13:30 (Universal Time)
Saturday, December 19, 2331
Bridge of the A.M.S. NOSTROMO
Asteroid belt of the 55 Cancri A System, 41 light-years from Earth
Constellation of Cancer
‘’…Three, two, one, detonate!’’
Tina watched on with cold resolve as the three captured Predator ships, with the NOSTROMO having backed away to a safe distance, disappeared in blinding flashes of light, vaporized by anti-matter charges set inside them. With everything of interest now stripped from them, there was no further need for them and Tina was certainly not going to leave them here, where other Predator ships could find and reactivate them. Her bridge crew applauded and cheered at that spectacle on the holographic sphere of the bridge complex, a reaction Tina could only understand and approve of. She then returned her mind to the next task at hand: to return the unfortunate Kiryns to their home world under escort and then go to New Providence in order to organize the fight against the Space Predators. Janet Robeson was already in New Providence, having traveled yesterday in the corvette MARCO POLO, which had also carried their three captured Space Predators and much of the intelligence booty collected on the Predator ships. Tina was confident that Janet would be able to persuade the High Council of the Spacers’ League to prepare for war against the Predators and to assemble a battle fleet powerful enough to go strike the Predators’ home world. In the meantime, she was going to conduct what was going to be truly a humanitarian mission.
‘’Dana, advise the GAGARIN and its two frigates to be ready to jump with us to the Gliese 422 System. Set a countdown for a group jump and jump when ready.’’
‘’Understood, Tina!’’
While sitting in her command chair on the top platform of the bridge sphere, Tina let her crew handle the interstellar jump without giving further orders: her crewmembers were seasoned professionals and didn’t need to be held by the hand for such a routine action. The NOSTROMO and the three warships were already at battle stations, ready for anything they could encounter on emergence into the Gliese 422 System, so she didn’t have to give more orders pertaining to the alert level.
‘’Three, two, one, JUMPING NOW!’’
There was the familiar brief flash of orange light that accompanied an interstellar jump made via a Koomak Drive, then the view on the holographic sphere changed completely, now showing a small red star shining on a large blue ball of a planet: Gliese 422b. A good minute went on in silence before Amin Jamilian, the duty sensors officer, reported to Tina from his workstation.
‘’Passive sensors sweep completed: no alien vessel or suspect asteroid detected.’’
‘’Let us stay in electronic silence mode while we approach the planet: enemy ships could still be hiding around or be on the other side of Gliese 422b.’’
‘’Aye, Captain!’’
As the NOSTROMO got steadily closer to the blue planet, Tina reviewed the known astronomical data about it on her chair’s display console. Gliese 422b was a massive planet enveloped in a thick gaseous atmosphere and orbiting just within the inner limit of the habitability zone of its red dwarf sun. With a mass of at least ten times that of Earth, it was somewhat akin to a small Neptune, but with the difference that its surface temperature permitted the presence of liquid water. However, what really interested Tina was the large moon presently emerging from behind the planet. Glyyn, or Gliese 422bd, looked very much like Earth, but was slightly smaller and less massive. Still, it represented an eminently habitable world compatible with Humans and one that was the home of the 486 Kiryns rescued from the Space Predators.
‘’Be sharp, people: if we are to find a Predator ship in this system, it would most probably be orbiting this moon.’’
Tina then switched to her encrypted directional maser transceiver system, used to send discreet, ship-to-ship messages within a stellar system.
‘’GAGARIN, from NOSTROMO: have the frigate JOHN PAUL JONES post itself on the opposite side of the planet, so that it could warn us if someone tries to sneak on us from that direction, over.’’
‘’GAGARIN understood, over!’’
On the external view offered by the holographic inner surface of the bridge sphere, Tina saw the egg-shaped frigate break formation and fly away, heading towards the dark side of Gliese 422b. With one worry taken care of, she then concentrated on her ship’s approach to Glyyn. Contrary to Earth, Glyyn’s night side did not show the lights of any big city or populated zone, mostly confirming the low technological level of its inhabitants. As the NOSTROMO got close enough to the moon to be able to distinguish the contours of its continents, Tina called up on her console the sketch made by a Kiryn and which represented their known map of their world. The 486 Kiryns had been captured and hauled away from the moon by the Space Predators a mere few days before, all from the same general location on the most northerly continent of Glyyn. Next, she used her intercom to call the small craft hangar complex, where a small fleet of assault barges and light shuttles were waiting to launch out of the ship.
‘’Ferry Group, this is the Captain. You will be able to fly out in about five minutes: we are about to enter in an inclined orbit around Glyyn.’’
‘’Ferry Group, understood!’’ replied the voice of Eve Silisca, who was in charge of the so-called ‘Ferry Group’. As the one person able to speak by now a passable Kirynian and also one who had gained the widespread confidence of the Kiryns, Eve was easily the most qualified one for the job of helping the six-legged centaurs return to their homes. In that she was going to be helped by the 203 security androids of the First and Second Centuries, which were going to go down to the surface of the moon with Eve and the Kiryns, in order to provide a ground security force against any possible new attempt by the Space Predators in returning to Glyyn and cull more Kiryns as fresh meat. Waiting until her small flotilla of three ships had inserted itself in orbit around the moon, Tina then contacted Eve again.
‘’Ferry Group, from the Captain: we are now in orbit around Glyyn. You may fly out at your convenience. Good luck and have a nice stay on Glyyn. We should be back in a few days with more ships in order to better protect the moon.’’
‘’Thank you, Captain! We will start to fly out now.’’
Looking at a video monitor that gave her a view of the exit tunnel of the NOSTROMO’s small craft hangar complex, Tina watched on as the six light shuttles and four assault barges flew out of her ship and started their descent towards the moon’s surface, escorted by eight heavy fighters. All but four of those light craft would return to the NOSTROMO after dropping their loads on the moon, then the NOSTROMO would be free to jump to New Providence, leaving the GAGARIN and its two frigates in orbit of Glyyn, ready to defend it against any Space Predator ship that could show up later on.
As Tina was about to prepare the jump towards the Alpha Centauri B System, a tall woman of great beauty and high sexual appeal climbed up to the command platform, having come from the lifts servicing the bridge complex. While many of the male crewmembers on the bridge couldn’t help stare for a moment at the woman as she passed near them, Tina also couldn’t help stare at her, but for a completely different reason.
‘’Spirit? Is that you in android avatar form?’’
‘’In person, Tina!’’ replied the smiling ‘woman’. ‘’Since you were going to lose the services of my daughter for at least a few days, I thought that I could replace her on a temporary basis. Besides, I had been dying to go around in android form for a long time already. And don’t worry about my ship’s control functions: I am still watching them over in my computer form. This is only an avatar of me with duplicated personality and limited data handling capacity. However, while aboard the NOSTROMO, I will be in constant data linkup with my computer form and will communicate back and forth with it while walking around.’’
Spirit, in android avatar form
Tina could only contemplate in silence the android for long seconds, completely flabbergasted. Spirit, whose chosen face had routinely appeared on display screens when someone communicated with her, had adopted the very feminine shape of a statuesque, 192-centimeter-tall woman in her late twenties with green eyes and long brown hair. She wore a skin-tight ensemble of light blue leotard pants and blouse with a deep cleavage, plus a pair of knee-high shiny black boots and a large black belt, to which were attached a number of black leather pouches with shiny silver fittings. If she would have walked into some dance club, she would have easily attracted men like flies to honey. Tina was not even sure either if women would not be attracted to her. .
‘’By the stars, Spirit, your looks could kill!’’
‘’Why, thank you, Tina!’’ replied the android avatar in a soft, sensual voice, a wide smile appearing on her face. ‘’I took the liberty of booking for myself an apartment next to Eve’s place, if that is not inconvenient to you.’’
‘’Of course not, Spirit! We will all be happy to have you around the ship, especially the male crewmembers and passengers.’’
‘’I have no doubts about that, Tina. So, how long will Eve and her group have to stay on the surface of this moon?’’
‘’The time it will take to convince the High Council to assemble a battle fleet sufficient to go eradicate those damn Space Predators in their own nest. Those monsters cannot be allowed to continue terrorizing this region of the galaxy.’’
‘’You won’t have an argument with me on that, Tina.’’ replied Spirit in a sober tone.
15:04 (Universal Time)
Northern continent, Glyyn (Gliese 422bd)
As her light shuttle was starting to overfly the northern continent of the moon, Eve watched closely the reactions of the three Kiryns she had invited in the cockpit section, as they looked on with increasing happiness at the landscape they were flying over. When all of them enthusiastically pointed to the front right at a plain covered with a patchwork of cultivated fields, she spoke to the pilot of the shuttle.
‘’Turn to two o’clock, Maria: I believe that we are close to their village.’’
The pilot, a human crewmember of the NOSTROMO, nodded her head and turned in that direction while slowing down and losing altitude, followed by the other craft of their formation. The group of craft soon flew over the cultivated fields. However, what they saw then was a scene of desolation and destruction. As the Kiryns had explained to Eve while on the NOSTROMO, the Space Predators had burned down their village after grabbing its inhabitants and the cattle and domestic animals they had possessed. While the fields where vegetables, cereals and fruit trees grew were still intact, not having been touched by the Predators, every house, barn and shop in the village was now nothing but blackened ruins. Eve embraced that scene in silence for a short moment, registering that latest example of the Predators’ callousness and cruelty. Thankfully for the Kiryns, Tina Forster had planned measures to counter this and Eve’s flotilla of shuttles and assault barges, on top of carrying the Kiryns and their domestic animals, also carried a number of large tents and crates of equipment and supplies meant to help the Kiryns in reestablishing themselves.
‘’Okay, Maria: let’s land in the middle of the village’s public square.’’
Less than a minute later, Eve’s shuttle was landing smoothly and silently in the empty space surrounded by the burned-out wooden buildings. However, due to the small size of the square and the number of craft needing to land, only one more craft was able to land in the village square, with the other shuttles and barges landing as close to it as they could along the borders of the cultivated fields. Going out of the cockpit and walking down the main passenger cabin, Eve let the Kiryns come out first via the rear access ramp. While obviously happy to be back on their world, the six-legged centaurs were also looking quite grim as they visually surveyed what was left of their village. Their leader then started giving out orders and directives to his people, making some of the Kiryns lead out of the craft the collection of domestic animals retrieved from the Predators, while the rest scoured the blackened ruins, trying to find anything useful that would have survived the fires. Unfortunately, that search turned out nearly nothing, except for a few metal tools, pots and utensils. While the Kiryns were busying themselves, Eve assembled the two centurions and twenty decurions of her android force in order to pass on her directives.
‘’Alright, people. Our first priority will be to take out our stock of tents and camping gear and then to assemble them, so that the Kiryns could find shelter in them before nightfall. After that, we will set up and power up our anti-teleportation scrambling emitters, so that the Predators couldn’t beam down to this village and its surrounding area. Then, once everything will have been unloaded, we will move the four craft designated to remain with us to locations close to the village, where we will camouflage them so that they won’t be detectable from Space. Centurion de Domrémy, you will put twenty of your androids in watch positions around the village, to prevent any surprise attack, while the rest of us will work to set the tents and distribute the equipment and supplies. I will now go check out the water wells of the village, to make sure that the Predators did not poison them before leaving. Questions? Yes, Augustus?’’
‘’How long do you expect us to stay on this moon, Eve?’’
‘’A few days, maybe a couple of weeks at the most, time for the Spacers’ League to arrange for a more permanent defense system for this moon. If there are no other questions, then let’s get to work!’’
The Kiryns, who had led out of the craft their animals and now had little more they could do by themselves, watched on with intense curiosity as Eve’s androids went to work, taking out and assembling dozens of large tents made of highly resistant and waterproof fabric laid over aluminum frames and with light floor boards acting as ground surfaces for the future occupants of the tents. Two light bulldozers taken out of a shuttle started in the meantime to bulldoze away the ruins of the burned down village houses and shops, acting in coordination with the leader of the Kiryns, so that they would leave time for the inhabitants to search the ruins before bulldozing the ruins away. Inspecting the two water wells of the village, using a chemicals analysis and test kit, Eve thankfully found the water in them to be safe to use. After doing her well inspection, she took the village leader with her and went to the crates of equipment and supplies that had been taken out of the shuttles and had been stored inside the first large tent to be put up. There, using her still rudimentary notions of Kirynian language and much signs and pictograms, she passed on to the male Kiryn her directive of the moment.
‘’Ganen, tell your people to line up at the entrance of this tent, so that we could start distributing farming tools, domestic equipment and provisions.’’
‘’Will do, Eve! Thank you for everything you did for us.’’
‘’It was our pleasure, Ganen.’’
Once the 486 Kiryns had formed a line at the entrance of the supplies tent, each family group was first given a small, lightweight wheeled cart of simple construction, on which they were going to be able to pile on the tools, equipment and supplies they were about to receive. With that done, the distribution proper started, with Eve directing the work of six androids and playing interpret as needed. While the Kiryns were overjoyed by that distribution of equipment and supplies, more than a few also broke down in tears, moved by that act of charity. Even Eve’s androids, who were basically unable to feel emotions, perceived and registered those reactions as further learning lessons for themselves. Some three hours later, with all the tents assembled and all the equipment and supplies distributed, the Kiryns started preparing their supper, each family using the wood stoves provided to them to cook their meals of boiled vegetables and grains. Eve, watching the Kiryns happily resuming normal lives, nodded her head with satisfaction.
‘’Another good deed done! Hopefully, those poor people won’t have to live anymore through heartbreaks and suffering.’’
08:21 (New Dawn Time)
Sunday, December 20, 2331
Roof landing pad of the High Council Building
City of New Dawn, capital of the planet Providence
Alpha Centauri B System
Tina and Spirit were met on landing by Janet Robeson and Joshua Makwambo, the permanent representative in Providence of the New Haven Corporation, the equivalent of an ambassadorial post. Both Janet and Joshua at first looked with confusion and surprise at Spirit’s avatar, whom they had never met or even heard of before. That prompted a question in an amused tone from Spirit to Janet Robeson.
‘’Don’t you recognize me, Janet? We did speak together before, a number of times.’’
The retired politician opened wide both her mouth and eyes when revelation dawned on her.
‘’Spirit?’’
‘’That’s me! It is truly nice to be able to meet you in the flesh rather than through a video link.’’
‘’Oh my god! You built an android avatar for yourself, like the one made for Even? You look beautiful!’’
‘’Why, thank you, Janet!’’
Joshua Makwambo listened to that with confusion at first, then understood when Janet Robeson mentioned the word ‘android’. All the citizens of New Haven knew from reputation Spirit, but only knew her up to now as the central AI computer of the KOSTROMA, then of the NOSTROMO. His expression then changed to one of awe and he warmly shook hands with Spirit while grinning from ear to ear.
‘’It is a great honor for me to be able to meet you in person like this, Spirit: you are such a legendary figure on New Haven and aboard Tina’s ship. Is calling you ‘Spirit’ to your convenience, or would you prefer a more formal name?’’
‘’Like what? ‘Spirit of the Nostromo’? I was always called simply ‘Spirit’ and that is all I want to be called, Mister Makwambo. So, how are things going for the New Haven Corporation in Providence?’’
Her question, meant as a simple formality, made Makwambo’s grin fade, surprising both Spirit and Tina.
‘’Unfortunately, we have seen some negative publicity recently pop out that may hurt our commercial Space transport operations here.’’
‘’What do you mean, Joshua? What kind of negative publicity?’’ asked a suddenly concerned Tina. Makwambo replied with an embarrassed smile.
‘’You remember when you had to suddenly abort your docking in orbit of Providence and then left to go help our corvette in the 55 Cancri A System?’’
‘’Of course! What about that?’’
‘’Well, a number of the passengers you were supposed to take on and carry to New Venice, plus a number of companies which had rented passage for their goods on the NOSTROMO, have launched a series of lawsuits against you for breach of contract. Some of those plaintiffs also went to be interviewed on UniNet news channels and criticized the fact that your status as a naval reserve officer and that of the NOSTROMO as an armed merchant ship made you unreliable in terms of providing commercial transportation services. The government and my office have tried our best to counter that bad press but we did suffer a few contract cancellations as a result and we are still facing those lawsuits in court on Providence.’’
‘’But I left in order to go help one of our ships that was in mortal danger!’’ nearly shouted Tina, furious. To that, Makwambo could only shrug his shoulders.
‘’I know and most people on Providence also know and understand that, Tina. However, you will also always find bad faith and crass opportunism around in this world. We did promptly reimburse those customers of ours who missed their flight to New Venice, but a small minority of them still brought forward lawsuits, probably hoping to make some extra money out of this.’’
That was when Janet Robeson jumped into that exchange.
‘’I have already spoken with Karl Langemann about this, Tina. While he can’t legally intervene directly in this matter, he promised me that he will do his best to make those lawsuits disappear.’’
Tina nodded once her head at that and did not ask for more details on that subject. Karl Langemann, who was now 72-years-old, was a highly intelligent man of strong character who also held a solid set of moral ethics. As a fiercely competitive industrialist and highly competent geologist who had built up the powerful Vesta Corporation inside the Solar System, Karl Langemann had then become a member of the High Council of the Spacers’ League before succeeding Janet Robeson at the post of Chairman of the High Council via popular elections. More importantly, he was a longtime friend of Tina who had proved that friendship towards her many times in the past.
‘’Alright, we will weather this as best we can. Has all the members of the High Council arrived on Providence for this emergency meeting?’’
‘’Yes, and the meeting is still scheduled for nine o’clock, in half an hour from now.’’
‘’Good! Let’s go down to the Executive Floor.’’
Entering the roof’s access hut and calling an elevator cabin, the four of them then went down by four levels and exited the lift at the Executive Floor level, which housed the offices of the highest members of the Spacers’ League’s government, along with the meeting chambers of the High Council. They did experienced a slight delay at the entrance of the High Council Chambers, caused by the fact that Spirit was not registered on any access list. However, the words of Tina and of Janet Robeson were enough to convince the two guards to let Spirit in after a few seconds. Once the doors slid close behind Tina’s group, one of the two guards whispered to his comrade after temporarily muting his radio microphone.
‘’What a babe that tall brunette was! She has perfect legs and a chest to dream about!’’
Inside the meeting chamber, Tina and her small group went at once to go shake hands with Karl Langemann, who was discussing in a corner with a mature but still very pretty blond woman. Seeing them approach, Langemann cut at once his conversation and turned to greet Tina with a handshake.
‘’Tina, you again did a miracle, as usual! Your prompt action saved the crew of the MARCO POLO from a horrible death at the hands of those monstrous Space Predators.’’
‘’Don’t forget that the MARCO POLO did half of the work by itself, Karl: it destroyed one of the two Predator warships before I could even arrive on the scene. Captain Agosta and his crew would richly deserve at least a Navy commendation for this.’’
Langemann nodded once at that, with his expression sobering up as well: while an energetic and ambitious leader, he had always taken good care of his employees and subalterns…as long as they didn’t screw up.
‘’Admiral Fenton told me that something is already in the pipeline about this, Tina.’’
‘’And what about Rear Admiral Kessel? I had him shipped back to Providence two days ago.’’
‘’He is already off the Navy’s list, Tina. Admiral Fenton decided to quietly but forcefully retire him rather than court martial him for incompetence. However, Fenton has warned Kessel that if he tried to make a splash or to dirty your reputation, he would then end up in front of a court martial, for both incompetence and insubordination while facing the enemy, a charge that could end him getting a heavy prison sentence. Kessel understood where his interests were and promised to disappear quietly.’’
‘’Maybe it’s the best for everyone this way, Karl. However, I can’t help but feel a bit discouraged at the amount of tactical incompetence at the senior levels of the Navy. We still have too many flag officers who only know how to fly a desk.’’
‘’Well, that’s partly your fault, Tina: you keep refusing to teach at the Naval Academy, where your experience and tactical savvy would do a lot of good.’’
‘’But I have a commercial ship to operate and a moon world to manage, on top of now having two kids. I don’t have time to play classroom instructor, Karl!’’
‘’I know, I know! By the way, won’t you finally present to me this charming woman standing next to you?’’
Tina smiled in amusement at this latest proof that Karl Langemann was still a first-class womanizer despite his age and the fact that he was married.
‘’Well, don’t you recognize her, Karl? You already spoke with her quite a few times in the past years.’’
Karl gave Tina a blank look before looking at Spirit, taking a couple of seconds before he recognized her.
‘’Spirit? Is that really you?’’
‘’It is, Karl. I recently built for myself an android avatar, so that I could travel and interact beyond the confines of the NOSTROMO. Don’t worry about Tina’s ship, though: my fixed electronic counterpart is still whole and in place, helping to control and care for the NOSTROMO. This android form contains a copy of my personality files and a basic database that allows me to interact with living beings. It also can connect to my full memories via a datalink but both of us can operate independently from each other. I came with Tina today as her special advisor.’’
‘’Then, I must present you in turn to my own most precious special advisor: Agneta Braun. She has succeeded me at the direction of the Vesta Corporation and is also governor of the planet Vinland, in the Gliese 832 System.’’
Spirit exchanged a warm kiss on the cheeks with Agneta Braun before smiling to her.
‘’From executive secretary in 2315 to planetary governor sixteen years later: an impressive career progression I must say, Agneta. However, I know that you did it via your competence and nothing else.’’
‘’Thank you, Spirit: you are too kind. I must say that, if Tina had not told us who you were, I would never have guessed that you were not a living human being.’’
‘’Well, me and my daughter Eve use a level of android technology a couple of notches above that used to build our security androids.’’
‘’I have never met one of your security androids, Spirit, and I would really be curious to meet one of them. What are the main differences between your present android body and them, if I may ask?’’
‘’Well, while they can pass as human beings at first, the finish of their external appearance is less polished: their skin doesn’t look as natural as my skin and, apart from a prosthetic wig and eyelashes, they don’t have artificial body hair. Also, contrary to Eve and I, they cannot simulate eating and drinking, except for small quantities that they then need to regurgitate, and don’t have a replica digestive system. Instead, they pack more energy cells, weapons and defensive systems in their bodies.’’
‘’Pardon me if this question could appear crude or even rude to you, Spirit,’’ jumped in Karl Langemann, ‘’but what about sexual appearances and functions? I realize that your security androids can’t reproduce by themselves, but I suppose that they have fake sexual organs that would at the least appear anatomically correct, if only to give the change to some hostile person searching or scanning them.’’
Langemann’s question brought a malicious smile on Spirit’s lips and she lowered her voice while responding to him, with Agneta Braun listening very closely.
‘’Keep this to yourself, Karl: our security androids, be they male or female-looking, all have a functional set of artificial sexual organs, minus the actual biological capacity to reproduce, of course. I was thinking at first to provide them with only inert copies of human sexual organs but decided to make them able to act like real human beings and give pleasure to a human partner as if they were human themselves. I decided so in order to give them an extra way to learn and to improve themselves while interacting with living human beings. Our male-looking androids can become erect and keep an erection while simulating intercourse with a woman. They also have basic information files on how to behave sexually and give pleasure to an eventual partner. Similarly, our female-looking androids can be penetrated by men and can make them attain orgasm. However, they would then need to wash their vagina with a jet of water in order to clean away the sperm and bodily fluids.’’
‘’And…you and Eve, how…’’ started to ask Agneta Braun, a bit embarrassed. Spirit’s reaction was to smile even more widely, while her eyes sparkled with malice.
‘’As I said before, Eve and I were built on a standard a couple of notches above that of our security androids.’’
That reply left both Karl and Agneta speechless for a moment, as both Tina and Janet looked on, amused. Tina then returned them to reality with a few words.
‘’Sorry to have to interrupt this fascinating discussion on the sexuality of androids, but I believe that everybody is here for the meeting.’’
‘’Huh, right!’’