Far Flung by Steve Hertig - HTML preview

The Future

Tec's first reaction on waking to a dripping wetness covering the left side of his face was immediate and total disorientation followed by panic. Trying to sit up, he felt his face then fell back into a warm softness as his rectum reported a extended ripper. Finally able to open his eyes, he stared at his hands expecting them covered with blood.

"He's awake already," a husky voice with an old-Earth Irish accent said in a perturbed tone.

Tec found himself staring into the soft, brown eyes of a dachshund, tongue out and dripping, sitting next to him. The canine playfully woofed then curled up next to him.

“Sorry,” he said staring at three women at the foot of his bed. Somehow, he reckoned the middle one was the owner of the notable accent.

"Perfectly understandable. I'm Clare and that's Lugh," she said with a nod to the dog. "You're in an artist's studio above my parlor. Ruby and you successfully accessed this old brownstone from your holo deck. Unfortunately, events have brought you back yet again," she added with a sigh.

"What kind of house is this?" he asked groggily swinging his legs off the side of the bed to help sit up.

"My artists paint a broad pallet for our client's broad range of wishes, captain," Clare replied politely.

 "Ah, sounds like fun," he said with a forced smile. "I'm Tec," he added turning to a young and sturdy woman, "Geological specialist. Chief Science officer assigned to the Lyell."

"Tec, I'm Mary. The house's security chief," a woman that could have been a Fauth bouncer said from Clare's left. "I'm happy to report the Vera is no longer in danger," she added.

"Ah…that's good," Tec muttered.

"Tec is actually the captain of the Vera," Clare explained.

"Ah, correct," Tec said and then sighed. "How long this time?" he asked.

"Not long. Forty-eight days," Clare replied.

"Don't happen to know the stardate, do you?" Tec asked. "We've been wondering for a while," he added receiving a bewildered look from Clare.

"The date! Oh my," she said with a chuckle, "it can be whatever you want."

Tec wondered if he had understood her correctly through her strange pronunciation then asked, "Where's Ruby? She's okay, right?"

"She's onboard the Vera," Clare replied, "which also happens to be in another fractime. Ruby wanted you to know that as soon as you were awake," she added with a raised eyebrow.

"My missing atoms," Tec explained.

"All vaporizations result in Null Space acquisition," Clare said. "You can't have your atoms back, I'm afraid."

Tec sighed, not actually wanting his previous self's atoms. "So how far along the fractime sector is this holo deck?" he asked.

"We're touching the Reference Plane's membrane from two fractimes distant," Clare replied.

His dumbfounded look pondering the fact that he was two fractimes removed from the RP provoked a sympathetic smile from Clare.

"He should be one hundred percent in a few hours, your ladyship, although there seems to be a slight issue with the captain’s microbiome," the third woman added with a nod to Clare before disappearing.

"Thank you Kate," Clare said with a sigh while looking up into the mirror over the bed.

"It’s the replication. It omits some gut bacteria,” Tec explained. “I'd like to see Ruby," he said looking the hologram in her violet eyes.

Entering the studio, Ruby said, "I'm here, silly."

Tec gasped.

Smooth, pale-cyan skin replaced the mechanical ligaments and joints of her appendages as well as her dull-orange torso. A tuff of heliotrope hair, tied into a short ponytail adorned the left side of her otherwise smooth head. She wore a deep red dress with matching lipstick and twirled an end of a white shawl with a delicate four-fingered hand; the rest draped loosely around her upper set of shoulders.

"The First Transcender to Sentience," Clare said regally, adding a deep bow.

"How?" Tec mumbled as he knelt before Ruby, wrapping his arms around her.

"The hairbrush of the Surveyor of Minerals," Ruby explained cinching the purplish ponytail knot a bit tighter, "held a viable DNA sample."

Tec stood then looked down into her eyes. "She-you are so beautiful. But—"

"I hope she won't mind," Ruby blurted tearfully while looking down at her wide feet.

Tec hugged her again then stood and shrugged his shoulders at Clair.

"My take," Clair said, "the Calma are a highly-intelligent, practical species that value life-experience above all else."

"I'm sure the Surveyor of Minerals would be happy with you using her template," Tec added as Ruby wiped her eyes and smiled with a nod.

"You think so?" Ruby asked.

"Of course, darling," Clair replied.

"No doubt," Tec added.

 "Being organic has its advantages," Ruby proclaimed with one last sniffle and an overt shimmy, "especially in her ladyship's house. And Doctor Kate taught me to crochet," she added with another twirl holding the shawl overhead.

"I was able to determine a company program had been severely degrading Ruby's cognitive abilities for over a hundred years," Clare explained. "She fought it bravely but time had finally run out. With Doctor Kate's help, Ruby has been successful in her transcendence."

Tec stared at his shipmate and whistled softly.

"Tec, the memory stabilization routine died with my old matrix," Ruby said.

"So we're mortals," Tec said with a sigh.

"That's good," Clare said. "The galaxy has a few too many immortals already."

"Turned out there was a mech in 57 that didn't like you much," Ruby said, quickly changing the subject.

"57, huh," Tec said gently rubbing his right temple.

"That machine is no longer a threat," Clare said reassuringly. "We should adjourn to the main floor and the Bower for full explanations and extended discussions on the resulting range of topics, House style with drinks of course," she added colorfully.

The Bower's rocky grotto looked inviting as Tec tested the temperature of a bubbling spring feeding a steamy pool next to a small waterfall.  Soft lighting provided several discrete pools of shadow and most of the rocks were soft to the touch, no doubt to prevent bruising.

Tec blushed as Ruby disrobed and slid into the nearest pool.  He had never seen female Calma sexual organs before.

"Come on in, Tec," she said with a playful splash in his direction.

"Where's everybody," he asked, pushing the last of his trousers off with his feet before following Clare into the pool.

She just smiled as he quickly looked away from her ample breasts.  "We thought a few less clients and artists would ease your transition," she said with a wink to Ruby.

"We are waiting momentarily to enact the program's full capabilities," Ruby said.

"Waiting?" Tec asked.

"There's someone that wants to meet you," Clare said moving closer to Tec.

"And apologize," Ruby added, gently wrapping two left arms around Tec, as a large red rock moved, uncurled and then stood up.

Tec instantly recoiled further into Ruby's embrace.

"It's safe. He's on our side," she whispered into his ear.

"How," Tec muttered, staring at the mechs unblinking sensors.

"Captain, I am designated Rusty," it said after briefly touching the end of its right appendage above its right sensor as if saluting. "I am deeply embarrassed that I terminated your life force but I am so delighted to observe your badlife restored."

"Ah…thanks," Tec said. "But now I'm badlife?"

"That's good." Ruby giggled, releasing Tec from her embrace.

"Rusty is a Red," Clare explained.

"Builder mechs were at the heart of the Universal War," Ruby said. "But the Reds built mechs like Rusty billions of years ago to hunt Builder machines," she added.

"Counter berserkers. Lucky us," Tec said staring at the mech.

"That’s not all," Clare said while giving a subtle nod to Ruby.

"Tec, seems I was responsible for the event," she said sorrowfully. "I was just another company stooge that was trying to hide 57 from the auditors. Thank Agrona for that ion storm."

"Guess that explains why the Vera has an expensive Calma geobot," Tec said.

"Had," Ruby clarified with a scowl. "The event somehow gave awareness to my positron matrix. But the company program fought it," she added looking at Tec.

"Brave girl," he said sympathetically.

Ruby shrugged her limbs. "My Calma personality had to have survived the original company reprogramming," she added.

"Obviously," Clare said.  "And the company, thinking Rusty was a Builder mech and fearing discovery, wanted evidence of their dangerous, new toy destroyed, including all of us," she added.

"The event?" Tec asked.

Rusty blinked its sensors twice, then said, "It appears the company forced your RUBIN to hack and then implode three company, deep-space, Colossal-Class, gravity-drive freighters. This generated the compounding waves that precisely and simultaneously converged on and saved the Vera."

"Including JTK-57," Ruby added with a smile towards Rusty.

"The company obviously underestimated the RUBIN's abilities," the mech added, giving a not-so subtle wink to Ruby.

"The company is going to be pissed," Tec said.

"The company never got that belt mining contract," Clare said brushing her hand gently across the top of the pool's warm water.

The resulting ripples seemed too high a frequency to Tec as he tried to process what Clare just said.

"And no hole in the Milky Way," Ruby added with a smile.

"How?" Tec asked in disbelief.

"Plenty of time to explain art of the fractime balance," Clare said with a subtle smirk and nod to Ruby.

"Ah…well done," Tec said. "You all are amazing."

Ruby tearfully looked at Tec. "But all those systems lost. All the humanity lost. That was me," she blurted burying her face in all her appendages.

"That was RUBIN," Clare said, gently pushing Tec towards his re-born first officer. "Ruby would never do such a thing and, remember, it has been fixed," she added firmly.

Tec wrapped an arm tightly around Ruby. "You're incredible," he whispered tenderly into her petite ear slot.

"You," she said rubbing him gently over his heart with her upper right hand and turning to look into his familiar eyes, "have known me for how long, only a few weeks? I have loved all of you, good and bad for over a century. Well, maybe some more than others," she added with a giggle.

"There is more," Rusty injected cheerfully.

Just before breaking Tec's gaze and submerging, Ruby explained, "Rusty helped us establish a pulsed-tachyon, com link with her ladyship's family. We can expect rescue by their timeship within several weeks."

"Your family has a timeship?" Tec asked Clare as he made his way to the deep end of the pool just in front of the waterfall.

"That's a very good question, Captain," she replied coyly, "or should I say: Vera's new co-owner. Any space vessel lost for more than 100 elapsed Sol years will be considered salvage under Confederation law, you know," she said, politely changing the subject.

"Thought that was a belt myth," Tec said.

"Hardly," she replied.

"I signed for you on the new owner's title seeing you were dead at the time of re-issue," Ruby said after reemerging from the pool in front of Tec. "I hope you don't mind. Lots of rock work remains to rebuild the galaxy," she added.

Tec saw she was remarkably buoyant, needing the smallest of strokes from her minor limbs to keep afloat. Her stubby legs, dangled beneath her, hardly aided in the feat.

"New title?" he asked.

"And I am a Confederation citizen, thanks to her ladyship," Ruby said.

"How's that work?" he asked Clare after swimming to the side of the pool next to Ruby.

"I wanted to keep Vera's name," Ruby injected following him. "I hope you don't mind?"

"Nope," Tec said. "Don’t think we need any more bad luck."

"Unfortunately," Clare injected, "my organization just so happens to have an employment opportunity. A pair as resourceful as you two would be a huge asset, not to mention the Vera and Rusty."

"I am happy to be Captain Tec's geobot," Rusty injected.

"The remaining companies will be eager to assay the remaining virgin belts. Lots of legit work," Ruby added. "And the space opal will provide more than enough credits to begin operations and hire more crew," she added.

"Rusty excreted when captured," the mech added, obviously embarrassed.

"That was good," Ruby added soothingly.

"Those contracts will get you into otherwise, let us say, fringe regions of the Confederation," Clare said. "Such places with such huge resources and little oversight are ideal locales for clandestine mech bases," she added solemnly.

"Rock hounds hunting berserkers," Ruby said smiling broadly while enthusiastically rubbing her upper hands together, "got to love that."

Tec, leaning back against particularly soft gneiss, held his hands up over his head. "Shove a rock up my dredge, I give up," he exclaimed," but I do have one, last question."

Clare nodded ever so regally.

Ruby started to say something but slapped her lower, left hand over her mouth, drawing Tec's scrutiny.

"With a timeship," he asked while holding eye contact with Ruby, "why wait weeks?"

"There is a better question," she replied.

"What's that?" Tec asked, not yet breaking their spell.

"Just what are we going to do with all that time?" she said with a raised eyebrow, devilish grin and a five-handed lunge for her captain.

Clare just laughed as the house filled with artists and clients and music.

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