Greetings!
Netscape Mail only went so far...opps.
Part 2.
Accessing Searcher's Captain's Personal Log, Entry 0010
Somehow Knol and his associates were transported to this planet and
crashed.
Someone is here.
Something is coming.
The communication system hasn't been working properly since we arrived
here. We've tried so many times to get it to work it sends our own
messages back to us. We have the means to reproduces smaller cruisers.
It would appear we'll need to establish some kind of satellite system in
orbit. The repair crews are already hard at work repairing the system
that were shorted during reentry.
When I look out at this place as dusk settles, the lights from the
Searcher come on one at a time. I look at the beauty of this place. Why
would they try to hide this place from us? I take a sip of tea and look
at the updated agenda for tomorrow. When light breaks we'll send a
unmanned drone out to sample the planet. Once those results are over
we'll send out a two man team with suits and if that works out then
maybe without suits.
The death of Knol still weights heavily on me as I fall asleep. I've
posted heavily armed guards at all the air locks and gave strict orders
the bridge crew on night watch to wake me if anything happens.
Something is here.
Something is coming.
Accessing Searcher's Captain's Personal Log, End of file.
I drifted off to sleep. And slept like a baby, if only we had know then
what we knew now......
The Intelligence was coming......
Accessing Searcher's Captain's Entry, File 1014.
"Captain?"
I rolled over in bed and curled up tighter around my stuff animal. My
mind retreated from the voice and the light. I pulled my bed covers over
my head. I didn't hear myself groan and ask for five more minutes of
sleep. The voice belonged to Em and it was coming from my comm panel
next to my bed. My bed jiggled with water while the nice warm sheets
soothed me. "I'm having a good dream, get someone else to do it." I
murmured from beneath the covers.
"This is your wake up call Captain."
I clutched both pillows around my ears and rolled onto my stomach. "I'm
sorry Captain Cassi isn't in right now but if you please leave your name
and number. She'll get back to you as soon as she can. *BEEEEP*."
"Do you want me to get Alex to sing to you, sir?"
My heart skipped a beat. "You wouldn't." I muttered under my breath and
shook my head. Em was a by the books first officer she had no sense of
humor, a very very dry one yes. Even during our Academy days she was the
one sour blanket in the group. But to go as far as getting my brother to
sing to me. "You wouldn't dare," I repeated.
There was a soft shuffle of feet that came across the comm link, a
muffle of voices until I heard someone clear their throat. "Testing,
one, two, three," Alex tapped the comm mic and took a deep breath and-
I kicked the covers off onto the floor and rolled left. In one swift
motion the back of left hand hit the comm button just in time to kill
anything briefly related to a do re mi. "I'm up! You merciless little
son of bitch."
I took a look in the ceiling mirror and frowned, my extensions were
starting to grow a little faster then I expected. I stood up and padded
across the fuzzy rug that carpeted my quarters. I stopped in front of
the full length mirror and ran a finger nail across my rather full
breasts. They rippled in response which answered my question. I'd been
wearing my body shield since we found Knol's remains. After a while I
must've gotten used to the constant hum from the power pack. I unzipped
the compartment where the pack resided and eyed the readings. I frowned
again. Full charge? I shook my head slowly and continued towards the
head. "I'll be read in ten minutes."
"What no singing in the shower Captain?" Alex's voice moseyed into the
shower with me.
"You do and I'll make sure you and Decca don't mate for life," I smiled
wickedly as the hot water hit my skin.
"What?!?" Alex's voice hit a high note as most of the bridge crew must
have been looking from him to Decca, back again and let their minds do
the rest.
"You told her?" Decca's voice growled as the comm went dead.
I ran my fingers through my shoulder length long hair which at this
rate would be down to my buttocks in two weeks and sighed. I gargled
some warm water for a moment and spit it out. Feels weird not to have
the tac drives running, I thought and grabbed the shampoo from it's
holder next to my hip. "Computer display my appointments for today,
please."
"Location?"
"Captain's shower. Eye level if you would please."
"Affirm, working." The computer beeped and showed what I had for
appointments for the day.
I dried myself off and walked out into the bedroom again. This time the
bright light that had been hidden by the window shades caught me off
guard. I blinked for a moment and opened my eyes completely. The land in
front of me looked more beautiful then when we landed. I pressed my face
up against the glass and could almost spell the trees, the grass. Even
the rays of light, basking down on my body. I opened up one of the
dresser drawers and felt like dressing casual. I pulled on a blue body
stocking and my one piece uniform dress with the slit up the side. After
fixing all the creases I could find I took a look in the mirror.
"Cassi, you look like you're ready for a date," I joke to myself. I
winked at myself and walked out the room. The few crew members that were
already up nodded their salutes to me as made my way to the briefing
room. I eyed the chrono on the wall outside the room. So I was a little
early.
Decca and Dina were already there at the table, Alex was staring out of
the port windows admiring the view while the rest of the command staff
had yet to arrive. I found the ship's doctor looking at me for a moment,
he was young about half my age and was blushing profusely. I smiled and
winked at him which made him avert his eyes quicker then anything. After
our first few weeks in space everyone got to become friends and the
gossip wheel was born, the largest rumor was the doc had a crush on me.
Age knows no bounds or is that love? I dismissed the lustful urgings and
walked over to Alex.
"See a place you like?" I asked.
"Yeah, right over there," he pointed to a circle clearing with rather
large trees on all sides and a little babbling brook next to it. "I've
got this little house in mind, three story one main bed room with three
add on rooms for nurseries." He smiled to himself and rubbed his hands
together.
"So when are you going to ask her?"
"I already did."
"And what did she say?"
At that point Alex broke out of his little trance of fatherly bliss and
snapped his head left to see me with a rather large shit grin on my
face. "When did you get here?" He blustery asked and shot a helpless
look over at Decca. She intern just frowned at him and then looked from
me to him. "She said yes," he whispered.
"Why are you keeping it a secret?"
"Because it's supposed to be a surprise birthday present for her,
that's why!" He hissed and took his seat next to Decca and tried not to
look to upset at me.
The rest of the command staff enters a few seconds later and we began
the briefing-
__Access Denied! Central Memory Block Off-Line!__
Arghhhg!
Everything is black. I can't hear a thing. What's going on? Something
around me is calling my name. I turned in all directions to the sound.
There is nothing around me. Except the pain! Pain and darkness! Just the
way it was on Hirala but centered this time. Feels like someone is
pinching me like a zit. I can feel them, why can't I see them. Hurts
everywhere, the epicenter is my mind. It's on fire. The fire engulfs me.
I scream but I can't hear it. Feels like something trying to hot
wire......ack!
Can't get it out of my head! Who's screwing with the computer!
Computer access......no......can't be!
Accessing Callipso's Wary Log Entry 2190a.
Deep within the bowls of the ship I hear another conversation going on.
But this one was more along the lines of suicide then safety. Down
darkened corridors, through doors that should have remained locked, two
people argued.
"We have to go, didn't you hear, we have fifteen minutes till this ship
blows!" One of the people is a Secoian scientist named Jabril, he is the
senior Wary scientist on the ship. The Wary were until tonight a group
of Secoian scientists in charge of finding out the secrets that lay in
the bowls of this alien ship. The other scientist is his right hand,
Darien is still at his station looking over specs. Darien is the
youngest of the group and too thick headed to even know what was going
on. Jabril has most of his stuff packed even before the attack on the
Callipso, even before she left on her mercy mission back to the 13th
Quadrant.
"I'm not leaving," Darien thumbs to the specimen in the stasis pod.
"She still has a lot to give us. I'm not leaving!" He doesn't even look
at the person who is suspended in the stasis pod attached to the far
wall. The occupant is female, rather tall and her skin from head to toe
nails glows like a light bulb. Various scanning devices line the outside
of the pod and fed information through wires connecting to Darien's
console. "She's been more responsive to the treatments then the others
have been. If we drop her back down a few settings and into a deep sleep
we'll lose all of our data. The council wants information on these
beings. No matter the cost." He seems to want to keep her alive...I
think?
Jabril drops his bag on the floor, places his hands on Darien's
shoulders and spins him around to get a good look at him. "Do you
understand what you're saying man?!" He points a crooked finger at the
Athena in the pod; who appears ever so slowly to be watching this little
talk.
__Slowly. Come on. Think, slow but sure. You can do this. Wake up.__
"She and the others are cursed. Anything they touch turns to evil." He
walks up to the edge of the pod and glared daggers at the alien as her
eyes meet his for the first time in a year. "We should've left that
planet alone. It wasn't ment to be found."
Darien shakes his head. "But look at the data we received so far from
just her! She's the key to this all damn mystery. I just need to get
past her damn armor security protocols and 'boom' we're home free."
"What key? What mystery?" The elder scientist broke eye contact just as
the Athena's hand touches the glass.
__When I am free, I will find you. I curse to him through thick
glass.__
Jabril eyes his chrono. "We need to get out of here, now! We can come
back!" He shoulders his bag once more and heads towards the door. The
door hisses open revealing the lift that would send him up into the
higher decks stood ready. His right hand hesitates on the up button.
"Are you going to come with me or not?"
Darien stood and walks over to the pod. He places the palm of his hand
on the pod's glass window. The Athena; even in her somewhat comatose
state mimics his action and seems to smile?
__You're the one who has done this to me? You will be the first I kill
with this body. The first alien kill. My blades with pierce your
thumping hard and make it cry. I can feel my strength coming back. The
strength you took from me. You're MINE!__
"I'll join you in a few moments, teacher." My captor murmurs softly.
"Good." Jabril replies and presses the up button. The lift comes to
life and takes him up a few decks. The doors open and he quickly joins
the masses towards the escape pods.
Darien smiles back at the Athena. "Your friend's little device worked
it's magic now, you do yours."
I smile at him.
<__You have no idea what you're dealing with.__>
He stumbles back from the mere presence in his mind. His mouth opens to
scream but he cannot. What he has heard will keep him company when he
closes his eyes at night. For peace and quiet will not come to him as
easily as it has in nights past. I will always be there, to talk to him.
To ease his fears of the things to come. He falls to his knees and
bellows in agony. Being able to read people's minds can really suck
sometimes.
__Free me, now!!__
He hesitates at first but then our eyes meet. I point one of my long
nailed fingers to the button on his control panel. The button that will
open this pod that I'm in. I've been locked in this since he captured me
on Hirala. The encounter seems like years ago, although at the time he
pretended he pitied us. He took us on board and helped some of us. Or
the ones he to experiment on like our false God. But that is in the
past, what happens now is what counts. Keep your cool Cassi, grin and
bear it.
He still hesitates?
Grin and Bear it eh?
I grin at him, showing him all of my teeth. All those sharp little
blades. Blades made from the toughest alloy in the known universe, yes
those. The same ones which have been known to cut anything and
everything. The ones he hasn't seen yet. I'm a regular Ginsue 1,000
piece collectable knife set, lady and germs. I could chew my way out of
here, but to see him crawl over there and do it himself is so much more
satisfying.
He presses the button, finally. And the glass cover begins to unlatch
itself from the body. The liquid I had been suspended in slowly drains
from around me and I land with both feet on the floor. The glass
covering slides up and the cold exhaust from the pod fills the room. I
do like grand entrances. I take a full breath of air for the first time
in a year and let it out. My legs shudder uncontrollably for a moment
and I nearly land on my butt.
But Darien is still in his funk. I grab onto a chair for support and
continue with it's help to walk towards him. The armor that encases my
body begins to awake fully. I can feel it's heart beating in time with
my own. My vision blurs for a moment then a layer of various scans mesh
together until finally. I can see in crisp and clear color. The armor
plates link together just as they should and become complete solid. The
weapons at my disposal slowly begin to break the ice that had encased
them. I can hear perfectly now, at first the sounds around me are
overwhelming but slowly I can hear his heart thumping against his rib
cage.
"You look scared Darien," I heard my voice sprung from my vocal cords.
It's still a little horse but considering with all the effects going on
around me, it can't hurt to much. I perk my ears up and listen as the
deck plates under my feet shimmy. "What's going on?" I asked bluntly. I
can hear reverberations of something against the walls, but I can't tell
what it is.
"sssshhhhiiipppp..........bbbeeeeeiinnng aatttaccckkkedd..." Darien
babbles.
"Attacked? By what?" I demand. The rest of the armor's tactical systems
have thawed out now. I can sense it looking for a comm port or some kind
of outlet to plug it's eyes and ears into. "Where's the nearest comm
port?"
I followed Darien's shaking finger towards the far wall. I walk past
him with out the help of the chair this time and watch while one of the
metal tentacles from my shoulder blades slither down and jack into the
socket.
I suck in my breath as a flash of images course over my eyes, through
my brain and automatically get copied. As I see them they are copied
into the armor's memory. The armor feels like it's looking for
something, it slows down the data feed to star charts and logs. It stops
then starts at the front of the mainframe and travels at incredible
speed across logs and charts. Until it slows and finds the most recent
charts. I realize what it's doing a second after it appears in front of
my eyes. It's home sick. It's looking for route back to Hirala? While in
one eye I see the data the other eye trains on Darien; who appears to be
regain some cognitive skills. He has managed to get back into his seat
and just stare at me like I'm a ghost.
I guess in all reality I am a ghost.
Or maybe the devil in a white sheet.
Hehs, now that'd be cool.
"What...are...you...doing," he slowly states to me. Even though his
mind is cursing himself, trying to speak like a normal human being.
He'll get over the little slow soon.
"I'm accessing star charts to get home." I reply, a little less horse
this time. I stop for a moment. The armor stops too and listens. I take
two steps into the lift's shaft and tilt my head up towards the voices.
I cock my head to the side for a moment and wait as the armor's enhanced
hearing sorts out all the voices and sounds. After their all catalogued,
it begins a slow sweep for something it knows is here. I take a whiff of
the air and savor the smell.
Across my eyes the answers comes.
Darien shudders almost uncontrollably as I snap my head around and
center my gaze on him. The armor begins to show it's anger. Shifting
from white to black to gray. I walk back into the room, my head dipped
enough and shoulders arched. My hands are the only things Darien is
afraid off. They are the things he watches. They are the killers for
tonight. Not me.
My knuckles crack as I grab his shirt front and lift him up out of the
chair. His shaking and shivering is not an act. He knows I know. I bring
him close to me, face to face. I leave the armor up, the body shield
around me lowers from my face to my shoulders as not to electrify Darien
into unconsciousness. I growl at him from the depths of my throat and he
turns, trying to avoid my gaze. Those little two red coals in the
darkness, those sharp teeth and the voice......
"__Where is he!__" A voice I haven't used only in my most heated
arguments slams Darien.
Darien is silent. He is on brink. He is lying to the devil.
"Did you hear me?"
Darien's eyes flick up to my face for a moment then stare at his feet.
"............who.........?"
"You know who," I growl. I feel my armor's tail begin to uncoil from
the curve in my back. It stretches for a moment and gently brushes
against the floor. In one eye I cycle through my options for play
things.
Pike? Rifle? Claws? Chains? Proximity Alarm beeping...
Prox Alarm?!?
"Drop him!" A female voice orders from behind me and to the left.
The armor chirrs a surprise at this. It wasn't expecting two kills with
in the same hour. I have forgotten the tendencies of this form. I must
learn to control myself again. If I don't then they both die without
even knowing what hit them. After I kill him then I'll calm myself. I
break from my thoughts and look over my shoulder with an eye brow
cocked.
A female Tseidi drone wearing uniform of a first officer stands just
inside the door way. She only has on her torso armor and a side arm but
the look in her eyes tells me something different.
A brief flash of memory makes me freeze. The suit knows her, something
about being a friend. I don't understand, tell me more! But it doesn't.
The suit seems to be more fascinated on scanning her with every eye it
has. What the hell is going on here?!?
"I said drop him, Tendor!" The Tseidi spat and lowers the safety on her
weapon.
"Help me," Darien murmurs. "Sta'vei, help me!"
"Shut up," I order. I turn my head completely now and the armor's alarm
goes off. A set of cross hairs center on the weapon in her hand. It
looks like a standard side arm with a barrel extension. The armor feels
like it's trying to pull from my body, like it wants to run? The armor
no longer wants to excellerate my own body's healing. It wants to leave.
I think it's scared. "Who are you?" I ask.
"Sta'vei. I'm in charge of the evacuations. Drop him and follow me
towards the escape pods," "Sta'vei" orders. "NOW." She gestures with the
weapon for me to move. I don't. I look back at Darien then her then
Darien again. "I know you're wondering what's going on, I don't care if
you don't drop the miserable SOB, we have to go, NOW." She makes a face.
"Unless you want to get blown to smithereens along with the rest of your
crew."
The armor perks up at that. As do I. "Where are they?" I demand. I turn
on my heal still clutching Darien.
"Later, once we get to safe distance, we can come back," she looks down
at her right wrist. "We're got ten minutes to get out of this system."
She appears to be telling the truth, I don't sense any trickery. She is
hiding something though, I can't tell what. That is until I see her
narrow her eyes. "Don't do that," she hisses. "Are you going to move or
not?"
"Where is my crew?"
"In stasis, we can't get them out now."
"One of them is wrecking havoc on this ship right now. Either we get
him now or we don't come back." I can sense him. He's the one whose
detonated the device inside the ship. What Darien was talking about "my
friends magic". "A deal with the Devil's husband, Darien," I sneer. "Not
nice at all."
"She's crazy!" Darien sputters.
"Does he always do this?"
"He can't lie for shit, what do you expect?"
"A little bit more of a backbone for a full telepath."
Sta'vei's eyebrows shoot to the top of her head. "Oh rilly?!?" She
hisses. "I'll take care of you later, Darien." She looks at me for a
moment. "I take it you're not like the one loose on this ship?"
"I know how to stop him, turn him around. But not now." I walk towards
her. "We need to get to an escape pod, yes?" A with a simple thought I
activate my own personal Foldgate. For that brief second all of us are
covered in light, the gate's energy surges around us happy to be free.
all three of us to one of the escape pods.
To be continued.....
Okie dokie Spoilers eh?
You were warned......
Well Dreams is one of the newest stories I've written, besides UCAT
that is. It is also the first book in the Phantom Rider series. It's
also the book that is probably the most important. It's the ground work
of everything. Unfortunately when I joined this ML I started on the
second floor and jumped from room to room until I decided to work on the
weak foundation.
1. So who is Cassi?
Cassi is Tendor as she states. She was born before the big bang and
with a group of friends explored the galaxy until coming upon a world
that is not supposed to exist in their learning's. We also have
something else not in their learning's The Intelligence. Which is my
version of Haydon IV for any of you Robotechers in the reading audience.
The Intelligence meets with the planet where Cassi and Co. are on and
well bad stuff happens.
2. What happens in the beginning of this story?
A quick look at the beginning few lines could be called a death bed
confession. But in all reality Cassi is asleep and dreaming all that she
talks about. She is also hooked into a computer with the memory of what
happened. Thus all the Accessing parts.
3. The time this takes place in?
Well before the big bang. I figured I start off far enough back so I
wouldn't disturb anything vital and or something that happened in time
that I didn't know. So Cassi and Co go out into the darkness they call
space, land on Hirala and months later the big bang happens thus
throwing the planet a curve. That's when the Intelligence shows up and
ruins everyone's day.
4. What is the Callipso?
The Callipso is a ship carrying the remnants of the aliens from the
13th Quadrant. The 13th Quad lives next door to Hirala.
4a. Why is Cassi asleep?
After everything that happened on Hirala with the Intelligence, it hid
the planet so no one would find it. The crew was changed forever. And
time passed, stuff happened and the Callipso found the planet with Cassi
the only person who seems to be standing after a rather bloody battle
with her crew. She's put into stasis and put to sleep for the journey
back to the 13th Quad which is no longer answering any hails.
4b. What is the Wary?
The Wary are a group of Secoian Scientists who are part of a trade
program with the crew. These scientists find Cassi's crew and put them
all in stasis. They also find more of what appear to be the same people
in stasis but not Cassi's crew. They begin running tests on the crew and
the unknowns and find they are the same. Humanoid covered in armor of
some sort weather it be skin or metal. The Wary were not told this. They
get ticked off.
4c. What is attacking the Callipso?
Unknown.
4d. Where are we going from here?
Well back to Seco or Relo V with the survivors. Cassi and Sta'vei
befriend each other while Sta'vei tries to find out what happened to the
ship. The rest of the Callipso crew goes their own separate ways. Some
stay together some don't.
4e. What happened to Cassi, one minute she human the next she's this
walking suit of armor what gives?
As the first few lines state. Experimented on by our God. The
experiments were not pretty. I'll go into more detail when the next
installment comes out. Calling Cassi a Devil wouldn't be too far off the
mark..... ;)
Bentley
phantomr@sprynet.com
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/phantomr