“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.”