I winced. I watched out my periphery as our three sisters walked around the table in opposite directions.
The thing was right behind me and I tried to resist the urge to ‘flame’ it right then and there.
“Know what, Charli? I think it can wait. I feel guilty for letting this fabulous meal get cold. High Priestess, let’s sit back down.” Hope said. I felt her lean down between Sceptus and me.
“Hold completely still, Sceptus. You too, Christina. It’s right underneath you. You might want to close your eyes, Governor.” Hope whispered.
Sceptus placed one of his hands gently on my forearm. He was quivering violently!
The blue flash lasted almost a full second and I thought our host was going to severe my arm with his sudden spastic flinch!
“Yep. Got the little nuisance. Not much to recover though. I wouldn’t look if I were you, Sceptus. We’ll take care of it for you. ” Charli declared.
I turned and looked down to see a small torso: Both legs, a partial abdomen and the lowest pair of arms. The partial body looked young- and male.
There had to be something I could do to help this poor soul!
I felt the slightest outpour of my Current and a brighter flash lit the room around us.
“Now where have we seen that before, Ladies?” Chance asked, awed.
I gulped loudly, fearing I had done the wrong thing or gotten myself in trouble once again.
“Gov. Sceptus? Can you identify our little, uninvited guest?” Chance asked. The Governor slowly turned around in his seat as a strange fugue settled on me when I turned back a second time. There was a child lying unconscious on the floor behind us. He looked to be about four feet tall and, I’d guess, in his very early teens. Somehow I felt very disconnected from everything around me.
“Reclos? I had no idea he had succumb to the illness!” Sceptus stared incredulously.
“He is unconscious, but will be fine. I have removed the infectious taint from his body.” I announced, but shook my head to snap myself out of the strange fog I felt I was in.
Sceptus was staring at me in horrified disbelief. My coven sisters were also staring, but with more color left in their faces.
“You have got to teach us that trick, Christina!” Kitty said, still stunned by what I had done.
Two of Sceptus’ eyes hung on my face and two toggled between the child lying on the floor, Charli, Hope, Chance, and me.
He ‘crossed’ himself with his top right hand!
“Creator most charitable! Do I believe my eyes or have you just bedazzled me with some skillful sleight of hand, my lady?” He gasped. His face was even paler now.
“He didn’t deserve to die in such a grotesque way, Gov. Sceptus.” I pleaded, tears forming. “I’m sorry if I blasphemed your religion. I meant only to rescue the innocent child.”
I felt tears flowing from my eyes, knowing I had really screwed the pooch this time. I would be lucky if I wasn’t burned at the stake…
…by characters almost straight out of an Edgar Rice Burrough’s novel!
Hopefully, because this was Tarantis and not Barsoom, the fire wouldn’t be so hot?
I was suddenly sitting on my bed, in my room, onboard Pegasus.
“How?” I asked the almost empty room as I valiantly tried to wipe away the flood of tears.
“How would you think, my baby girl?”
I was stunned by the voice that answered!
“Daddy? But you can’t be here! You and Mom have been gone for over fourteen hundred years!”
I continued to cry openly.
“And you now have beautiful blue hair, honey. Explain that!”
“I… I underwent Gene Replacement Therapy. It-it didn’t go as I was lead to believe… or planned.”
“Now that is impossible to believe, pumpkin!”
I looked up and saw Louis Everhardt, my dad, standing and looking down at me, smiling. Mom was suddenly standing right next to him grinning from ear to ear, but silent except for what she’d just said.
“Feel free to tag in at any time, Colleen.” Daddy smirked as he glanced over to her.
She had blue hair!
I gasped and began to see stars in my peripheral vision!
“Do you see something horrific, Christina?” Mom asked as she quickly looked behind herself.
“Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Think happy th-.”
“Feel free to come down from the ceiling at any time Tinkerbelle. We can’t go anywhere until you release us, so… you know… anytime?” Mom said in her patented calm tone that I remembered her always using when I was upset.
Noticing I actually was floating just below the ceiling, I cautiously and slowly lowered myself back to the bed.
“How can you both be here?” I asked.
“I don’t know the answer to that, honey. How did you bring us here?” Mom asked with an impish grin.
“I don’t know how I do any of this, mom! I don’t understand any of it!” I sobbed.
“Neither do we honey, so I can tell you that we had nothing to do with this.” Daddy said truthfully. “I can also tell you that we are glad to see you once more. Your mother and I are also very pleased with the company you chose to keep here.
“It also pleases us that you are using your heart and head, and not abusing your talents, Christina. You always wanted to be a superhero.”
“I remember, mom.” I wiped at my eyes and looked up at her. “Um, why is your hair blue like mine?”
“Well, you had to get it from one of us... Your father would look really silly if he had blue hair, now wouldn’t he?” she remarked.
I smiled at that thought.
“Ah. Now there is the smiling face I remember so well!” Mom smiled brightly. “Why, I haven’t seen you smile like that since we got you your new boobs.”
“Yeah, they’ve kinda grown on you too, princess.” Daddy laughed.
“Definitely wasteful, daddy.” I giggled as I hefted one in my hand.
“Lou? Our job here is done. We were only to raise her spirits, nothing more.” Mom reminded Daddy.
“What?” I asked loudly. “You were only supposed to raise my mood? Who put you up to this? Was it that Cool Chick from Olympus…um… Artemis?”
“Cool chick, yes. It wasn’t Artemis though, Christina. You. You told us to lighten your mood, honey.” Mom smiled proudly.
“Yessiree! The coolest, blue haired, comic-book superhero chick there ever was, Christina ‘Perfessor’ Everhardt- Our daughter, and our very own family witch. See ya later, toots!” Daddy dramatized then saluted me the way he always did when he wanted to be funny.
“Behave yourself, Christina Everhardt. Now time to wake up and re-enter reality.” Mom told me like she did any time they went away for more than a day. I was caught off guard by the last statement.
“Wake up?” I asked, confused.
“Wake up. Christina? Wake up.” Aunt Cora was leaning over me shaking my shoulder gently.
“Aunt Cora?” I asked as I pushed myself to sitting.
“Have a nice cry, Sugar Plum?”
“How did I get here? How long have I been here?” I asked while rubbing my crusty eyes.
“Roughly two hours, Christina. You have Sceptus very worried, the way you just up and popped out. He has repeatedly inquired as to your health and wellbeing. I think the guy really has a crush on you, Sugar Plum.”
“He must hate me for doing that to that kid. I didn’t know Christianity had spread this far across the galaxy. I didn’t mean to dis his religion, Aunt Cora.”
“Christianity? Child? What are you… Oh… Oh! You mean his crossing himself? Sugar Plum, he wasn’t blessing himself, he was priming his secondary heart! You scared the silk out of the poor man and he felt his primary was faltering. They can pause one heart until they feel they need it. It just needs primed before they ‘will’ it to start up.” Aunt Cora informed me with an understanding, playful smile. “I’m very surprised he didn’t start his secondary the moment he saw you walk into the dining room!”
“So he’s not pissed at me?” I asked in amazement.
“No, Sugar Plum, not at all. In fact, I’m sure he’s even more taken by you now than before- though, a word of warning? Unless you are really, really into sadism, masochism, or bestiality, I’d only try for second base. Tarantin sex organs can be very…um…destructive to Terran genitalia… but in a veeeery orgasmic way.”
“Aunt Cora!” I shouted as my face began to burn!
“Just lending my experience, Sugar Plum.” She said evenly with maybe a tiny hint of a smile.
My face burned even hotter!
“How is she, Cora?” Charli asked from my doorway.
“Christina was under the impression that she broke some archaic religious taboo, Charli.”
“The,” Charli crossed herself, “Yeah, Cora, that was one of the main religions on Terra back then. Remember when we told you about the witch trials and inquisitions? Yeah, that was Christianity. Now I understand why she lost it earlier. Christina, they don’t burn heretics or witches at the stake anymore. Sceptus was just starting his secondary heart. Hope and I thought the exact same thing the first time we were here. These guys are pretty cool though. Oh, unfortunately, they aren’t very compatible, when it comes to sexual relations.
I thought my cheeks would melt!
Charli only added insult to injury though.
“Their massages are to die for though! Their six hands can do magical things with a Terran body.” She swooned.
“Sis? You all right? She going to be alright, Aunt Cora?” Link interrupted as she rushed in and wrapped her arms around me. “I was so worried when you disappeared! Why did you do that anyway?”
“She thought she broke some religious taboo, Coraline.” Aunt Cora grinned mischievously.
Link glared at our aunt.
“First off, I have not seen nor signed any documentation declaring me your daughter! Secondly, I haven’t received documented request for adoption or name change either, Aunt Cora! I would ask that you follow your own rules in those matters!”
“Now what are you bitching about, Cora?” Hope demanded as she appeared in my doorway. She looked confused for a second then rolled her eyes.
“Now it makes better sense.” She sighed. “Looks like karma came home to roost, Cora?”
“I didn’t think I was that confrontational at that age.” Aunt Cora seemed to deflate a little.
“Oh yeah! Maybe a little worse, and with a very entitled attitude added in for good measure.” Charli verified.
“Mom? She good?” I heard Chance’s voice ask from the passageway.
“Good as it gets, honey.” Hope answered looking out my door.
“Sweetie? I think someone wants to make sure you’re okay; you up for visitors?” Charli asked with a knowing smile.
I silently motioned to the people already in my quarters and shrugged in surrender.
“Yeah, okay. Got it. Okay, Chance.”
Sceptus appeared in my doorway looking very concerned!
“My lady. Have I insulted or dishonored you in any way?” He asked solemnly.
I was flabbergasted! He thought he dis’d me?
“Huh? No, you didn’t do anything, Gov. Sceptus. Why would you even think that? It was me that thought I had insulted you by fully recovering that boy. I thought I’d broken some religious rule or canon.”
“Why would you even think that, Lady Christina? I couldn’t be more elated that you gave me back my offspring! Thank you ever so much, my lady.”
“He…he’s your son?” I asked as soon as I could reseat my jaw.
“My first-born, in fact. I am eternally indebted to you and Witch Corps, Lady Christina!”
I found myself embracing him tightly!
“How does she do that? Anybody?” He questioned sounding very surprised. I felt him cautiously wrap his arms around me in response.
“All we know is Christina is a very special witch, Sceptus. Her talents seem to still be in flux. As a result she is constantly second-guessing her abilities and remains extremely sensitive to how other people react to her.” Aunt Cora supplied the requested explanation.
“I must agree with that statement, Lady Cora. Your niece is very special indeed. But, the degree with which she dispenses her energy overshadows all but her Coven sisters. It seems flawless and precise to me.”
He looked me straight in the eyes.
“How did you know, from just the lower extremity, who the body belonged to?” He asked seriously.
“I’d say the same way she found the red taint in your body, Sceptus.” Hope answered before I could open my mouth and say something intelligent like: ‘Uuhhhm’.
“She can see what makes a person tick and quickly analyzed the code. Lady Demi has a similar talent.”
“Ah, the flightie one.” Sceptus nodded in unsurprised acknowledgement. “I guess appearances truly don’t reveal the character.”
Everyone in my room, but me, laughed at the apparent joke.
“How is he?” I asked. “Your son, Reclos?”
“He awoke thirty minutes after your unexpected departure and wanted to know what manner of transport hit him. He seems to have only slight recollection of his ordeal and conscription. After being told of his conscription and successful recovery, he would like to meet the woman responsible for it.”
I let out a loud sigh as I allowed myself to relax, knowing he was well, but I tensed a little knowing I had another possible groupie.
“High Priestess, I am very sorry for going against your wish that I suppress my talent. I understand if I am remanded to my quarters for the rest of our mission.” I said sadly to Chance. I then looked to the floor and closed my eyes waiting to hear her proclaim judgment.
“You don’t want to help these people all of a sudden? You aren’t getting out of this mission that easily, Lt. Everhardt! I expect a viable solution or at least a theoretical plan of attack to eradicate this genetic ‘bug’ you found. Is that clear, Lady Christina?”
Huh? She wasn’t pissed that I once again ignored her orders?
Or was this her way of giving me a second… fourth chance?
“Five by five and crystal, High Priestess!” I jumped to attention with a huge smile on my face!
“Gods! I haven’t heard that one in ages, Christina!” Hope laughed in amusement.
“Maybe we should allow Christina to pull herself together so she can get to her assignment?” Kitty suggested.
“Our research facilities are open for your use, my lady. Whatever you require, just request it. I pledge our system’s complete support in this very serious matter.” Sceptus offered.
“Thank you, very much, Governor Sceptus. I think at first I just need to consult with a few of my sisters. High Priestess? Would it be convenient to ask that my Antarran sisters assist me?”
“Whatever you need, sweetie. Cora, Link, Simone? Help where you can. Lokust, Kitty, Aquia, Lyra, and Greer, we need to get out there and patrol the shipping lanes as originally requested. Kate? You want to handle Launch Control?”
“Sure thing, boss.” Kate said from out in the passageway. I didn’t even know she was there.
Hope and Charli? Keep an eye on those four. Tau? I guess you should add your expertise. Kitty seems to think you’re pretty good with ‘biological functioning’.” Chance giggled.
“I guess I’ll set up in the back part of the galley.” I said as I looked to my waiting sisters.
“Girls? Let’s hit the skies.” Chance said as my room emptied out quickly.
 
 

 
 
“Good hunting, Witch Corps Flight Two.” Keats wished as Aquia in Surf’s Up disappeared from sight.
“Well? Now what do we do?” She added as she looked to Charli and I.
“Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.” I laughed.
“What does that mean, exactly? I never did get that one, Hope.” Keats laughed as she shook her head.
“It dates back from fourteen to eighteen hundred years, maybe longer, Keats; when Terrans used to smoke or chew rolled up or shredded tobacco leaves almost nonstop.
“Sounds like a wonderful habit.” Keats said with a sour face.
“That wasn’t the worst. People were smoking all sorts of stuff back then- even stuff they knew would kill them, but took the risk wanting the ‘high’ it provided.”
“High?”
“High. As in getting an artificial stimulation of certain senses and brain areas for a thrill.” I elaborated. “Tabacco and Marijuana were at the low end of the list that Terrans lit on fire and put in their lungs or injected into themselves in those days.”
“You Terrans must have been real idiots back in the day.” Keats concluded logically.
“Keats, no civilization is without its ghosts and demons. Charli, Chantell, and I have seen some pretty crazy shit in our travels. As have you, I’m sure.” I smiled.
“What I’ve seen pales in comparison to your experiences, Hope. I’ve only been around not quite a third as long as you three.”
“And… I’ve seen enough to know that you don’t like our newest sister very much. What gives?” I asked, tactfully.
Not.
“She just… I don’t know, she really reminds me of the Olympians… well, sorta? Christina seems different than even them, guys.”
“She’s definitely one of a kind, I’ll grant you that.” I giggled. “Though, I liked her from the first day I saw her, Keats. What about her rubs you the wrong way?”
“Its how she claims she doesn’t know how she does her magic, Hope. I don’t buy into that prolonged excuse. She has to be hiding something. She seems too ‘perfectly’ innocent.” My longtime sister explained.
“She may just be that innocent, Keats.” Charli joined the conversation. “According to my research, Christina Everhardt is exactly who she claims she is…or was. Her parents owned a small, profitable farm in Northwestern Pennsylvania. They were reported to have died in a mysterious vehicle accident fourteen months to the day before Christina’s unexpected departure from Earth. The investigation was never solved or closed. She did participate in a medical trial that was only to have used a placebo and no real ‘Gene Therapy Serum’. How she got the real stuff is a matter of speculation, though Morgana having a role to play in all our lives narrows down the suspects drastically.”
“But how can she do the things she does, Charli? It’s like she’s another Savanna- maybe even more powerful. All I know is that I get the willies every time she uses her Current.”
“I don’t think she’s using Current- not as we would know it, Keats. I think it’s something far more divine.” Charli really had my attention now!
“You think she’s an honest to goodness Olympian, Charli?” Keats and I asked at the same time.
“Think about this.” My mate proposed. “She had the ingenuity to redesign NASA’s state of the art propulsion system. She’s a wiz at mathematics and found the error in Smithe’s formula in only a few seconds, or so she claims. She starts developing Antarran physical traits immediately after her fake ‘Gene Therapy’. She also starts seeing Current and, from what she also claims, starts to manipulate it before most everybody on Earth even knew it existed.”
“And finally, she survived fourteen hundred years in an emergency pod only designed for a maximum longevity of five years. How was that possible given the prototype’s proper battery hadn’t even been received or installed?”
“Yeah. All we found when we inspected that pod was a heavily corroded, very flat, lithium hybrid multicell-type battery. There was no way that that old thing had been powering its systems for that long.”
“So what was powering that pod?” Charli wondered.
“Current?” Keats answered with a shrug. “Somehow she figured out how to use her Current to power the thing.”
“If that were the case, she would’ve had to have been floating in it, Keats. No, I think something much simpler is the answer.” Charli disagreed.
“You think that ‘gene’ stuff was more than it appeared, dear?” I asked.
“Oh yeah! Big time, Hope.” My mate nodded confidently. “I think we have ourselves a fledgling Goddess. And I’m basing that on what we saw at dinner. I know you recognized that pure white ball of light that surrounded Sceptus’ boy.”
“Yeah! It looked familiar!” Keats said shaking her pointer finger at Charli. “Nine years ago on… on Kane!”
“Demeter!” The three of us exclaimed at the same time.
“Like, you called?” A familiar voice giggled from behind me.
“Actually, we were talkin’ shit, and, well… you showed up.” I deadpanned.
“Your humor is sometimes very rude and offensive, Hope Summers. I happen to know exactly who you were talking about.” Demi said in a very serious tone.
“So was it you or Artie that played the part of Marta Green back on Earth all those eons ago?” I asked. “We’ve already identified Morgana in the part of Anna McCorkle.”
“Marta…Green? Hope, I don’t know who you are referring to.” Demi answered looking confused.
“Oh, please! I happen to know that you aren’t a natural blonde and you only act ditzy when it suits you, sister!” I attacked.
“Honestly, Hope. Artie and I were seeing to the last bunch of whacked out, computer-type nerd/escapees from the Crab Galax…Nebula, about a millenium before. That failed experiment took almost all that we had to eradicate. After that debacle, Artie and I hung around Olympus for a few dozen centuries to recoup. Well, she only hung for about seven centuries before she threw herself into finding Nike again. Can you describe this, ‘Marta Green’?”
“About five-five; slim build; short brown hair; glasses-.”
“Oh, Hades no! I would never go that mousy! I like, have standards?” Demi interrupted with a sour face.
“So if not you or Artemis, who?” Keats asked.
“You are correct in your assessment. Christina is a new… um… Olympian- a very young and inexperienced one.” Demi seemed to ignore Keats’ question entirely.
“Okay. What’s the old man got in mind for our young goddess, Demi?” I asked, seeing through her usual disregard of direct questioning. “Quest? Challenge? Tests of intelligence?”
“It is unknown at this time, Hope. Only Zeus and the Oracles know for certain, and they are extremely tight-lipped on this one.” She told us.
I believed her.
“Okay. So…let’s say she’s here for a purpose? What is our part in all this?” I asked through narrowed eyes.
“Simply keep treating her as the sister she is. Other than that, I would suggest not angering her too badly. She needs to come to several realizations and decisions before leaving or staying in this realm. Treat her with love and respect, Hope Summers.” Demi smiled mischievously. “Kate? She’s like, one of the good guys? She won’t turn you into a frog or anything?”
Demeter vanished.
“Clear as mud…as usual!” I groused as I raised my hands in protest. “I’ll be down in the galley, dear.” I said to Charli as I turned and exited the bridge.

 
 
There should have been a sign haphazardly nailed on the Galley door that warned: ‘Beware! Mad Antarran Scientists at Play!’
I opened the door to find four women; three all roughly 157cm and one statuesque woman of about 183cm; all in long white lab coats and all having blue hair. Three had loose ponytails, but the tall one had a long, thick mono-braid down past her knees. Around them were four tables full of what I assumed to be high tech test equipment.
“Why, I haven’t seen this much high tech junk since we met each other at CMU, Christina!” I declared in amazement as I looked around the rear of the multipurpose compartment.
“Spoken like a true ‘Technophobe’, Hope.” Cora snorted.
“And you would know high tech from low tech how, Cora?” I challenged.
“I’m not as old fashioned as you.” Cora continued.
“Sometimes the old ways are the better ways, my big-boobed padawan.”
“Seriously? Is that all you two are going to do?” Link growled unhappily.
“No. We were going to add in some rude insults, maybe some bitch-slapping and hair-pulling as well, sweetie.” I smiled deviously.
“Not here you aren’t, Lady Hope! You stay here if you want to help us cure these people! If not, go somewhere else!”
Wow! This girl had a set!
“So… what you want me ta do, sweetie?” I asked politely.
“Coffee and tea would be nice.” Link giggled deviously. Simone and Christina joined in while Cora seemed uncharacteristically quiet.
“Done.” I said with a snap of my fingers. Four ceramic mugs of steaming liquid appeared on a rare clear space on one of the tables.
“You forgot the creamer and sweetener.” Simone smirked as she pointed to the containers.
I rolled my eyes and snapped my fingers again. Small packets of the two requested condiments appeared next to the mugs.
“How about something to stir with?” Christina smiled playfully.
“You want me to drink them for you too, girls?” I asked in annoyance.
“Oh would you, Lady Hope? They look too hot for my delicate royal hands to grasp without breaking a nail or causing a boil.” Christina laughed, pushing her luck. “No, actually, I like my coffee like my humor- very dark.”
She really did remind me of the second daughter I never had! I wondered if she wasn’t related somehow. Charli was doing her best to track down any and all data on the Everhardt’s of the early twenty-second century and previous. Degradation of informational records from the time severely impeded the process to an agonizingly slow, line-by-line ‘crawl’.
“I don’t do ‘Momma Bird’, Fiona.” I said and smiled. I wanted to see if she got that reference.
“Are you insinuating I’m an ogre, Lady Hope?”
Damn!
“Not any more than usual, sweetie.” I giggled before turning and walking away. “And only in the friendliest of conversations. Call if you guys need anything. Oh, I also don’t do ‘Guinea Pig’, so don’t even think about it.”
 
 
“Any luck, dear?” I asked as I walked into our quarters.
Charli was hard at work typing away on her DataTab.
“Records of the time are a freakin’ mess, Hope! How could anybody have really believed the ‘Cloud’ would make everything better?” She complained. “All it made was people, governments, and corporations lazier and less responsible!”
“But the ‘I want it all right now’ generation thought it was the cat’s ass, dear.” I replied sarcastically.
“Give it a rest, Hopewell. We both know we weren’t even thought of when that ‘godsend’,” Charlie applied finger quotes to that word with a frown, “of a file storage system went online. Skynet was far safer and better managed and it was fantasy! No wonder people thought I was some ‘anti-government’, radical ‘crackpot’ when I wrote my first personal backup program that stored everything on a set of antique 30T semiconductor drives.”
“My grandfather told me that was the way things were back when he met grandma. I always pictured ‘T’-Rexs trying to pick up those tiny things. I mean, how could something without thumbs pick up a thumb drive?” I said as Charli looked up at me and rolled her eyes in disapproval.
“Seriously, Hope?” Charli groaned. “T-Rexs came sixty-five million years before anything close to humans began showing up. And don’t forget that we’ve been around almost that long.”
“Yeah, I know. I guess if I actually felt our ‘age’ it would mean more, dear. Truth is I haven’t felt even close to the age we were when we blasted off toward FeLane the first time.” I responded seriously to my spouse. “So? Find anything interesting?”
“Christina’s parents accident? The investigation was never closed.”
“We already knew that.” I reminded.
“I know, but I also found several near-eyewitness accounts but they are all severely redacted.”
“Government?” I asked; my interest piqued.
“Possibly. Maybe very high level, too, but something just isn’t right. The redactions seem like they were added by computer.”
“How is that so strange? We did everything electronically- even then.”
“Redactions were done to a finished document that was requested by someone not having sufficient clearances to see everything. If done on a computer, the sensitive parts would have been simply erased or deleted. These files were deliberately blacked out using a computer to look like an officially censured release. They should’ve been blacked out with a permanent marker then scanned electronically.”
“Why does Christina seem to be getting more and more mysterious?” I asked.
“Why doesn’t anyone want us to find out the specifics of her past?” Charli added.
“Well, Demi did admit that she’s probably a new Goddess. Doesn’t that occur when two Gods get it on?” I asked.
“Possibly, but the myths really didn’t describe that. All they say is that Zeus and Hera had kids. End of sordid details.”
“Yeah,” I laughed, “After meeting Demi, I’d believe that she came to life by stepping out of a clam shell.”
“Could’ve been from under a cabbage leaf for all it matters, dear.” Charli looked up at me with a flat grin.
“So, anything on her ancestors? Or is that another dead end?”
“From the records I’ve found, the farm had been in the family since the 1840’s. The last known occupants where Louis Edward Everhardt, Colleen Christina Everhardt, and Christina Ann Everhardt from the 2100 census.” Charli was quiet for a few seconds.
“Hmmm. Here’s something. According to the 2090 census, Louis, Colleen, Christian, and a Caroline Ann Everhardt lived there.”
“A sister? Maybe she died young?”
“Hmmmm. Neither sibling appears in the 2080 record. So that seems the case. I’ll keep looking for a death certificate.”
“It wasn’t bad enough the kid lost her parents. Now it seems she lost her sister as well. Gods, this kid’s been through hell!”
“The thing is she’s managed to keep it together through it all.” Charli said looking up to me momentarily.
“Hope, Cora. Can you come up to my quarters?” I called into my comm as something struck me about a sister.
“On my way, Hope.”
 
 
“What’s up, girls?” Cora asked as she knocked and entered our quarters.
“Charli and I were wondering about something-.”
“Actually, Hope was wondering about something and I’m as in the dark as you, Cora.” Charli interrupted.
I glared at my significant, soon to possibly be my ex, other.
“I figured that was the case. Ask away, sister.”
“How rare is it for Antarran fraternal twins?” I asked.
“Hmm, Fraternal Twins? It isn’t unheard of…especially in the Norge family line, why?” Cora seemed confused by my seemingly random question.
“Huh! Got it!” Charli shouted in victory. She looked to me strangely. “How did you know, honey?”
“Know what, girls?” Cora seemed even more perplexed.
“Christina had a twin sister that apparently died in 2095. At age fourteen.” Charli answered, as she seemed to be concentrating on her DataTab intently.
“Caroline Ann Everhardt went missing February 20th, 2095, her body was never found and she was declared legally deceased June 23rd, 2095.” Charli recited as she read from her DataTab.
“Christina’s birthday is February 20th, Hope! The poor girl must have been devastated.” Cora said, appalled by that revelation.
“Here’s something from the Meadville Tribune, dated February 21st, 2095.” Charli said before she read it aloud.
“A local teen disappeared from her family’s farm early yesterday. Pennsylvania State Police responded to a call placed by Mrs. Colleen C. Everhardt, of Towpath Rd., Meadville at 11:55AM, stating that her daughter, Caroline Ann Everhardt, 14, had failed to respond to Mrs. Everhardt’s repeated calls for lunch. An investigation of the house, barn, and several outbuildings failed to produce any leads. Anyone having seen or knowledge of Caroline Everhardt’s whereabouts are urged to contact the Pennsylvania State Police, Meadville Barracks at #PaSPMdvl. It goes on to say that one of her shoes was found near the swamp that bordered on the property. It also gives a description of the twin. She was five-three, black hair, and one hundred two pounds.”
“Should we ask Christina about this?” Cora wondered aloud.
“Demeter told us not to piss her off, so I’m not sure, Cora. You think she would take us looking into her history the right way?”
“She’s Antarran. I can’t see her being thrilled about us nosing into her past, but she’s a very strong person, emotionally.” Cora answered then thought for a moment.
“She’s very intelligent. I’d say that she even expects us to investigate. She may even be wondering why we took so long to do it.”
“Charli? Have you found any family images from that old ‘Facepalm’ thing?” I asked.
“That would’ve been ‘SnapChat’, Hope. God, you are so old school!” My mate laughed as she typed. “The answer is no. That social media service was… I’ll be damned! Here it is.”
Charli turned her DataTab around so we could see it.
“Impossible!” Cora exclaimed in shock!
“Cora?” Charli asked, alarmed.
“It’s Christina. That is Christina.” She declared.
“No, this was Christian at the time, Cora.” We looked at both profile pages as Charli alternated the two separate pages.
“Typical for fraternal Terran twins.” I told Cora. “They usually have different physical traits due to separate eggs being fertilized.”
“But that Christian had red hair.” Cora insisted, pointing to the display. “Christina said she had black hair before her gene therapy.”
“Makes you wonder what really happened to Caroline Everhardt. I don’t think she ran away, got kidknapped, or even fell into that swamp Christina talks so fondly of. I think-.”
“You think what, Hope?”
Christina was suddenly standing just inside our locked door, hands crossed under her massive bust and an angry frown.
“I think you should knock before entering, sweetie.” I answered, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Charli was finally able to restore some corrupted files of the time and found some interesting things, Sugar Plum.” Cora told her honestly.
“I didn’t do it! I touched her hand and she just disappeared! I swear that’s what happened! She just…vanished…” Christina declared just before she broke down and began sobbing loudly.
I was at a loss! Christina had never lied or given any indications for suspicion. What had happened to the Everhardt twins?
“Care to tell us about it, sweetie? We just found your’s and Caroline’s social media profiles. What happened?” I asked gently as I helped her sit on our bed.
After a minute, she looked up at the three of us then looked quickly to the floor.
“I…I have no idea what happened. I mean… I think I may understand more now than at the time.” She started.
I could see this was going to be rough on her.
“Take your time, sweetie. We’ll help you through this if we can.” I comforted.
“It was our birthday-.”
“February 20th?” Cora asked.
Christina nodded.
“Caroline was thirty minutes younger than me. She came into my room asking if I knew what mom and dad had planned for our fourteenth birthday. For some reason she always got more excited about our party than I did.” Christina paused and took a deep breath.
“I told her that I wasn’t even thinking about a party and that it would be nice to just once sit it out in my room. I had plenty of studying to do and felt that was more important than another birthday party. She tried to convince me that I had been studying too hard and that I needed to have some time to relax. When I wouldn’t cave, she tried to pull me to my feet. That’s when it happened.”
Christina began to cry again and it took several minutes to calm her down this time.
“What happened? Can you describe it for us, Sugar Plum?” Cora asked carefully.
“That’s when she…when she disappeared!” Christina began crying even harder.
“How did she vanish, sweetie? Think back and see if you can describe how she vanished.” I prompted gently.
“She just wasn’t there anymore. One second we were looking each other in the eyes, the next I was all alone in my room and I felt weird.” She sniffled out.
“You felt weird? Define, ‘weird’, Sweetie.”
“Even though I was alone in my room, I didn’t ‘feel’ alone. I was so scared that I never told mom what had actually happened. Not that she would’ve believed me. Then the cops showed up and I lied. I told them that I hadn’t seen my sister for a few hours; that I was busy studying. That seemed to pacify them- especially when mom confirmed my constant study habit. Then dad found a shoe down by the swamp. I can’t remember her ever telling me about losing a shoe and we told each other everything at the time. Somehow, I knew someone or something planted it out there to throw off the investigation. I never told anyone this, you guys. Maybe I was a Current Mage then but didn’t know it? I don’t know.”
“I think you both were Current Mages or even something more, Christina. Here, look at this.” Charli said as she handed Christina her DataTab.
“That’s me!” she gasped. “Why does it say its Caroline’s page?” She said handing it back.
“Because that is Caroline Everhardt’s profile page, Sweetie. Here’s yours.” Charli changed pages and handed it back to her.
“But I never had red hair!”
“Told you, Hope! I know my own niece!” Cora crowed.
“That’s Christian’s page, sweetie. By that uploaded photo, you definitely had red hair and Caroline had the black hair.”
“We understand, sweetie. By coloring your hair, you might have been trying to keep her memory alive. I think it’s a really sweet gesture.” Charli told her.
“But I didn’t color my hair! I honestly don’t remember having red hair. Only my dad had red hair…or so he claimed. Mom said it turned gray right after they got married, and he always blamed mom for causing it.”
“Sugar Plum? What color was mom’s hair? Can you remember?” Cora asked.
“She had dark brown hair with plenty of gray streaks. She claimed that dad caused them.”
“Where was your mom from? Originally.” I asked.
“Conneaut Lake. Um, Pennsylvania. Why?”
“And her maiden name, Sweetie?” I asked, delving deeper so Charli had some place to start a search.
“I think it was Norwood, but mom’s people were pretty much gone by the time Caroline and I were born.”
“Got it! Colleen Christina Norwood and Louis Edward Everhardt were married at Trinity United Methodist Church, Conneaut Lake, Pa, August 25th, 2079.”
“They were married for two years before we were born? We were told we were the reason they had to get married. Those two can’t be mom and dad.” Christina argued.
“Found an announcement in the Meadville Tribune. March 5th, 2079.” Charli announced as she again turned around her DataTab so we could see it.
“That’s mom…I think? She looks so young in that picture.” Christina confirmed.
“She also looks a lot like you, Sugar Plum.” Cora added. “But I’ve seen that face somewhere before. Charli? Could you access the Galactic database and search the Royal Norge ancestry for any match?”
“Cora? How would one of your ancestors get to Earth? We didn’t even know Antarra existed at that time.
“Then why did the lifeboat’s flight computer accept the destination?” Christina proposed.
“Good point, Sweetie. How did the flight computer know where to go?” Charli agreed.
“Marta!” Charli, Cora, and I chorused.
“Marta Green?” Christina questioned in confusion. “The Propulsion Engineer from NASA?”
“We think she may have been more than just a Propulsion Engineer, sweetie.” I informed her.
“You mean like you said that Anna McCorkle was actually this Morgana chick? Who do you think she was?” Christina asked, her eyes wide in curiosity.
“My guess would be one of the Olympians- those that called themselves the Gods and Goddess’ of Myth.” I ventured.
“Wait. You mean Artemis and Hephaestus…they actually are the Artemis and Hephaestus?” Christina gulped as she blinked her eyes in disbelief. “I thought they were just jerkin’ my chain!”
“You still have those earrings on, right?” I asked.
She reached for her ears and nodded.
“Then try taking them out.” I challenged.
“Huh? Why would I want to, I like these earrings?” She questioned.
“Because I asked you to, sweetie. Just try to take them out. As an experiment.” I pushed.
“Come on! I can take them out any time I want, Hope.”
“Then do it, sweetie. Prove that they aren’t enchanted.”
Christina reached up and, one by one, took out her earrings.
“Well that was very revealing, Hope.” Cora laughed at me.
“Wait, Cora. Now show them to me, sweetie. Hold them out in your hand to show us they really did come out.
Christina held out her hand and we witnessed the earrings disappear. Looking to her ears, they were back in place as if never being removed.
I felt vindicated to say the least.
“You were saying?” I challenged.
“Lucky guess.” Cora rebuked.
“Why can’t I take them out for very long?”
“They have a compulsion on them, sweetie. The Olympians want to keep in touch with us. I’m guessing those are very special though. I’ll bet they’re a limiter of some sort.” I theorized.
“A limiter? But Artemis said they were an amplifier- that they would only limit my Current use when I was emotionally compromised.” Christina burst out.
I smiled wickedly.
“That’s not fair, Hope! You set me up!” She complained.
“You want our help, Sweetie?” I asked, still with that evil smile.
“I just want to understand what’s going on and who I really am.” She surrendered.
“And in that vein, I’d like to ask some rather personal questions, sweetie.” Charli redirected the conversation. “First off, you told us that your parents had no qualms about you um…coming out, right?”
“They seemed almost happy that I admitted I was ‘trans’. Mom made my appointments for the shrink and our PHP. That was June of that year, I think.” She answered truthfully.
“Can you remember your PHP’s name?” Charli continued.
“Um…Bloise? Dr. Marla Bloise, MD.”
“Hmmm. How about the shrink? What was their name, sweetie?”
“Dr. Libre, He had a weird Spanish accent. Um…Baccus Libre. Yeah.” Christina nodded.
I immediately saw the pattern.
“They’ve been watching her her whole life, haven’t they?” I proposed.
“At least since age fourteen, anyway.” Charli nodded up at me in acknowledgement.
“I don’t get it. What did you see that I didn’t in those three questions?” Cora looked at Charli and me- dumbfounded.
“Her physician’s name was Marla Bloise. In Arthurian myth, one of the mages was named Bloise or Blaze. Baccus Libre or Baccus Liber are two alternate names for Dionysus.” Charli informed Cora.
“Dionysus? A counselor? Yeah, right!” I’ve never seen the guy sober any time I’ve visited Olympus!” Cora snorted in disbelief.
“The guy did look like he had partied way too much the night before our sessions.” Christina admitted with fond recollection. “I think his favorite line was ‘So, how can we make you feel better than I feel right now, Christina?’ I always thought it his way of breaking the ice. So I would relax… open up to him.”
“Did it?” Charli inquired.
“Naw. He kept trying to get me to talk about my sister… you know.”
“Did he ever offer to hypnotize you? As therapy?” Charli questioned.
“Once, I think? It didn’t work though.”
“How do you know it didn’t work?”
“Because I never took my eyes off him! Something inside me just said not to trust him. I liked the guy as a counselor, but that was as far as it went. He creeped me out a little.” Christina admitted.
“And your lack of compliance to hypnosis? He found that…?” Charli left the question hang so she could complete it.
“He found that frustrating- claimed he ‘didn’t deserve this.’ But he always got it back together and continued the rest of our session.”
“Sounds like classic Dionysus, dear. The only thing he has patience for is fermentation.” I giggled.
“Huh. Says here that Dr. Libre was part of the Diana Prince Physical and Psychological Wellness Group. Incorporated January 20th, 2079.”
“You have got to be kidding me!?” I gasped while laughing.
“What’s so funny about that? Lots of companies are named after their founders.” Cora questioned.
“On Earth, we had printed media we called ‘Comic Books’, Cora. ‘Diana Prince’ was the civilian identity of one of the most popular comic book superheros ever conceived- Wonder Woman.” Charli answered.
“O! M! G!” Christina gasped. “I never thought about it! Even when I read the name on the building!”
“Hey Cora? I found something.” Charli alerted as she turned the DataTab around. “Look familiar?”
Caroline Norge was silent for a moment. Something that rarely happened! She looked between Christina and the display several times, each time looking more and more confused.
“This simply cannot be! Not even Chance or Savanna could accomplish such a feat!” Cora exclaimed.
“What? What is it? Let me see.” Christina insisted.
Charli’s DataTab was now in Christina’s hands and as she looked at its display, she gasped very loudly and crumbled to the floor!
I quickly bent down to scan her health. Finding her just unconscious, I picked up the DataTab from her grasp. There on the display was an image of a finely crafted portrait whose subject was a very regal looking woman.
Colleen Christina Everhardt!
With blue hair!
Or, as the caption identified: HMRH Colleen Christina Norge.
“Savanna, honey? Need your help here!” I called to the ceiling as I collected Christina and placed her gently back on our bed.
 
 

 
 
“You rang, Grandma Hope?” Savanna asked as she was suddenly ‘here’. I didn’t even flinch, it had happened so many times over the last nine years.
“Oh, hey Christina. Wait. Have you been crying? Grandmas? What have you been doing to Christina?” Savanna demanded, looking very angry as Christina came to and began to sit up.
“Charli was able to reconstruct some of the records from the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries, Savanna. Some of what she found just brought back …memories.” Christina explained as she continued to steady herself.
“Any idea who this might be, Munchkin?” I asked my granddaughter as I handed her Charli’s DataTab.
“Now why would I know who this…person…is? Oh, shit!” Savanna asked without looking then swore as she finally looked at the woman’s portrait on the display.
“That’s you!” Savanna exclaimed with wide eyes and open mouth. “How the hell have you figured out you could time travel already?”
I was flabbergasted to say the least!
“I haven’t figured anything out, Savanna!” Christina snarled. “How is my mother in a portrait that looks like it was painted several thousand years ago?”
“Ummmm… well, ya know…?” Savanna began to him-haw and looked extremely frightened by Christina’s intense glare.
“Answers, Savanna Summers! Now!” Christina commanded, and I swear Pegasus’ hull shook!
“Yes, Oracle. Enlighten us.” Cora encouraged sarcastically with narrowed eyes and her arms crossed under and obscured by her ‘ladies’. “How can Christina’s mother be the original Norge family matriarch? Space travel, let alone Transdimensional drive, wasn’t even a thought in any Antarran fantasy writers’ mind when that was painted!”
“You know I’ll find the answers, Munchkin. I always do.” Charli threatened.
“Ummmm… Nike is going to help you.” Savanna blurted out, looking at Christina in terror.
“Help me. Do. What?” Christina demanded.
“Set up the Norge Dynasty. Colleen and your father are the progenitors of the whole modern Antarran monarchy.” Savanna rambled quickly.
“And how, pray tell, is she going to do that, Munchkin?” I challenged.
“In a few days, Christina will take you guys back in time a few hour-.” She began to explain.
“Been there, done that, sent the postcards, Chica!” Christina interrupted angrily.
Thunder echoed through my bedroom.
“Look, dude! Whoever the hell you are. I don’t wanna hear it right now! I’m more than pissed at the moment so don’t friggin’ push me!” Christina growled looking and pointing menacingly to the ceiling.
Savanna looked appalled.
“You-you…you just told Zeus to basically kiss your ass! Why would you dare threaten Zeus?”
“Look, sister! I don’t care if he’s the man in the frickin’ moon! Nobody tells me what I can and can’t say or do. Got it? Good! Now… Let’s skip down to the part of this briefing where you tell me how I transport Mom and Dad to the other side of this galaxy and go back several thousand years at the same time?”
My granddaughter looked absolutely terrified! What did she know about this woman that we didn’t? Was it the fact that she was supposedly an actual Goddess?
Or, was it something even more unimaginable?
I knew that Savanna didn’t scare very easily, but Christina had her shaking in her shoes.
What kind of Goddess was she?
Savanna took a very deep breath to seemingly compose herself.
“You must figure that out on your own as all sentient subspecies do. For now, you must return to your assigned task of curing the Tarantians of their genocidal spiral into oblivion.”
Savanna appeared to prepare herself for the worst- closing her eyes, gritting her teeth, and turning her head to the side.
Christina’s eyes blazed a blindingly intense orange for a few seconds then faded to normal.
“Of course. You are absolutely correct as to the proper sequence of events, Sister Oracle.”
Christina was gone. Vanished.
“Mind telling your grandparents what just happened, ‘Oracle’?” I asked as Charli, Cora, and I looked between us.
“Right now, I think, Savanna needs to change her panties, Hope. Child, what is it about her that completely terrifies you?” Cora questioned. “You interface with Olympus all the time. You should be used to the Gods and Goddesses.”
“If that were the case I would have no such reactions, Aunt Cora. Christina is different…very, very different.”
“Okay, I’ll bite. How different is she?” I asked.
“She is not just a goddess. She is far, far more. That is more than I should relate at this time, however. Your present mission is of far more importance, sisters.”
Savanna disappeared.
“Ya’know? It used to be that only the damn Olympians would do this sort of shit!” I groused. “Now, my own granddaughter is pulling the same shenanigans! And she’s scared shitless of our newest sister to boot! What’s this reality coming to?”
“Shit?” Cora chimed in humorously.
“Easy, dear,” Charli tried to calm me. “It’s still the same old set of rules; they just stepped it up a few notches. I’m confident- as usual- we’ll be the last to find out what is really going on.”
“Not this time, Charli!” I growled as I began to concentrate on the Galley.
If Savanna, Chance, and Christina can do it, I was sure as hell going to try!
“I’ll be a sonnofabitch!” I exclaimed as I found myself looking at three of our four Antarrans.
“Congrats, Hope. Now, can you tell me how we do it?” Christina greeted without even turning to look at me.
“You’ll be the second to know.” I commented. I still couldn’t believe that I had done it!
Christina quickly turned and regarded me with a semi-amused grin.
Did her eyes just ‘twinkle’ at me?
“You want to tell me what about you scares the absolute shit out of my granddaughter, Christina Everhardt?” I demanded.
“You’ll be the second to know.” She repeated back my line.
“Not good enough, sister! What are you hiding?” I asked in my usual, tactful way.
Christina turned and frowned at me.
I felt…something. Something that sent a chill up my spine!
“Knock that shit off right now, young lady!” I commanded as I fought to counter that feeling.
It immediately stopped as her face paled. She looked frightened and surprised as to what I was referring.
“I’m sorry if that was me doing that, Hope. I’m not sure how I even do it though.” She apologized.
Don’t apologize, sweetie, act on it and try to find out what causes it. You’re a very intelligent girl, don’t be an ‘Academic’; use the street smarts God gave you!” I instructed.
“Hmmmfp. Does ‘God’ even exist anymore, Hope? My belief in the old myths have certainly been shattered. Does any other concept of religion stand any better chance?” She stated darkly.
“We all had to come from somewhere, sweetie.” I tried telling her.
“Yeah, I came from a damned syringe though, didn’t I?”
“In preparation for coming to us though, sweetie. You still had to come from somewhere…originally.”
“I suppose.” She considered for a moment. “I’ll give ya that one, Hope. It doesn’t make things any better. Everything I’ve been taught…that I thought was truth…it’s all bullshit.”
“Oh, you mean physics, astrophysics, mathematics, statics, dynamics, and electronics? Like our propulsion systems, our cybernetic A.Is? How about the fact that without your ingenuity, none of that…none of us would be out here; helping people in need?” I listed the ‘bullshit’ as she dubbed them.
“That’s not what I mean, Hope!” She argued.
“Then what do you mean, sweetie? You’re the one that needs to figure those things out. I’m a Marine. That’s my religion, but I also believe in a higher power; one way above even the Gods and Goddesses- above even the Titans.”
I stopped suddenly and regarded Christina a moment. Was that what she was?
If that were the case, wouldn’t my Chance be hashing it out with Christina right now?
Chance likes her, I thought to myself. Hell, I even like the kid!
Didn’t everybody hate the Titans? Weren’t they supposed to be the forces of nature? Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water? Things that could destroy humanity and even the planets, solar systems, even the galaxies?
Chronos was supposedly a Titan, I realized. Was time also a force of nature?
Sure was! Time controlled everything! Wind, water, fire, and earth- time controlled it all!
Someone who controls time controls everything.
Christina could control time…to a certain degree.
“Fuuuuu…”
“Hope? Is something wrong? Why did you suddenly go pale?” Christina was staring at me in worry. Link and Simone were also showing concern on my behalf.
“Nothing. Some things I was thinking about suddenly made way too much sense and I hadn’t prepared properly.” I said as I began to concentrate on my quarters again.
“Enjoy your trip, dear?” Charli asked as I found myself back in our room.
“Where’d you go, Hope?” Cora asked with a slightly shocked expression.
“The galley. I think I have a few things figured out, girls.” I answered just before Mt. Olympus appeared in my vision.
 
 

 
 
“Hey, Hope.” Artemis welcomed.
“Don’t ‘hey Hope’ me, Artie! You bring me here to give me a warning or something?” I growled.
“You know me so well, sister.” She smiled teasingly.
“Yeah, well…we’re comrades in arms still, aren’t we?” I asked.
“Always and forever, Hopewell Summers. My word is my bond, sister.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.” I said narrowing my eyes. “Why?”
“Why, what, Hope?”
“Why so tight-lipped on this kid, Artie? She a new Titan or something? How we handle her…teach her, influences whether she will be destroyed or not? Something cruel and unusual-like? Hasn’t the child been through enough already?”
“Wow! I’ve never seen you so melodramatic, sister! This child, she has found her way into your heart, hasn’t she?”
“Yes, and she’s probably the proverbial Anti-Christ too, right? The four horsemen of the apocalypse all rolled into one? Ragnarok? Helhiem?” I answered then assumed.
“Those she is definitely not, Hope.” A deep, male voice answered.
“Zeus? To what do we owe the pleasure?” I asked the 190 cm man dressed in a flowing white toga with gold, lightning bolt trim.
“Father? I hadn’t expected you to be here.” Artie bowed reverently.
“Neither did I, but Hope will not take anyone else’s explanation as ‘gospel’, I’m afraid.” He explained.
“My long-time friend, I am asking you to treat Christina Everhardt like any other Corps member. Yes, she is Antarran by her code array. No, she is not an Olympian…per say. Neither is she Titan for that matter. She is more than any of us and yet not. She is completely new and yet indeterminably ancient and therefore constitutes an extreme unknown to all involved. I’m afraid that is all I can tell you, for it is all the Oracles, the Fates, and I know for certain.”
“But the kid wouldn’t hurt a flea, big guy! Have you seen how she reacts to possibly taking a life?” I asked in amazement that he actually was telling me the truth.
“I have and the Furies have surpassed my expectations as teachers, Hope. I can only ask that you continue her education. With wisdom and intelligence, comes morality. With morality, we all stand a better chance of living longer.”
“You make it sound like she could erase the universe with a blink of her eye.” I joked.
“In a word, that is probably a very good assumption, Hope.” He smiled worriedly.
“Okay.” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “I’ll leave it alone, but I’m still going to find out what she is, Allfather. You have my word on that. The more I know about Christina Everhardt, the more I can help her become…whatever.” I told him truthfully.
“Hope? Be very careful. The Oracles have warned of severe consequences should you push too hard.” Artie seemed very much concerned that I might do just that.
“Not to fear, I’ll use my best diplomatic behavior.”
“That is one thing even the Fates disagree with, Hope Summers!” Zeus glared at me. “Everything remains innocent. There is to be no ‘special treatment’ of Christina Everhardt!”
“Copy that, Allfather.” I acknowledged.
“So, I take it we’ve been warned?” Charli said as I was instantly back in our room.
“Status quo.” I said as I once again concentrated on the galley.
“Hope? You left without saying goodbye.” Christina blinked in surprise.
“Look sweetie, I just figured out how to do it, so I had to experiment- to get the feel of it- what I need and how much to concentrate on.”
“You popped into my quarters, so I decided to return the favor.” I added.
“You popped into my room? Why?” Christina stared in disbelief.
“No. I popped between my quarters and the galley a few times, sweetie. I have no desire to invade your privacy.” I clarified.
“That reminds me. I’m sorry for popping into your room, uninvited, Hope. For some reason I felt you were talking about me and I also felt I needed to speak for myself.
“We were talking about you, sweetie, but that is no excuse to interrupt a private conversation. If you were so curious, you should have knocked at the door and asked for admittance- like you normally would. We have nothing to hide, sweetie- nor would we even consider it. As Cora said, Charli had just finished repairing records from the twenty-first and second centuries. Electronic files of that time are very…messy. Charli has been working on it since we left base. We were hoping to help figure out what really happened to your parents. Why the accident investigation was never concluded.”
“I think we pretty much know the answer to that now, right? I’m the reason…or should I say Chance and I are the reason. I think it safe to assume the accident was staged to look like they died… somehow. No clue on how I would do that. I still have no idea where it even happened.” Christina reasoned.
“Charli is still looking, sweetie, but from that portrait she found in the Antarran archive, I’m betting they survived that accident.
Christina broke into a very happy smile- tears began to run down her cheeks.
“I-I hadn’t thought about that part. Thanks, Hope.”
“What’s this about a portrait of your mother in the Antarran archives?” Simone asked as she and Link came over, intrigued by our conversation.
“Charli found an actual painting of Mom in the archives. It was subtitled ‘Her Most Royal Highness Colleen Christina Norge’.” Christina answered.
“You’re kidding!” Simone said, stunned. Her DataTab instantly appeared in her hand and she began typing.
“By the Norge’s of old! And this time I really mean it! Will you look at this?” She said to Link.
Link’s eyes bulged and both blue-haired girls looked up and stared at Christina.
“This is the woman who started the Norge Dynasty! She looks so much like you, Christina!” Simone said quietly.
Link just kept looking between the image and Christina.
“Does this have anything to do with you being able to jump us back in time, sis?” She finally posed.
“That or we’re still in a drunken stupor back at base, sweetie.” I suggested. “I vote for the drunken stupor, myself. It makes way more sense that way.”
“That would be my vote too, Hope, but I’m starting to think this is all more than a fantasy. A dream or nightmare was never this linear for me.” Christina admitted nervously.
“So when do we go back, sis?” Link asked excitedly.
“My guess would be after Chance gets back from patrol. Savanna said that Nike was to help me. And who am I to not heed an Oracle?” Christina answered with a shrug.
“A better guess would be after we fix these people, sweetie. One mission at a time.” I proposed.
“Which reminds me. We may have something figured out as to our mysterious genetic virus, Hope.” Christina informed me.
“I’m all ears.”
“I’m thinking we can integrate my current into Tarantin Current- get them to play nice together to fight and destroy the Hobgoblin strain.”
“Hmm. A joint offensive?” I considered it a moment. “I like it. Risks?”
“We need someone to test it on, Hope.” Simone suggested.
“I already told you I don’t do Guinea Pig.” I warned.
“We would need a Tarantin, Hope.” Link specified.
“Major? Gov. Sceptus and his son, Reclos, are asking to come aboard.” Keats broke over the Comm.
“I’ll meet them at the hatch, Keats. Hope, out.” I responded.
“If you girls will excuse me? I think our Guinea Pig has just arrived.” I winked.
 
 
“And this is our multipurpose compartment. Right now we have it configured as a genetic testing lab in the back half and a Galley forward. Yeah, I know… real compatible, right?” I said as I finished the tour for Reclos. This was his first time aboard and as expected, his eyes never closed or blinked once from wonder. Nor had his mouth closed completely.
“Are you the lady that rescued me, my lady?” the young Tarantin asked Christina shyly.
“I am, young sir.” Christina smiled politely adding a nod.
The early teen ran over to her and wrapped all three sets of arms around her.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” He repeated until at last he quieted, still clinging to her- his head pressing up against her ‘ladies’ presented them prouder from her low-cut ‘T’shirt.
That had not gone unnoticed by Sceptus or Christina.
“My apologies, Lady Christina. Reclos shares a great many traits with his father, but has yet to master the nuances of subtlety.”
Could Tarantin’s blush? I know Christina was!
I noticed Christina blink on her Current sight.
“You are quite welcome, young sir. It was an honor to restore you to health.” She said as she scanned Sceptus surreptitiously.
He caught on and slowly turned around so she could scan his back.
Christina frowned.
“I take it the taint has returned, my lady?” Sceptus asked.
Christina closed her eyes and nodded once, sadly.
“Have you and your sisters made any advances in a cure?” He asked.
“Tenatively, Gov. Sceptus. It has yet to be tested.” Simone answered.
“Do you think it is safe?” He asked flat out.
“It is a combination of my energy and your energy that I have asked to work together to eradicate the tainted agent.” Christina explained. “So it is part me, part you, Governor. Being dual-compatible, it should not hurt either of us, yet I cannot say it will do what we want, how we want.”
Sceptus looked to his son then back to Christina. “Do it. You have returned my son and therefore earned my trust. Do it, my lady.”
“Pater! No! I will volunteer! You must continue to serve the people.”
“The recipient must be infected, Sir Reclos. You no longer contain the taint and therefore cannot participate in this experiment.” Christina said in a voice that reverberated throughout the compartment.
She suddenly looked confused.
“Continue, Lady Christina.” Sceptus acknowledged as he presented one of his top arms.
Christina held out her hand, open palm up and Link placed an injector into it. Without my Current sight on, it appeared empty. Blinking, I saw an amber glow contained inside.
Sceptus closed all four eyes and awaited the worst.
Christina smiled evilly and shoved the injector into his lower thorax- his butt in Terran terms.
All four of Sceptus’ eyes bulged open in surprise!
“Allow a moment for it to work into the blood, sir. Please tell me instantly if you experience any pain, itching, burning, nausea, headaches, megalomaniacal world domination, sudden urges to kill me, etc.” Christina said flatly.
Young Reclos looked on in anticipation of something visual happening- his face very concerned for his father.
 
 

 
 
With my Current sight enabled, I began to see this strange amber hue or as Christina would say, an aura, surround Sceptus. Something was definitely happening.
“I feel a little strange, Lady Christina. Not ill or painful, just…strange. Like when I was younger and foolish enough to touch an active energy canal- that same ‘tingle’.” He related.
Christina stood silent and observed. Every now and again, one of her brows would twitch as if she saw something promising or odd- like she was mentally checking off items she expected or didn’t expect to happen.
Finally the amber glow faded.
“How do you feel, Gov. Sceptus?” She asked after waiting almost a full minute for any latent effects.
“Surprisingly fit, Lady Christina. In fact, better than I’ve felt in years! Does this mean I am cured?”
“Allow me to examine you as I did earlier, sir.” Christina replied with a faint smile.
After a minute of scanning him- top to bottom, front to back, she declared him clean.
Sceptus was on Christina in an instant with all six arms wrapped around her in an embrace only a Tarantin could achieve!
“Thank you, my lady! A thousand times thank you to you and your Coven sisters! A planet-wide celebration shall be organized for your timely arrival and your miraculous achievements!”
“Don’t thank us profusely yet, Sceptus. You are but one of how many billions. We need to figure out a way to get this cure to all four planets without bleeding Christina dry of energy.” I stated, breaking his euphoric mood.
“Girls? I’m calling a huddle.” Christina interrupted as she motioned us all to her.
Charli, Cora, and Keats were suddenly next to me!
“Hope? What the h-?”
“Christina, not me, dear. You okay, Keats?” I asked seeing she was slightly more disoriented than Charli or Cora.
“I hate ‘flue powder’, Boss!” She grumbled. “But yeah, I’ll survive. What’s up?”
“Our Antarran sisters have come up with a cure for the Tarantin plague. Christina called an impromptu meeting to discuss distribution.”
Cora had already hurried the few steps to her tall niece; unceremoniously pulled Sceptus away, and lovingly wrapped her arms around Christina.
She seemed to revel in the fact that her head pushed into Christina’s cleavage so easily and completely.
She could die from asphyxiation in there!
Gods! Antarrans!
“Aunt Cora!? Please! We have a job to do and this is not helping with that.” Christina groaned in embarrassment.
“Hmmm, I could die a very happy monarch right now.” Cora mumbled from in between the abundant flesh.
Christina really blushed now!
“Cora? Do you mind committing ‘boobi-side’ some other time? You’re embarrassing the girl.” I said, hating that I had to be the voice of reason here.
“You will get no objections from Reclos or I, Lady Hope! By all means, let her continue.” Sceptus smiled.
“You guys are all alike.” I stated flatly.
‘And I should know’, I thought to myself.
“What I propose is in line with the Governor’s suggestion of a system-wide celebration, sisters. I think we could disperse the cure as an aerosol; fireworks over the major cities if we could design a dispersion medium to carry enough individual doses to the masses?” Christina suggested.
“We’ve done total planetary bombardments before, Christina,” I informed her and heard Sceptus gasp. “On JWC’s last mission, Lyra sent out a planet-wide signal flare to get our attention while planet-side.” I added to ease our guest’s apprehension.
“Would it not be more efficient to add it to the hydration supplies, my ladies? Several of our scientists previously theorized that as a possible method to spread the infection.” Sceptus offered.
“The dilution ratio might be too great to make a difference. It could render the cure ineffective.” Christina rationalized.
“But somehow the Hoblins succeeded, sis.” Link spoke up. “We find how they did it and we find our antidote.”
For being fifteen standard years old, this girl was very astute!
Christina nodded. “Gov. Sceptus? Would it be possible for us to run some tests and inspections on various reservoirs around the planet? By doing that, we should find the mechanism responsible.”
“Whatever we can do to help, Lady Christina.”
“Sceptus?” Charli said to get his attention. She had her DataTab in her hand, but this time I knew it wasn’t on. She sometimes did this to hide her talent of hacking directly into secure databases. “According to your interplanetary trade records, there was a long-term project involving major shipments of water being transported to the other three worlds due to some kind of drought on each? The originating reservoir(s) has not been recorded.”
“As I recall, we sent in excess of four billion cubic liters of water over three years to the other three globes. All donations came from our own reserve here in Webb City. It took a heavy toll on our filtration system, causing it to shutdown several times, but in the end, the cause was noble and quite fulfilling morally.”
“Then we should go there and sample that reservoir first, Governor.” Christina determined logically.
We were standing directly outside of a massive building!
Several uniformed Tarantins began running toward us, all holding weapons.
Keats angrily glared at Christina while the rest of us looked around in befuddlement.
“Stop! These premises are designated ‘out of public domain’. Imprisonment will now occur!” A tall, male Tarantin sprinting ahead of the other three, ordered.
He slid to a stop when he recognized our host.
“Governor?” He asked in confusion. “Please state motive for your unscheduled, unorthodox appearance?”
“These women are Witch Corps, Sergeant.” Sceptus stated plainly. “We are on a fact-finding mission for research into our system-wide problem. We seek entrance on the premise of taking a water sample for analysis. I insist you follow to certify the procedure. Take warning though, and do not anger these brave ladies, for they are much more than they appear.”
“Girls? I think that’s our cue.” I said with a chuckle.
We were all in our uniforms and the security guards, as well as Sceptus and Reclos, were instantly aghast by the sudden, miraculous change of clothing!
“Please hold.” Christina pleasantly requested, holding up a hand, as she appeared to already be scanning the four guards before us.
She simply held out her other hand and an injector appeared.
“Now stand very still. This may sting slightly.” She advised as she placed the device to the first guard’s thorax and squeezed the trigger.
As with Sceptus, his eyes bulged in surprise!
Christina repeated her procedure on the other male and two female Tarantin guards with similar results. After two minutes she had each spin in front of her to scan them.
The two female guards, when declared ‘clean’, quickly excused themselves claiming restroom privileges were badly needed.
“What did you just do?” The lead guard demanded, embarrassed and still rubbing his behind.
“She just cured your affliction, man! That is what they are here for!”
Both remaining guards’ mouths’ dropped open!
 
 
Collecting the sample from the reservoir was easily accomplished and as quickly as we had left Pegasus, we were back.
“Next time, I think I’ll stick to public transportation!” Keats announced as she hurried out of the Galley looking moderately nauseous.
“Can we do that again, Lady Christina?” Reclos asked as he laughed enthusiastically.
“Perhaps another time, young sir.” Christina smiled brightly. “For now we have this sample to examine.”
“Sceptus? Have I shown you our Library yet?” I asked.
“You have a library? Here? In Pegasus?”
“Follow me gentlemen and be amazed.” I giggled.
“Lady Hope, one can only experience so much amazement in any single, given day.” He advised.
“Oh, it won’t be that bad! It’s not a full-blown Library!” I chided as I motioned them forward.

 
 
“Copy that Chance, sending approach vectors to all Brooms now. Docking sequence will be Pegasus 1, 2, 3, 13, and 15.” Keats announced.
“Received, Pegasus Control. See you all in a few. Chance, out.” Chance’s voice replied. She sounded happy.
Concentrating, I was up in the lounge. Sceptus and Reclos looked pale as they both stared at me, frightened.
“What? I’m a witch…that’s what we do.” I rationalized with a playful smile.
I looked up in time to see Chance, in Hope and a Pair, slowly hover in then invert in place and wave to us as she maneuvered for docking. Lokust then Kitty appeared on approach just within view.
“Reclos? Your mouth is hanging wide open, sweetie.” I pointed out politely.
He quickly asked then hurried to the side that I specified Lokust would dock at and pressed his face tightly to the transparent Lounge wall to watch.
“She waved at me too!” He bubbled excitedly to us. He then rushed across the lounge and watched in fascination as Kitty maneuvered toward her docking pylon.
“What does this mean?” He asked innocently raising the middle finger on his upper-right hand.
Sceptus looked to the boy then to me slightly aghast. I felt an impish grin fill my face.
“That’s the Lynxin gesture for ‘a job well done’, sweetie. Lady Cora said it means ‘success’ in native Antarran too.”
Sceptus fought valiantly to keep a straight face.
 
 
“Cora!” Kitty shouted angrily as she appeared in the compartment’s doorway. “Why’d ya do it? Telling the kid to give me the damned finger! Then telling him it was the Lynxin gesture for ‘job well done’!” Apparently, Kitty didn’t see Reclos or Sceptus sitting across from me next to Charli.
“I did nothing of the kind, Kitty!” Cora huffed as she stiffened to her full 155.735cm.
I just sat quietly eating my meal and randomly glancing over at Charli. Sceptus and a very embarrassed Reclos sat next to her having just started to enjoy a meal ‘on the house’.
I felt two sets of eyes and two wands pointed at the back of my head and began to concentrate on a better, tactical position.
Kitty and Cora were instantly in front of me and I had my wand at the ready in one hand and my revolver in the other.
“Is there something you wished from me, ladies?” I asked menacingly.
“To know how you just did that would be one big ‘something’, sister.” Cora said nervously.
I concentrated again and found myself in the doorway as Kitty instantly turned to attack.
“Dammit, Summers! Stand still!” Kitty snarled.
“Why? So you can disrobe me like Lyra does Aquia?” I giggled as I was instantly back, facing my Lynxin sister.
“You have got to teach us that, Hope.” Kitty smiled tensely.
“I just concentrate on where I want to be.” I admitted nonchalantly.
“That’s it?” Cora frowned. “It’s that easy?”
“I never said it was easy. You just need to keep your concentration.” I answered.
“A pervert like you might not be able to do that though, Cora.” I teased.
“I like them, Pater!” Reclos snickered then began laughing.
I responded the way any true Summers would; I took a bow. To my surprise, Cora and Kitty did too!
I guess we really were a family.
Our antics only made Reclos laugh harder.
“Hope? You need to see this!” Christina called from further back in the compartment.
“Whatcha got, sweetie?” I asked as I walked up beside her.
“Tell me what you see.” She said motioning to some kind of microscope-looking thing.
“I see some sort of single-celled organism- actually a lot of them.” I replied as I looked at the weird blobs through the optics.
“Where have we seen this thing before?” She asked.
“Ummmm… Sixth grade biology class?” I answered honestly. I actually had no clue what this creature was called.
Christina rolled her eyes at me.
“This little critter caused all sorts of havoc back in the late twentieth-early twenty-first. It was known as Legionnaires Disease- Legionella. Now look at it with your Current sight enabled.” She suggested.
I did and to my surprise saw a small dot of red Current- a small speck of taint.
“So that’s how they’re doing it?” I sighed. “Do we have a way of countering it- shy of chlorinating all the pipes and reservoirs on four planets?”
“Possibly. Now look at this slide.” She suggested.
“This is our counter agent.” Christina said as I looked at the newest blob. This one had an amber speck.
“Looks completely different.” I observed out loud.
“That’s because our little beastie is based on Terran white blood cells- antibodies. I think we can release these critters into the main water supplies on all four planets and totally eradicate our nemesis.” Christina rubbed her hands diabolically.
“Okay? So how do we keep them from taking over and overwhelming their water systems?”
“Just program them to sleep after reaching a certain concentration in fresh water then when they detect gastric fluids reactivate and trigger.” Chance said beside me.
“Welcome back, High Priestess. It’s about time.” I commented.
“It was a long, exciting patrol, so exciting I never had enough time to utilize Hope and a Pair’s Five-Star facilities.” She said with a straight face. “Actually, I just really needed a shower.” She contradicted with a teasing grin as she regarded Christina, Simone, Link and Cora.
“So… what’s with the Antarran Science Ministry?” She giggled.
“Well… Dr. Francis N. Stein there decided to make things look official.” I rolled my eyes, pointing to Christina.
“That’s ‘Fronk-en-schteen’!” Christina exclaimed in a haughty, royal tone. “And we think we have a viable cure.”
Chance and I groaned. Everhardt watched way more media than I thought!
I snapped my fingers, disheartened. “Thought I had her on that one.”
“Better luck next time, mom.” Chance patted me on my shoulder.
“So? How do we distribute it?” She added, curiously.
“After reprogramming, all we need to do is seed the main reservoirs of each planet. Cellular mitosis will do the rest. Since white cells are considered helpful by most societies- according to my esteemed colleagues,” Christina thumbed to Simone, Cora, and Link, “planetary bio-filters should let them pass, unimpeded.”
“Almost forgot, Christina.” Chance interrupted. “Better program in an expiration date as well. Five years sounds like a nice round figure.”
“Agreed, High Priestess.” She acknowledged with a nod.
Sceptus had been very quiet during our latest conversation.
“Sceptus? Do I detect questions?” I asked of our guest.
He took a minute to decide how and what to ask.
“According to Galactic vocabulary, Legionnaires Disease implies that warriors and only warriors contracted this affliction. Therefore, it would seem the disease was manufactured to only decrease or defeat a military. Why would anything like that be devised in the first place?”
“Legionnaires Disease was a name given to a water and airborne biological that was discovered in some of Terra’s Veterans hospitals initially. It later spread to hotels and other public meeting places through the environmental systems of the time. It took several decades to finally quell. Whether it was intentional or accidental has never been recorded, Sceptus.” I relayed- As much as I could remember from ‘ancient’ Earth history.
“So how did it get to Tarantis? We are much closer to Antarra than Terra.”
“Obviously Hobgoblins, Sceptus. It’s been theorized the original Hobgoblins originated on Terra just as ‘Current’ or ‘Energy’ was first being discovered there.” Cora speculated, trying not to reveal much about their true origins.
“And for that the Terran people are truly apologetic, Governor Sceptus.” Chance added quickly.
“Where they originated is not my main concern, High Priestess. How this agent of delivery was able to bypass our filtration system is a matter of system security.”
“My guess would be when the filtration system was working overtime to meet the demands of Webb City and the other three worlds, Sceptus. It would be the most opportune time to contaminate the supply. I’m guessing the shipments went right into the reservoirs on the other worlds?” Charli theorized as she started tapping away on her unpowered DataTab.
“You already know that to be true, Lady Charli. And you can dispense with the dramatics. I have already surmised you are able to infiltrate our high security records. It became obvious to me when you brought inquiry to those shipments. That was highly classified information due to the sensitivity of so much water going off world. Public outcry might have hampered the project from the start, so we released reduced cargo manifests by adjusting our measurements. Repayment in the form of much smaller shipments back to Webb City have been progressing for seven months now.” Sceptus told us. Reclos was baffled and stunned that his ‘Pater’ had misled the people and gasped.
“But Pater? Isn’t that lying? You have preached to me for many seasons not to do that- that it is wrong.”
“Sweetie, sometimes…when adults need to do things to help out…in this case your neighboring planets, not everyone can see the good in it. I’m sure you know of the word ‘greed’. In this case, I’m sure there would have been many people that considered themselves ‘entitled’ and demand the water stayed here- for them to use and nobody else. I’m sure you know that is very wrong and very self centered- very greedy.” I tried to explain. “Your ‘Pater’ did what he had to do to help those in need. The very fact that no one here noticed any shortage proved his actions to be appropriate.”
“So, Sceptus. Since the subject has been breached, was there ever any outcry then sudden acceptance from any of the politicians in the know?” Charli asked suspiciously.
The Governor thought on that for several minutes.
“Only two, but they have since been voted out of office, why? You believe them to be complicit?”
“I believe them to now be forgeries, Sceptus. Hoblins can become doppelgangers- it would follow that they would try to impersonate high-ranking officials to enact their plan.”
“But if that is the case, how can they be discovered?” He questioned.
Everyone in the compartment looked directly at Christina.
“I understand, Lady Charli.” Christina acknowledged the unspoken assignment.
“I can find our suspects. I’ll leave it up to you to get us there. Hope and Chance should come along for support.” Charli proposed.
“I’d like Link along also, Lady Charli.” Christina requested. “We seem to work well together.” She smiled.
“High Priestess? Alright with you?” Charli asked.
“If Cora and our other sisters have no objections?” Chance replied as she looked to each individually.
“All right. While we’re on our mission, Lokust, coordinate operations here. We still need to protect the shipping routes. We should probably inspect the other reservoirs and purge any conscripts found in those areas.”
“Copy that, Chance. Kate, let’s get the Brooms online and ready for launch.”
“On it, X-O.” Keats acknowledged with a nod as she walked out of the compartment.
 
 

 
 
“Former Commissioner Theridae found.” Charli announced with her eyes closed.
“You are very frightening, Lady Charli.” Sceptus commented as Charli opened her eyes and looked at me. She nodded to me.
“Ok? Where do we go?” I asked.
Chance, Hope, Link, and Charli just stared at me patiently.
“Care to do what you seem to do rather well, Christina?” Chance smiled.
“Ummm…” Did she mean they were waiting for me to transport us to some unknown- to me- location?”
“We’re waiting, sweetie.” Hope smiled with her arms crossed and hip thrust to the right in anticipation.
“I… ummm… I don’t know where to go.” I admitted shyly.
Charli gave me an understanding look. “Just use that well developed intuition you seem to have, honey. It seems to work really well. To use a very old axiom, just point and click, Christina.”
As with all the other times I had employed the ‘flue powder’ method, I shot from the hip. Meaning I didn’t have a clue, I just let my strange power do what it needed to do and stood amazed like everyone else.
We were instantly in one of the strangely designed homes that we had seen from the air just outside the city on arrival. A very large home from the looks of the inside of this place!
From where we stood, we had arrived during some sort of formal function.
Awkward.
“I know this place.” Sceptus announced quietly.
I was surprised by his presence, not having considered him even coming along. Reclos had apparently remained behind on Pegasus.
“In fact, I remember being invited to this celebration.” Sceptus continued as he looked to me in curiosity.
“I remember declining the invitation as well, Lady Christina.” He concluded.
“Sweetie? When are we?” Hope inquired, quietly.
“When, Lady Hope? Today was the date indicated on the invitation; I don’t understand your question.” Sceptus looked at Hope questioningly.
A look of relief filled Hope’s face.
“Long, complicated story, Sceptus. Is Theridae here?” Hope replied.
“She should be. This is her abode.” He answered and nodded to an average sized, slim Tarantin woman talking with several other women. Everyone was dressed impeccably.
“I fear we will be asked to leave due to improper dress.” Sceptus mumbled worrisomely.
“Maybe we should’ve dressed for the occasion?” Chance thought out loud.
I took that as our cue for a wardrobe change and thought about a nice, dignified, society-type dress.
Sceptus inexplicably exchanged clothing too. “It’s borrowed, but you look good just the same, Sceptus. No one need know, though.” Chance giggled. He now wore what I assumed was a custom tailored formal dinner jacket, shirt, pants, and high-gloss shoes.
He did look handsome… in a Tarantin sort of way. Handsome but scared shitless by what just happened to him! I struggled to hold in my amusement.
“Now that we fit in-.” Chance began to say as I blinked on my Current Sight and gasped.
The party host’s Current showed as dark red!
“Christina?” Chance nudged quietly to bring my mind back to the mission.
“Taint.” I said simply, just above a whisper.
“I see it, sweetie.” Chance acknowledged. “We need to separate her from the others…”
“No, everyone has some level of taint, Chance!” I whispered.
“Damn! How did I miss it?” Chance gasped quietly.
“You’re not the only one, sister.” Hope added.
“My Ladies, I have a bad feeling about this. My exterior is afire with the quakes.” Sceptus informed us in a fearful whisper.
“What’s the plan, ladies?” Link asked, as Theridae apparently, finally noticed us. She graciously excused herself from her present conversation and began walking in our direction.
“Governor Sceptus. How wonderful you reconsidered my invitation. Queen Norge? How have I garnered consideration for your attendance?”
“We were in the area, Commissioner Theridae.” Link replied, looking and sounding every bit our aunt. “May I present my niece, Christina Norge-Everhardt, and my visiting, Terran Ladies-in-Wait, Hope, Charlene, and Chance Summers.”
Theridae looked confused for a moment then smiled nervously for just an instant. “Of course, a pleasure to meet all of you. Such esteemed nobility is always welcome. Please, enjoy the party, my ladies. Governor, may I have a word in private?”
“But of course.” Sceptus looked to us trying to conceal his fear and strong urge to run. He did surprisingly well at hiding it though, proving he was an experienced politician.
“What nerve, you bringing them here! Do you know who they represent, Sceptus?” I overheard with my extra sensitive hearing.
“Why such contempt? They arrived yesterday at my request, dear Theridae. My advisors suggested we finally reach out for assistance with this system-wide plight we are experiencing.” He defended.
“They are outsiders and have absolutely no business meddling in our affairs! To keep up appearances, I will allow their attendance, but a proper hostess is all I will be, understand?”
“Perfectly, my dear Theridae. Thank you for indulging me.” He answered politely then paused.
“Hmm. While I have your attention… Could I possibly steal you away for a few moments, Theridae? I have need of answers to questions Queen Caroline has posed about your former district that I believe only you can supply. Answers that need to be considered before she and her fellow researchers can begin their investigation into our problem.”
“For just a few minutes, Sceptus; then I need to attend to my guests. My office is right at the top of the stairs.” She answered, not sounding very happy at all. “Follow me.”
Sneaking a glance in their direction, I noticed Theridae seemed overly confident.
“Ladies? Please excuse me. I will return momentarily.” Sceptus apologized with a tentative wink toward us.
“I think she’s going to try conscripting him.” I warned. Link, Chance, Charli, and Hope all gave me a slight nod of agreement.
“Hacking into the home’s surveillance system now.” Charli announced with her eyes closed. “Got them.”
“I guess we’ll see how good your cure is, Christina.” Chance smiled. “If Sceptus has been cured then Theridae won’t be able to conscript him easily.
“So far they’re just talki- what the hell was that?” Charli’s eyes flew open as she jumped.
“What? What happened, dear?” Hope demanded, quietly.
“I’m thinking she got a taste of her own medicine?” Charli rubbed her eyes several times. “I saw the conscription process begin, but then there was this vastly brighter blue feedback! Theridae is out cold, flat on her back!”
“Sounds like you definitely used the high-test, sweetie.” Hope giggled as she looked to me in satisfaction.
We were instantaneously in the Ex-Commissioner’s home office.
“I have no idea what happened, my ladies! I felt some kind of…‘tickle’ then a bright flash, and Theridae was out cold on the floor.” Sceptus reported, seeing us appear off to his side.
“Christina? Want to check the Commissioner for any remaining ‘cooties’?” Hope deadpanned.
I had already enabled my Current sight and was in the process of scanning the unconscious woman as she asked.
I sighed and shook my head.
“She’s still very infected, and the taint seems to be increasing. I’d like to try the serum on her, High Priestess?” I asked as I looked over at Chance.
“Sceptus? She’s your constituent.” Chance deferred.
He nodded once, slowly.
Thinking about a prepared syringe, one appeared in my upturned hand. I bent down quickly injecting its contents into her butt.
A bright, light green aura surrounded my patient and she began to spasm and flail in pain! She seemed to simply ‘melt’ away until just a green colored moist spot was left in her place on the carpeted floor!
I gasped in horror!
“Sis?” Link took my forearm. “What just happened? Why did she melt?”
“It’s official, we’re in Oz.” Hope commented morbidly. “Any idea what happened, Dorothy?”
“It…it should’ve worked! I-I don’t understand!” I gulped as the guilt of what I had just done filled me with despair. I had just killed someone! I started to feel nauseous.
“Hey! Kiddo! You couldn’t have known.” Hope tried to comfort me. “Apparently she was a ‘dopple’. Had you ever tried that out on one of them?” She posed.
I shook my head that I hadn’t. From what I had been told, a ‘dopple’ was not the actual person, but a fake- basically a Hobgoblin impersonator.
Oh, how I wished that the real Theridae could be recovered!
A large, bright white ‘orb’ popped into existence in front of me causing me to quickly jump back, startled.
As the orb began to fade slightly, a figure began to materialize.
A female Tarantin figure!
“And there she goes again, girls!” Charli announced, sarcastically, in defeat.
As the bright white orb I had somehow conjured dissipated completely, the standing female Tarantin crumbled to the floor, unconscious.
Hope and Chance immediately crouched down to examine her.
“She’s alive, just unconscious.” Chance announced, looked up at me, and smiled tensely.
“I’m not so sure about Sceptus though.” Hope added.
Sceptus stood, still as stone, and just as white as the finest marble used for the wainscoting of this room!
I still felt guilty, but now for doing what everyone- including me- thought impossible.
Commissioner Theridae started to moan as she began to stir. Sceptus too, began to blink all four of his eyes.
“What is this? Where am I? Who are you people?”
“What, where, and who; why is it never ‘how’?” Link joked. I think to change the overall mood of the situation.
“Majesty?” Theridae’s eyes widened as she focused on Link’s voice.
“Sorry, commissioner, but I am her daughter, Coraline…” Link grimaced using Aunt Cora’s hoped-for relationship. “But I prefer ‘Link’.”
“Theridae. How are you feeling, dear lady.” Sceptus asked after recovering from his shock.
“Sceptus? What’s going on? Why am I on the floor?”
“We were hoping you could answer those questions.” Sceptus replied. “This is how we found you.”
He really wasn’t lying.
“Is this my home office? How did I get here?” She questioned.
“I would say walked, ma’am. I seriously doubt that anybody can instantaneously transport from one place to another.” Chance answered, downplaying what had actually happened.
I took the hint about not revealing my ‘talents’.
“Lady Hope? Lady Charlene? What are you all doing here? Has there been another attempt at our sovereignty?” Theridae asked, apparently remembering Witch Corps’ last visit. “It’s been three years! I thought those hideous things would stay away longer.”
“My dear, what is the last thing you remember?” Sceptus asked to get an idea of how long the real Theridae had been gone.
“We were discussing the implications of donating such huge quantities of water to the other three worlds. I was opposed to misinforming the general populous of the expected shortages here in Webb City. We adjourned the debate for the night… I was just heading out the council room door when…” She paused looking very confused.
“I’m sorry. I can’t seem to remember what happened next. It seems I’m drawing a complete blank.”
Sceptus was stunned!
Hope and Chance helped the woman to stand and once she was steady, I did an impromptu scan of her.
I smiled at my initial observation.
“I warn you, Antarran! I am not accepting of any of your twisted dating rituals!” She warned, staring at me heatedly.
I felt myself blush!
“Theridae, Lady Christina was not ‘flirting’. She was scanning you for the infection.” Sceptus explained calmly.
“A very strange way to scan somebody, Sceptus. Where is the apparatus?” She challenged.
“Fine.” I said in a none-too-happy tone. “I’ll do it the more obvious, embarrassing, visual way then. Since you take issue with a clandestine scan.” I announced as I called my wand, held it sideways by the middle and moved it slowly down her body from head to toes.
“You are a Mage!” She declared in shock.
“And you are clean of the phage, Commissioner Theridae.” I answered back in rhyme frigidly.
“I should say so! I have never advocated nor partaken of such deviate behavior.” She huffed haughtily.
What a bitch!
“It has been discovered that the infection is distributed through the water supply, Commissioner.” Chance glared at the woman coldly. “Unless of course, you consider drinking water for necessary hydration, deviant activity?”
That shut her up! Go Chance!
“My apologies for such a rude assumption, my lady.” Theridae bowed slightly to me after thinking things through a moment or two.
“I’m just glad I could help, ma’am.” I nodded back professionally in response.
“Lady Chance? What about the others downstairs?” Hope inquired to change the topic.
“What ‘others’ downstairs’?” Theridae questioned cautiously.
“Theridae, it has been six years since your last stated memories have happened. When we arrived, ‘you’- figuratively- were in the middle of throwing a rather posh social gathering.” Sceptus revealed. “According to Lady Christina, everyone in attendance is carrying the infection and are mere nanometers away from being conscripted into Hobgoblins.”
Theridae’s mouth dropped open and her four eyes blinked simultaneously many times.
“How can we stop it?” She gasped out in fear.
“I propose inoculation, ma’am.” I recommended, but found myself biting my lower lip nervously. “Um…similar to what Sceptus allowed me to do for you.”
“You seem very tentative, Lady Christina. Why? What happened when you gave me your cure?” Theridae’s eyes- all four- narrowed in suspicion.
“You had an unexplainable, adverse reaction, Theridae. Lady Christina is now apprehensive because of that reaction.” Sceptus explained politely.
“Would that explain the green, wet spot on my carpet?”
She was sharp.
“That’s what’s left of your Hobgoblin doppelganger, Commish.” Hope bluntly informed the hostess.
Memories of Dorothy’s confrontation with the wicked witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ began playing through my mind. I had to get it out before it became a ‘Mind Worm’!
“It was fortunate Christina found a small, usable piece of your code array to rebuild you, Commissioner Theridae.” Link revealed to my horror.
The woman gasped; her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened dangerously in horror.
“Re-rebuilt… me?” She stuttered asthmatically.
“From that, Commissioner.” Link pointed to the green spot.
“Yeah, I knew that was going to happen.” Hope said without emotion. “I hope you two enjoyed that.” She nodded to the once more unconscious Tarantin female lying in a heap on the floor. “I know I did.”
“Mother!” Chance exclaimed in angry surprise, but she couldn’t fight the devilish smile that snuck onto her mouth.
“Having worked around Commissioner Theridae for many years now… that was very satisfying, my ladies.”
“I guess we should wake her up and help her to her feet again.” Hope sighed.
“Not to spoil the fun, but I just spotted Representative Lycos on the house security network.” Charli announced.
“Are you sure, Lady Charli?” Sceptus questioned in surprise.
“Big burly guy; six arms; four eyes; badly in need of a shave and a full body depilatory?” Charli described.
Sceptus rolled all four eyes. “That would be him, yes.”
“EWWWWW!” Link and I exclaimed- grossed out by the image that description conjured.
“Why is he here?!” Theridae groaned in despair, holding her forehead in consternation.
“You are the one that invited him, my dear. You tell us?” Sceptus chuckled.
Theridae sadly looked down to the wet mark.
“I… um… I wasn’t myself.” She replied sheepishly.
“Understatement of the century.” Hope commented wryly. “Shall we get back to the party?”
Theridae smiled nervously and just looked around at each of us.
“Um… Just what was I celebrating?” She asked, embarrassed.
“According to my invitation, you and Lycos were going to announce your joint gubernatorial and vice-gubernatotial run in the upcoming election.” Sceptus told her.
“WHAT? Why would I even waste my time…” Theridae quickly recovered and apologetically looked at Sceptus, “and with the ‘Wolfman’? What was my evil double thinking?” She glared down to the location on her floor.
We all laughed at the venom expelled in her voice! Apparently, there was no love between her and Rep. Lycos.
“Oh, sorry about the mess. I’ll clean it up, ma’am.” I said as the spot vanished.
Once again, Theridae’s complexion paled and she began to waver. Chance and I quickly steadied her until she recovered.
 
 
Lycos was an easy man to find. All we had to do was follow the boisterous, loud laughter and look for the guy holding a brew in all six hands.
Oh, and the smell of excessive perspiration.
“Representative Lycos, I’d like to present Queen Caroline Norge and her entourage; Christina Norge- Everhardt, Hope, Chance, and Charlene Summers. Of course, you know Sceptus.” Theridae introduced. She too was a very experienced politician, as demonstrated by her ability to not puke as we got close to the unshaven, pungent lawmaker.
And yes, we decided on Link’s continued portrayal of Aunt Cora. It just seemed appropriate since most people automatically assumed her identity anyway.
Did they have Lycanthropy here on Tarantis?
“How’d ye do, lasses?” He greeted in a very thick accent. It sounded almost like Scottish.
“Sa’sorry ives me brogue’s a wee harsh, hail frum da hi-linds dis-teric, I do.”
That explained the heavy beard and long hair trying to escape his formal shirt collar and top few buttons along the front.
“Heard ye be thinkin’ to call fer halp frum outs-side, Gov’nor. Smart o’ye to call the experts! Lady ‘ope. Nice ta finely meet ye. Were off wit mah late press-cessor last ye were here.” He said as he extended his top right hand to her.
“A pleasure, I’m sure, Rep. Lycos.” Hope smiled professionally as she shook the offered hand.
“If you’ll please excuse me? I have other guests to welcome, ladies; gentlemen.” Theridae begged off and turned to walk toward another group of arriving guests.
“So, ‘ave ye found a cure, mah ladies?” Lycos asked bluntly. “Upon return last time, heard tales about ye, them Terran witches an’ how’d dey banished them Hob-gremlin things. Figured if ye conjured such a miracle, ye could halp ‘ere an’ now.”
“We think we have found the cure, Rep. Lycos. It involves an injection to the posterior.” Sceptus informed him. “If agreeable, Lady Christina can surreptitiously perform the procedure here and now.” He said motioning to me.
“Whatcha awaitin’ fer? Ye gots mah ‘proval, lass!”
To say his eager, exuberant smile seemed very predatory was an understatement, but I had become almost numb to men talking to my huge globes.
“Quick and clean, Lady Christina.” Chance said as my coven sisters circled me and Lycos.
I quickly conjured a full syringe, injected him and dismissed the spent implement within a matter of a few seconds.
Then I turned on my Current sight and waited.
As expected, an amber aura engulfed my patient and I watched as all traces of taint disappeared from his body. Coincidentally, the smell of latent perspiration dissipated also.
“By the way ye’s smilin’ I’ll takes it it worked, Lass?” He asked with a smile.
“It has, Rep. Lycos.” I answered with a smile of my own.
“One down and… probably two hundred more to go.” Hope deadpanned. “How much did you bring, Christina?”
“About two liters.” I answered as I conjured one of the 1-liter serum flasks to show her.
“That may not be enough.” She warned.
“Cannit be die-luted, lass?” Lycos asked with a very serious expression.
“I’m not sure how much.” I explained.
He offered one of his nearly full glasses to me.
“Let’s find out, shall we, lass?” He said and I poured an individual dose into the glass then observed it with my Current sight.
“It seems to be stable. Rep. Lycos, so yes it appears so.” I answered with my findings.
“I’ve gots a plan. Does it mix well with Antarran Scotch?” He asked out of the blue.
“I don’t know, why?” I answered honestly.
Lycos snatched the serum flask out of my hand!
“I’ll let ye know, lass!” He said as he walked away with a shit-eating grin on his face.
My mouth dropped open! Did he just quote ‘Scotty’ from Star Trek?
“I know what you’re thinking, Christina and… Just. Don’t… Go there.” Hope giggled. Charli just placed her thumb and finger to the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. Chance rolled her eyes a few times, and Link looked completely clueless.
Within minutes Rep. Lycos was making the rounds of the party guests with magnum after magnum of spiked Antarran Scotch! He had suddenly become a very popular man.
Looking around with my Current sight engaged, I witnessed most of the guests’ auras light up with the expected amber hue.
I also noticed one of the guests actively trying to avoid anyone with a glass of said Antarran Scotch!
“Governor Sceptus? That man off to the right? Do you know him?” I politely and quietly asked.
“You mean the skittish, well groomed fellow trying unsuccessfully to remain anonymous? I can’t recall ever seeing him before.” Sceptus replied with a frown. “Let’s introduce ourselves.”
 
 
“Excuse me, my good man, but I feel I know your face. Try as I might, I cannot recall a name to go with it. Could you possibly re-introduce yourself?” Sceptus addressed our mysterious- nervous- target.
“We’ve never met, sir. I have to be going now.” He said sharply and quickly turned to retreat.
“But I do remember you, dear man! Wasn’t it at a rally several years ago on the Upper East Side?” Sceptus pushed as he snagged one of the man’s arms.
I noticed a bluish glow at their juncture. Sceptus must have also noticed and looked stunned for a moment.
I also noted that the taint was very concentrated in this one!
“I say we have not met before, Governor Sceptus! Please, I must leave now. I am late for an important meeting!” The unknown man said through gritted teeth. It seemed like he was in pain as he kept glancing down at his arm then back to Sceptus and I.
“But if we have not previously been introduced, how can you know my identity? At least tell me your name so that I can better remember it for the next time we meet?” Sceptus insisted.
“Phoneutria, Gov. Sceptus. Now, can I go? I really am late for my meeting.” The man relented and seemed to grow even more nervous.
His taint also seemed to increase in intensity! I squeezed Sceptus’ hand a little tighter a few times.
“One more thing, Phon! We have found a cure for our strange affliction. Lady Christina here has graciously offered to inoculate all of my known associates and has prepared a treatment for you also. Might she administer it now? I assure you it is painless and quite invigorating.” Sceptus insisted.
The governor had some balls! Just being able to overcome his deathly fear of Hobgoblins took large ones!
“I said I’m late for my meeting you insignificant politico! Unhand me before I am forced to retaliate.” Phon threatened.
“We are but part of a celebratory group here, Phon! Civil behavior is mandated. So I must recommend you dial it back, sir. Let’s not make a scene? Especially in front of my royal guest!” Sceptus recommended as he now squeezed my hand several times in quick succession. He still grasped Phon’s arm tightly. “Maybe we should take a walk outside.”
“Do not make me angry! You would not like me when I am angry!” Phon continued to threaten.
“Ah! Gov’nor! Queen Car’line said she seen ye head this die-rection. Be ye needin’ anny halp, sir?” Lycos offered pleasantly as he appeared off to our left and approached.
“I thought I recognized this man, Lycos. It appears Phon is having an adverse reaction to the festivities and the libations. Do you know him from your district?” Sceptus asked.
“He seems f’miliar, Gov’nor. Me thinks he just needs fresher air. That’s where I be headed. Carin’ ta join me?” Lycos offered.
“If agreeable with Lady Christina?” Sceptus said as he looked at me and winked with only one eye.
“Some fresh air would be great! I have no idea how Aunt Cora can stand these things. Gentlemen?” I answered with a smile while motioning to the closest exterior door.
“Then let’s not keep ‘er ladyship frum ‘er air much longer, gents!” Lycos chuckled as he opened the French doors and motioned us out onto a wide, railing encased, natural stone patio.
‘This was where it was going to happen then.’ I thought, sadly. Either this Tarantin was severely infected or he was a doppelganger of someone who used to exist.
“I insist you unhand me, Gov. Sceptus!” Phon demanded.
“Not until we have a few things resolved, my good man.” Sceptus answered calmly.
“There iss nothing to ressssolve! Unhand me! NOWssssss!”
His demand quickly deteriorated until the last word came out as a hiss-sort-of scream, combined with a growl!
“I must insist that you keep it civil in front of Lady Christina and Queen Caroline, sir! The Antarran Court is highly regarded here in the Tarantis Sector. You should already know that.” Sceptus reminded the angry Tarantin. “Which begs the question; where are you from? What are you truly?”
In a bright blue flash Phon morphed into a truly hideous, large… spider!
Sceptus and Lycos jumped back from the monstrous thing in fright!
I intended to stand my ground, and called upon my wand and my uniform.
“So… your true form finally materializes, Phoneutria fera- in the Terran, Latin tongue. In layman: The Brazillian Wandering Spider. The deadliest spider known to that world. Who has done this to you, Phon?” I asked with no fear or stutter.
In fact, my voice seemed to echo around us.
Wait! How did I even know the Genus and Phylum?
Ah! Sixth Grade Biology? Maybe?
“I warned you all jussst to leave me be, but no! No, you couldn’t… wouldn’t heed my warningssss!’ He answered in a ragged, hissing sort of voice.
I noticed liquid occasionally drip from his horribly frightening, dangerous mandibles. That, if I remembered my suspected biology knowledge correctly, couldn’t touch our skin.
“So you intend to kill us? In close proximity to this peaceful celebration?” I asked. “What was your purpose here tonight?”
“Isssn’t it obvioussss? We intend to take over thisss sssssysstem. It hasss been imposssssible until now to ssssecure.”
“Lady Christina? A sane sort woulda be ta step back frum da ting, Lass.” Lycos suggested with fear in his voice.
“That would be a very undesirable move, sir!” I replied, not taking my eyes off this aggressor. “If allowed to leave, he would continue to threaten your System. More people would succumb to his evil, sadistic plan.”
“We have the necessary provisions to take care of him, Lady Christina. He will not escape.” Sceptus promised.
“He has no intention of leaving, sir.” I revealed. “Either he conscripts everyone at this gathering or…or you all die. He has no preference either way.”
“And what can ye do, Lass? Point dat mere stick ta him as threat?” Lycos proposed with a chuckle.
“That is exactly what she proposes, Rep. Lycos.” Chance’s voice said from behind us.
“Sis? We’re here if you need us.” Link’s voice promised.
“I hardly think she needs any help, Sweetie. Let’s just see how things progress.” Hope added with a giggle.
I looked away as I giggled.
Phon took my momentary lapse in concentration to lunge at me!
I found myself staring- point blank- at those very dangerous, dripping, mandibles!
I also felt the telltale trickle of tainted Current flowing into my body through the wand in my right hand. It was lodged into the joint between head and body.
“No offense to you and yours, Sceptus, but I hate spiders!” I said calmly as the trickle of Current continued.
I felt a burning sensation on my arms. I had caught some of the dread venom on them and it was apparently seeping into me.
Shit.
I willed my conversion of Current to accelerate and was rewarded with a much-increased inflow of tainted Current.
“Gentlemen? I suggest we turn our backs from this scene. I have witnessed Christina’s power in this instance and it is blinding. At the least I recommend shielding your eyes.” I heard Sceptus advise as I really began to concentrate on ‘purifying’ this monster.
The bright blue orb that surrounded us lasted for only a few seconds before fading quickly. What was left was an overturned corpse- a furry spider of about 5 cm, its eight legs folded over top and unmoving.
“Tis impossible! How’d ye do dat, Lass?” Lycos asked in stunned amazement as he stared at the small, lifeless corpse.
“Need you really ask, Lycos?” Hope asked with a giggle. She flourished her wand at the husk and it flashed in a puff of smoke leaving only a trace amount of ash.
I was still looking to the places on my arms where the venom had soaked past my skin. It was only a matter of time before I started to feel the symptoms.
“Christina?” Link cried as she began to approach.
“Stay back, sis.” I warned- my voice echoing unnaturally.
I felt a burning begin in my arms which quickly sped to my stomach settling there as a nauseous feeling. My throat began to constrict.
Unconsciously, I was looking at my arms again and noticed no discoloration or damage.
What was going on?
The constricting of my throat continued and I felt I needed to clear it.
Doing that resulted in a rather rancid tasting, large amount of phlegm.
Looking away from the others, I expelled the foul, thick liquid to the patio’s stone floor.
The natural stone began to sizzle and smoke in the small amount of light from the mansion’s windows.
“Christina?” Link asked again.
“What is that she spat out, Lady Chance?” Sceptus asked.
Lady Charli hurried over with her DataTab materializing on the way and scanned the foul excretion.
“It’s pure nucleic acid. This stuff’s a thousand times more acidic than the strongest hydrochloric acid.” Charli announced then looked up at me in confusion.
“You should be dead, Christina.”
“It didn’t seem that strong.” I answered. “As is, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. May I have a swig of your Antarran Scotch, Sir Lycos?”
The man mechanically offered the bottle he held. All four eyes remained wide open and unblinking.
On me.
I took a swig, swished it around my mouth a minute and swallowed.
“Ah, the good stuff.” I smiled as I handed the liquor back to Lycos. He again mechanically took the container but never blinked.
“That was fantastic, Lady Christina!” Link all but shouted in excitement.
“Un. Freakin’. Believable!” Hope muttered in disbelief.
“Some would call it a miracle.” Chance deadpanned. “Others, God-like.”
“One could argue a Goddess given her striking beauty, Lady Chance.” Sceptus added making Lycos blink once or twice then gasp.
“Are you feeling alright, my friend? Do not hold back, just ‘spit’ it out like you always do.” Sceptus advised his fellow politician.
Lycos slowly turned his head to observe Sceptus holding back laughter.
“Twas a thinga beauty. Tell me lass, be ye engaged or otherwise attached? If not, would ye consider a mature hi-lind-er?”
“Huh?” I blinked in confusion.
“Ye reminds me a’ me nan, lass.”
“Sorry… um…I’m spoken for, Rep. Lycos.” I winked nervously.
“Is everyone alright out here? Someone informed me of noticing a rather unusual weather event through these patio windows.” Theridae asked in genuine concern as she glided through the double doors and out to where we all stood as a group.
She effectively changed the subject.
Thank God!
It gave me a chance to regroup; and change back to my original party clothing.
“Maybe a flash of ‘heat’ lightning or two, but nothing life threatening, ma’am.” I answered quickly before anyone else could as I turned and pointed to the far off horizon.
As added cover, I thought about how it would be appropriate if a small part of the heavens out where I was pointing discharged some static electricity.
A distant cloud was suddenly outlined by a quick ‘smudge’ of light.
“Oh, wow! Another one! You certainly have some strange, but impressive, weather phenomenon here, Gov. Sceptus.” I said excitedly as I turned back to face them.
Everyone was staring at me!
I tried, diligently, to cover my hard swallow and ‘caught red-handed’ expression.
Lycos winked one eye at me again and began chuckling. His chuckle turned into outright hysterical laughter! Very quickly, everyone- me included- was laughing…
Hopefully at the absurdity of me being able to call upon such a random event, and not about me being any kind of a Goddess!
Now that was crazy thinking!
Still, I wanted to find a big rock to climb under!