Finish the Science Fiction Story, Part II

Cafe Society
41

Shaista shot an incredulous look at Skoop as they hurried down a little-used corridor, hopefully away from the prying eyes of whoever might be after her. “What do you mean, ‘disappear’?”

“My team has been working on some new equipment to help take on the rogue droids. This is the perfect opportunity to field test the personal cloaking device. The power supply on the prototype is very limited, it would need to be used sparingly.

“We also have some electromagnetic minibombs. Any droids within the blast area will cease to function, as will all other electronic equipment so be careful.”

42

As Skoop buckled the device to her, he explained a little bit about his pet project, “it’s not realy a ‘sheild’ as much as it is a generator.”

The device resembled a belt with multiple smal boxes on it. Wires connected the boxes. When Skoop clicked the switch, a strange tingling sensation enveloped Shaista.

“In our research of crystal use,” Skoop continued, “We noticed many similarities between nonspace field generators, such as for communication, and crystal harmonics when used in a specific way. This ‘shield’ generates a hormonic that cancels out those harmonics.”

“But, I’m not a courrier,” she objected. “How could this possibly hide me?”

“Well…” he said, winking, “We don’t actually know that it works on other types of harmonics. Like lifforce. But we think it does. We’ve become aware of a certain species from outside the known worlds that has natural crystal-like capabilities. Using some old research, in fact 3rd Trontonian War research, we were able to peice together a theory about all this non space, crystal, Wayre, and kine phenomena and how it all fits together. I’m pretty sure we can hide you from Tag with this.”

At the name of the creature, Shaista’s eyes went wide.

“You know!”

“We’ve known for some time. But he is a very slippery creature. And your own tech devices slowed us down, too. I want to talk to you about some of these things when this is all over, by the way.”

As Shaista calmed down, she realised that ‘slippery’ was avery good way to describe the shape shifting Reader nmaed Tag.

“Now what?” she asked.

“We wait,” came a familiar voice from the next room.

43

lifforce = life force
Kuddaben confusing…

44

Kathy strode onto the bridge. “Tobe says we can’t leave the ship.”

Martel turned to her, puzzled. “Why not?”

“He said to wait for him. He’ll be here in about eighteen hours,” Kathy shrugged. “He seemed very adamant.”

Martel slammed a fist down on his armrest. “I have to find M’Kayla! There’s something very wrong.”

Kathy merely looked at him. Martel subsided in his chair, fidgeting.

“I’m going to sickbay.” Kathy said.

“Are you ill?” Jacob asked.

“No. But I want to try and contact M’Kayla again, and the technique I want to use is rather risky. It’s best the doctor monitor me.”

“I’m coming with you,” Martel said, jumping up. Kathy made no objection. Plus Martel would be away from the bridge, where he might be able to convince the captain to send a landing party planetside.

45

“Who’s in my office?” demanded Skoop,

“Come,” invited the voice. “Come and see.”

Skoop was about to grab a weapon when M’Kayla said, smiling, “You won’t need that.” The trio entered the office and saw the flickering image of a Terran feline sitting on Skoop’s chair. “Tobe? That is you, yes?”

“Yes. I don’t have time to explain. Suffice it to say that I’m en route on a Zephyr.”

M’Kayla laughed at that. “You stowed away on a cruise ship!”

“Sh!” Tobe looked around. “I need to cut off this holographic transmitter before someone catches me.” As the image flickered and vanished, Tobe said “Wait for me”

Meanwhile, Grav had shown Kal the base’s supply depot. “You sure you know how to use all that, old man?” asked the sergeant on duty.

“Son,” replied Kal with a wry smile, “I did a stint with riot control on Riqaska.” This revelation caused the sergeant’s face to go blank and a hush fell upon the supply depot. Some young voice asked what the big deal was but he shut up real quick after being told that Riqaska had been a penal colony.

46

*I hope I didn’t mess up anything NCB had in mind.

Oh, and Skoop is a “she” BTW. :)*

47

As Kathy and Martel made their way to the ship’s sickbay Kathy said, “Actually, I will need you for this, since you are a courier.”

“Just what are you trying to do?” asked Martel

“Well, you weren’t there right at the time, but back when Vorpal was after me,”

“I was with Robert and tKani’sav I think.”

“Right. Anyway, in order to trace who or what was trying to access my crystal, M’Kayla did a three way syncing with me. Once we got on the same frequency we searched for the rogue crystal. Since syncing with a crystal whose frequecy doesn’t match is dangerous, it’s rarely done, and then only under medical supervision. M’Kayla risked her life to help me, now I’m going to try and return the favor.”

"What can I do?

“Well, since you two have a strong communications bond anyway, I was hoping you could be the third. Between us we may be able to revive M’Kayla’s crystal, give it a jump-start.”

“Umm, what’s jump starting?”

“Oh, sorry, a term I heard on old Earth vids. It means recharge, or to start again. Do you want to try?”

“If it helps my pouch cousin.”

The Searcher was a good sized ship, but not huge, so it didn’t take the two that long to get to sickbay. Entering, she was surprised to see who was there. “Dr. Morgan! What are you doing here? The last time I saw you was when my parents were rejoined”

The older woman smiled “Actually, that was one of my last major procedures. I was looking forward to retirement, you know, rest, hobbies, and so on. But I got bored with life as a vacation. I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone, so when I heard about this position as ship’s doctor, I grabbed for it. I’m really only on call for long hauls like this, so I keep my hand in and still have time for myself. Now, what do you need?” Kathy quickly described what she and Martel would be trying.
She would try to do as M’Kayla had, use music to focus and concentrate. Dr. Morgan would simply monitor their vital signs and be ready to sedate them if things went wrong.

Kathy and Martel settled themselves on two of the three hospital beds in sickbay.
A recorder began playing soothing Earth music called Yan-style, for reasons lost to history.

*“Martel, are you there?” called Kathy. Are you with me?"

“I’m here Kathy”*

On the planet below M’Kayla felt something and gasped in shock. The eyes which had been on Kal turned to her and Kal asked what the matter was

“I think I felt something! Someone’s trying to call me!”

Worried, Kal asked “Can you tell who?”

Several more mental and physical stabs wracked her, before ceasing, and M’Kayla felt nothing more, wondering what possibly could have been happening.

48

The creature, Tag, was concentrating. Messages were going back and forth through courriers nearby. But, he couldn’t focus on the images.

Focus! FOCUS! he ordered himself, but it was no use. The communications had ended. He couldn’t even trace their paths back through non space as he usually could with the normally careless courriers. To him, this could only mean one thing, they knew they were being ‘read.’

This worried the slippery creature so much that he considerd calling for reinforcements. But, he hated those people more than he hated most. No, he wil call on the Wayre he resolved. He would work around this himself.

“We’ve got a hit! And it’s a big one.” shouted out a Techie. Grav and Skoop both turned to him.

“Well!?” they said in unison.

“That signature we once saw when we were trying to read the first shut off crystal. But, this time, it’s power level is huge. Easily a thousand times greater than what we see from regular courriers.”

All that could be heard was the faint buzz of the equipment in the room, and the whimpering of Shaista.

“He’s found me. He’s after me! We’re all doomed.” she whimpered.

“No,” offered Skoop, “We are still safe here. Notice this spike here,” she pointed to the monitor. “And here. If he was focused on us, or you, those spikes would be closer together. As it is, it looks like our field generators are working. Though Tag can sense the transmissions, we’re keeping him from focusing. I wonder how long before he finds one of the genrators, though.”

Filled with pride and awe at his people’s technology, Grav was suddenly reminded of the danger they still faced. A thousand times greater… That seemed pretty significant to him.

“Skoop, Shaista,” he said. “I need you to fill me in on everything you know about Tag and his race. Patch it through to my notepad. And I need to talk to tKan…”

49

will NOT call on the Wayre
My computer is really acting wierd…

50

On board the Searcher Martel tore off the eye covering he’d been wearing and turned to Kathy in anger and frustration.

“What happened? I felt her, we almost did it! Why did you break us off?” He started in shock as he saw Dr. Morgan tending to Kathy, who appeared to have fainted. “Oh Bast, now what?”

The doctor was quickly monitoring Kathy’s vital signs. She gave her a quick stim shot and looked around at Martel. “She ought to be coming around shortly” she said. “I don’t knowwhy you seem less affected either.” Kathy began stirring. “Maybe she will be able to say something. All I know is that the stress monitors on her went through the roof. She shouted 'What is that?, then fell back on the bed again. You mean you didn’t hear her?”

Kathy opened her eyes and looked around, then closed and opened again, as if her head hurt badly. “Martel, what do you think it was?”

An abashed Martel answered “Kathy, I wish I knew what you meant.”

“I’m sorry I broke the syncing, I think we were this close to contacting M’Kayla. But that other mind(and here she shuddered) it felt so ugly!”

“Kathy, I didn’t feel anything like another mind during our bond”

They both stared at each other, wondering what the problem had been.

51

As GRav what was posted to his notepad, he grew more and more uneasy. This is a very odd race. Natural crystals? Reading non space events? What sort of planet would a race like that evolve on? He found himself going over the same several lines again and again.

*Tag is over 3000 years old? Wayre helped him escape? Can he really be the same creature? *

His communicator chimed.

“Yes?”

52

Shaista shoved herself in a corner of the room, trying to make herself as tiny as possible. M’Kayla could hardly recognize the supercilious med student who had taunted her earlier.

Sighing, M’Kayla walked over to Shaista. “Look, while we’re waiting, why don’t you reconnect my crystal?”

“What?” Shaista asked.

M’Kayla crouched down in front of her. “You said you were the only one who knew how to reconnect me. Why don’t you do that.”

Shaista shook her head. “Not until we get off-planet.”

“Look, you scroungy little suckerworm. You are in no position to bargain. Either you reconnect me, or I’ll turn you over to this Tag thing.”

Shaista began keening, as chills went up down M’Kayla’s spine. She expected beggng, babbling, even shrieking, but this mournful keening was almost more than she could take. M’Kayla covered Shaista’s mouth.

“Hush,” M’Kayla commanded. “Look, I’m not one to brag, but I am a very advanced courier, and I might be able to help you. But you have to reconnect you.”

“I CAN’T!” Shaista moaned. “If I do, he’ll find you!”

53

:smack:

“You have to reconnect me.”

NCB’s computer problems must be catching.

54

“Heh,” said Kal. “Heh…heh…heh,” then he went right on into a full gale of devilish laughter.

M’Kayla said, “Dear, this is no laughing matter.”

“Sorry, but I had an idea,” said Kal, trying to contain himself. “What if we make a decoy, like we did to trick Vorpal?”

“A decoy?” repeated Shaista. “Anything is worth a try. What do you have in mind?”

“Catching us one of those droids and imprinting M’Kayla onto it. Tag should zero in on the droid while we make a break for the transport facility.”

“No need to catch a droid, I already have one,” Skoop pointed out. “I’d like to download its database first so I can go back to studying what’s behind the rogue droids when this immediate threat is over.”

55

The stim given to Kathy by Dr. Morgan quickly helped her back to full alertness. She and Martel went back to *Searcher’s * bridge, to let Victor, Jacob, and the others know the results of their unsuccessful attempt to three way link with M’Kayla.

Jacob was, however, very interested in Kathy’s report of feeling a fourth mind. “I’ve got to admit I’ve never heard of anything like that” he said. “Usually the minds involved are so occupied that, no matter their power, there isn’t room for noticing anything else. If only I had all my gear I could run some tests…” He stopped cold at an angry look from Kathy.

“Dr. Kenezr” she grated, “if any tests are going to be run it’s going to be done by me! Or don’t you remember how I told you I’d never again be your lab animal?”

“Certainly, my dear, please forgive me” But Kenezr still looked regretful.

Victor thought that the firmness Kathy showed was another thing to admire about her, but decided it was time to change the mood. “I had a call from Overseer Voniaxav. Seems he’s wondering why we still haven’t asked for touchdown coordinates. Must be getting touchy about security.”

“What did you tell him?” asked Martel.

“I shaded the truth, actually, told him we were running some diagnostics on some of our systems, due to a rough non-space passage. We really are running the diagnostics, but I didn’t want to spread around Tobermory’s arrival. Loose lips and all that.”

“Good point” said Kathy, “I wonder if he is still on…”

Their little company started as two muffled thumps sounded through the ship. The deck under their feet trembled slightly. Lights flashed and alarms sounded.

“Correct me if I’m wrong” said Kathy, “but that doesn’t sound good.”

“That’s because it isn’t” said the *Searcher’s * pilot, a Capt. Petrie. “According to these readouts there’s been some kind of damage to the ships’ drive system. If we can’t stabilize it we may have to abandon ship.”

Kathy was about to say something about how Tobermory had been so insistent that they stay aboard until his arrival, but then stopped herself, realizing how foolish it would sound, thinking instead what they all must be. Is it an accident, or sabotage?

56

A collision warning startled Kathy out of her thoughts. “Now what?” she and Victor asked in unison, then both laughed a bit.

“Mr. Channing,” called Capt. Petrie, “you’d better take a look at this.”

Victor moved into a position behind the pilot and studied the sensor readings. He said, “That’s one huge ship…” then it hit him. Engine troubles and that big blip on the sensors, it all made sense! He gave the order for full reverse then keyed the shipwide intercom. “Incoming Zephyr!”

Kathy saw everyone else bracing themselves so she did the same. “What’s going on?”

Victor filled her in. “Zephyr-class recreation ship, great way to travel but the propulsion system had a design flaw. Ships that stray too close to the path of one tend to have stability problems. The owner of this one must not have paid attention to the recall notice.”

57

As the zephyr drew closer, their own ship, tiny in comparison, was buffetted by disturbnce. It reminded Kathy of sailing with Tobe when they came too close to a Grelak Swimmer, the leviathon of Valis’ seas. The wake had threatened to swamp their small vessel. A mental image of being swamped in space came to her.

“Can’t we just jump in non space out of it’s way?” she asked.

“No,” answered Victor, “Their propulsion system uses a standing wave harmonic, pushing against non space, as it were, instead of Newtonian reactions. We would be disassembled into our constituant quarks if we tried. We just have to ride it out. And pray to Bast they don’t turn!”

A sudden thought crossed her mind. “If it’s a non space effect, does crystal use have any effect on it?”

“Now would not be the best time to try,” suggested the Professor.

Kathy concentrated on the strange sensation coming through her crystal. Glancing at Martel, she could tell he was experiencing it, too. She instictively felt that she and Martel could control the disturbace, but she took the advice of the Professor and held on while the ship lurched to and fro.

On the surface of the planet, Tag became aware of the presence of the Human woman. The zephyr’s path opened a window through non space, as they always do, enabling him to read the woman’s crystal.

It came as somewhat of a surprise to him what he learned. Besides other Kel, he had never seen such potential embedded in one person. She would be capable of Wayre-like action, provided she knew how to use her power. For this type of natural Kine was like having secret muscles under your normally used ones. If you didn’t know you had them, you couldn’t use them.

But, she HAD used them, he saw. Yes! That explains her victory over Vorpal. But, was she fully aware of what she did? Or was it more like an adrenal rush?

The window closed as the zephyr cruised past.

Disappointed he didn’t learn more, and still very curious, he made a descision. He would get closer to her. And read her from the inside. An almost sexual heat threatened to overcome as he contemplated this.

Morphing into his favorite Humanoid shape, he left Shaista’s ruined room.

While listening to Shaista and M’Kala argue in the other room, Grav turned his attention back to Skoop’s recap on his notepad.

Grav almost dropped his notepad when that last statement finally impacted his already stunned mind.

Shift thru non space physically? That means ftl travel in their own bodies! They don’t need a space ship to travel between the star systems. What kind of world would evolve creatures like that? And how can we ever to fight a shape shifting, crytal reading, space jumper? And what the Bast do they want with us now?

“Og, I hope tKan has some insight on this,” he said to no one in particular.

58

should have read: (before ftl travel) not (be ftl…)

btw, guys. after Sat morning, I’ll be gone for about a week. I’m sending Baker some of my ideas for Tag, but feel free to use him yourself. I would prefer to have him stay in character as a creepy manipulator. And I’ll catch up as soon as I get back. Next Fri or Sat, if not earlier.

I like the way this story is progessing. A good mix of action and mystery.

59

Skoop had finished downloading all the vital information from her captured droid, hoping what she needed to trace the problem back to its root would be there. Then she called to one of her assistants. “Skonn, find someone to give you a hand and get this pile of circuit boards into my personal transport,” indicating the droid.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Everyone please gather the supplies you’ll need and follow me,” said Skoop. Skoop picked up a portable faux-crystal generator, Kal checked his gear, Shaista made sure nothing important had fallen off her anti-grav pallet, Grav and M’Kayla checked to see they had everything they needed. Then they followed Skoop out a service door and to the right. They went a few steps and stopped at what appeared to be a large mound of dirt piled up against the science lab. Skoop turned to Kal and smiled. “You look like a man who’ll appreciate this.” Skoop took an object the size of a fountain pen out of one of her pockets and pressed a button. What looked like a solid mound of dirt folded up into sections and disappeared into the wall, revealing Skoop’s transport parked next to a door.

Kal stared in disbelief. “A Fingus XC-73! Where the frell did you get one of those?”

A cat appeared on the Searcher, unnoticed because of the commotion, while the Zephyr pulled into one of the cruise ship docking bays. I think this is where Kathy is. Only one way to be sure. “Meow?”

60

Kathy jumped, then held out her arms. “Tobe!”

Tobe leaped into her arms, then morphed into his familiar shape as he hugged Kathy back.

“You got here sooner than expected!” Kathy exclaimed.

“Hold on, everyone,” the captain declared. “I think we’re almost through this.” A few more lurches, and the ship shifted into somewhat of a normal orbit. A pinging sound was heard, managing to sound irate. Jacob keyed it on.

“If you do not send your request for touchdown co-ordinates immediately, you will be escorted from our space. Repeat. If you do not send—”

“Sorry about that,” the captain interrupted. “We just finished our diagnostic, then a Zephyr came out of non-space. They are not in wake compliance. You may want to communicate that to them. We’ll take our TDC’s now.”