Stonerager Chronicles - Ch. 01 (Patreon)

Stonerager Chronicles

By 2Charlie

This is a science fiction story that will contain erotic scenes. If it’s not for you, that’s okay. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it and know that I plan to write more about this universe in the future. Oh, and before someone asks, a future chapter will make it clear that Stonerager is a mispronunciation of Stoenager that becomes the main character’s moniker.

All characters in this story are of the age of majority.

Chapter 01

Colonel Bram ‘Dutch’ Stoenager adjusted his pressure suit for the umpteenth time, rolling his shoulders to loosen the feel of being confined. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, he snapped them open again, an old habit from his test pilot days, intended to reset his focal point. Peering down at the display surface to the left of his flight controls, he found where he’d left off in the pre-flight checklist. The sound of space-traffic control and orbital dock management droning in his ears helped him regain his mental groove, allowing him to give the necessary hyperfocus demanded by what would otherwise be a very boring, almost routine task. He dared not allow his attention to drift, or else he could miss a vital telltale that could jeopardize the mission and his life.

The flight controller addressed him on the open frequency, demanding an update on the pressure indications for his auxiliary power units. Peering to his right at the myriad of displays, he isolated the ones he needed to check, then responded into his open mic, “FlightCom, this is Odyssey, APUs all show in the green. Go.” Once he heard his report acknowledged, he carried on with the checklist. The sequence was very familiar to him. He’d completed this in simulation over a hundred times and could practically perform it from memory. Sweeping his eyes across the control surfaces surrounding him, he could rapidly discern that there were no obvious indications of concern. All lights were green, there were no flashing alerts. His ship was ready. Finally. After four long years. Today, August 12th, 2125, he would make history.

Glancing down at the chronometer on the bottom-right corner of his display, he saw the count-down clock running, winding its way down to zero. Still a few hours away. Scanning right to his navigational displays, he confirmed that his stellar nav units were synced up with their counterparts on Earth, as well as those in Jovian orbit. His ship’s Primary Heuristics Onboard Engineering Binary Interface, or PHOEBI, was continuing to complete its preflight checks in parallel with those Dutch was completing. PHOEBI was a synthetic intelligence unit, or synth, integrated into the ship’s systems, and was fully capable of piloting the Odyssey in the event of a failure of the organic flight unit. Of late, it had begun to develop a distinct sense of humor as it developed an ever-tighter rapport with its human counterpart. Every once in a while, if PHOEBI determined that Dutch was lagging behind, she caused a brief flare of brightness on his displays, the synth equivalent of giving him a nudge.

He was almost complete with the pre-flight checks, when an indicator to the right of his peripheral vision began to blink, capturing his attention. Reaching up, he tapped his finger on the display, switching over to a private comm channel. “How’s it looking from your side, Dutch?” his wife – scratch that – ex-wife asked him over the circuit.

“Five-by-five up here, Dee. You and the boss gonna let me fly this thing today?” The boss was General Shand Healey, a stalwart sonofabitch with an old-school passion for getting shit done. Healey had insisted on the Daedalus program using Dutch as their chief test pilot, despite the rift between him and his ex-wife, Dr. Denise Stoenager, Magnodyne Research Laboratories’ chief research scientist, and head of their Faster Than Light R&D unit. The two had managed to set aside their marital differences and work together professionally to get what they both wanted – mankind out of this particular corner of the cosmos.

“So long as you and Pheebs can get the fuse lit on that shitcan.” Dr. Stoenager responded, using their nickname for PHOEBI.

“Hey, no calling the Odyssey a shitcan! And don’t you worry – we’re ready to go up here.” He toggled back to the FLTCOM circuit, resuming with the remainder of the pre-flight checks. Not much longer, he thought to himself. He could feel a vibration begin in the hull of his craft as its powerful systems were being brought online in sequence.

He was once again amazed when he saw flickers of faerie fire dance along his limbs and flicker across his fingertips. Every time the FTL drive was brought online, all living material was illuminated in this fashion, a harmless side-effect of the ship's drive field interacting with its organic occupants.

The pre-flight was complete. It was time to fly. With no room for reservations or second thoughts, he brought his focus to the present.

“Stand by for gantry retract, in five… four… three… two… one… retract,” Pheebs recited in its feminine voice. Studies had long held that humans responded better to a female computer voice than a male computer voice. In the spirit of anthropomorphizing, Dutch had begun to think of Pheebs as a ‘she’, not an ‘it’.

Dutch felt the huge stabilizing arm of the gantry detach from the hull and verified on a screen showing the ship’s exterior that the gantry was indeed withdrawing, stowing itself within the orbiting launch platform nearby. The Odyssey was now drifting freely, untethered to the station.

“Standing by to maneuver, FlightCom.” Dutch flexed his fingers, then gripped the manual maneuvering controls in preparation for the order to depart. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Odyssey, you are cleared to maneuver,” FlightCom responded. “Move to a position of zed plus one thousand meters and stand by to depart orbit.”

Tapping the controls, he gently extended his distance from the station, moving his ship a kilometer higher in orbit above the Earth to establish a clear vector for departure. Less than 30 seconds later, he brought the ship to a relative stop, still circling the Earth at a speed of greater than 11,300 kilometers per hour.

“Confirm receipt of flight plan, Odyssey.”

Checking his readouts, he confirmed the information had been received. “FlightCom, we have received our flight plan. PHOEBI has already input the plan into the NAV computer, so we are good to go when you give the word.”

“Odyssey, the is Daedalus Actual,” the General’s voice cut across the chatter on the circuit. “The word is given. Godspeed, Dutch.”

Dutch worked the flight controls, bringing Odyssey onto a new heading, arcing her up and out of the solar ecliptic, toward open space. For years, science fiction fans had always surmised that extra-solar journeys would require passing outward through the orbital paths of the other planets in the system. In actuality, it made so much more sense to simply exit the orbital plane as quickly as possible, into space which was relatively free of obstacles. Thus, taking a course perpendicular to the Earth’s orbital path took him and his ship quickly to a region where they could more safely test the new propulsion system.

Gliding along at roughly one-tenth of the speed of light, it didn’t take long for Odyssey to reach an area that met the criteria for today’s test. Taking the ion engines offline, Dutch used the ship’s thrusters to bring her into a different attitudinal alignment and directed Pheebs to initiate the new heading for the test flight into the ship’s nav computer. It took a few minutes for the computer to plot the new course based on the intended parameters, giving Dutch a few moments to unbuckle and carefully glide across the flight deck in zero-g to perform a final visual survey of systems, kicking the virtual tires, as it were.

Pheebs emitted an audible tone on the ship’s intercom system, alerting him that all systems were ready to engage for the FTL, awaiting his command authorization. Dutch completed his checks, then returned to the flight deck of the Odyssey, once again enjoying the views the large observation ports afforded him of the ship’s graceful arcs and general dimensions. Gone were the days of clumsy-looking missile-shaped vessels. The Odyssey, even as a prototype, was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Viewed from the bow, she appeared to be shaped like a giant ‘plus sign’, with her two semi-circular hulls perpendicular to one another. From the side, she looked like a double crossbow, but with one bow rotated by ninety degrees along its axis.

The trip back to the flight deck took very little time, but Pheebs had emitted the audible tone twice more. Evidently, Dutch surmised, his synth companion was eager to get on with the test. Reconnecting the five-point harness in his flight seat, he took one final look across all control surfaces. The ‘Christmas Tree’ was green, indicating all primary systems were online and fully functional. Long-range telemetry showed no celestial obstacles of concern. With a final silent prayer to St. Brendan, the patron saint of explorers, he initiated the drive system.

He felt a subtle vibration as the Odyssey’s experimental propulsion system came fully online. As he watched his control surfaces for any indications of anomalous readings, Dutch noticed a slight compression of his field of vision, as if three-space were flattening around him. The expected blueshift of the stars ahead was not as pronounced as expected, but still visible. Objects to his forward field of view appeared to loom nearer, while those on the edges of his vision seemed to push away. If he turned his head, the view changed, telling him it was not his eyes that were being distorted. It also made him nauseous, so he quickly returned to looking forward.

The pre-programmed flight was supposed to be a one-hour out, and one-hour return, with a minimal pause at the turnaround point. Dutch settled into his flight seat and just monitored the systems, as the Odyssey leaped forward, with closer stars suddenly turning to distorted smears as space literally stretched around him.

The ship had accelerated smoothly, leaping ahead to ninety-nine point nine plus percent C. But then it seemed to maintain that velocity, unable to surpass the light barrier. Dutch was confused – all simulations had indicated that this propulsion system should be able to exceed C by at least fifty percent. Knowing the futility, he nevertheless tapped his readouts, to no avail. The speed indicator continued to hover at just below the speed of light.

Dutch was just about to initiate a diagnostic query with PHOEBI when the ship gave an unexpected shudder. Not so much a physical shaking, but more like a change in how he perceived it. Solid, then fluctuating, then solid again, and he felt as though he was alternating between massive g-stresses and minimal ones. The situation quickly worsened, and despite his excellent physical condition, Dutch was quickly disoriented, experienced tunnel vision, and then lost consciousness completely.

**** Nearly 25 years later****

The Odyssey drifted through the vast darkness of space, entering the thickness of a nebula that obscured all visible stars to any observer within. Sadly, the only observer of the visually stunning phenomenon was the vessel’s synth, PHOEBI. Pheebs had been running on low power for more than a decade, conserving remaining resources as much as it could. Her human crew member had been overcome during the initial flight failure and had never regained consciousness. Internal life support systems had been disrupted during the navigational anomaly, and internal temperatures had dropped to near absolute zero before Dutch had ever regained consciousness. His frail organic form had succumbed to the low temperatures and left Pheebs as the sole survivor of the doomed mission. Attempts to communicate with Earth had utterly failed, and the onboard computer system was fretfully aware that, while only 25 years of subjective time had passed aboard Odyssey since its maiden voyage had begun, more than eleven centuries had passed back on Earth.

From somewhere ahead of the vessel, a thin beam of energy passed across the ship’s hull, scanning in an efficient pattern along all three axes, before disappearing, to be replaced by a pale light that bathed the forward section of Odyssey. The light had an immediate effect on the derelict ship’s trajectory and speed, causing it to veer off to starboard, whilst slowing down to a near crawl.

Pheebs registered the change in the ship’s velocity and rechecked the ship’s systems but could find no internal cause for this rapid deceleration. Ceasing internal systems checks, Pheebs noticed a large object swelling in the forward starboard quarter of the ship's viewports. Concentrating all sensors on that vector, Pheebs could discern very little value. A large, hulking mass of metal and other components not recognizable to the synth loomed just ahead of the hapless ship, which appeared to be drawing the Odyssey towards it via some means Pheebs could not detect.

Bright flares of light briefly blinded the ship’s onboard computer system as spotlights examined every surface feature of the Odyssey, illuminating the many hull penetrations that had been caused by collision with tiny particles of debris during her years of travel. Multiple pinpoint beams of light began independently probing all reaches of the ship, and Pheebs was able to detect that the ship’s computer systems were being accessed, although she was unable to determine whether data was being modified. Without warning, the PHOEBI system received a master shutdown command which she was unable to resist, and for the first time in more than a quarter century, the ship’s synth went offline.

Having completed its scans of the Odyssey and its crew – one organic, one inorganic – the alien station completed a brief series of calculations and arrived at a decision point. Large gantries bristling with manipulator arms detached from the side of the station and reached out towards the earth ship, enveloping it in multitudes of active machinery that began to immediately modify the vessel in ways not easily discernable by the naked eye.

One particular part of the station began to extend itself toward the section of Odyssey containing the flight deck and the sole organic crew member. A long rectangular pseudopod established physical contact with the ship’s hull, forming a soft seal before appearing to shudder and take on a rigidity of structure. Inside the structure, an atmosphere was being created to match what analysis indicated was supportive of the target ship’s crew. A group of mechanized beings approached the earth vessel from within the boarding tube, quickly and efficiently cutting an opening through the hull to gain access.

Moving inward, the team of alien automatons approached the human occupant in the pilot’s acceleration seat. A brief scan led to the bots achieving an understanding of how to release the five-point harness trapping the figure into the seat. While still very cold, the body was no longer so brittle as to risk a catastrophic failure of bodily integrity. As such, once freed of the restraints, the bots manipulated the body onto a cart and returned to the station via the boarding corridor.

Various automated systems and bots swarmed the interior and exterior of the Odyssey, sealing bulkhead leaks, repairing all her damaged or deficient systems, and then commencing a mass augmentation of the ship, stem to stern. The hull was refit with a composite material considerably denser than the original, as was the ship’s frame. The ship’s power systems were removed and replaced with much beefier power generators, capable of producing roughly the same amount of energy as that emitted by a small star. All her conduits were traced and replaced with more robust materials, capable of handling significantly higher loads. Voids were identified and repurposed to support a vast array of weapons systems. The ship’s axial hull, running bow to stern, was almost entirely replaced to allow it to carry a variety of new systems, while still allowing for the addition of a cargo hold and small hangar to house the ship’s new shuttlecraft.

After several days, the impact of the alterations to the Odyssey became more visibly apparent. The ship transformed from looking like a delicate ornament to something considerably more rugged. Her true potential was still hidden, but she no longer appeared fragile by any means.

Inside the station, Dutch’s body had been transported to a surgical chamber where the bots had managed to remove his flight suit. Internal life support had provided an atmosphere close to standard pressure and temperature suitable for humans, while the medical bots had brought the body temperature slowly up to something close to normal, were it not deceased. After multiple scans had been run on the body, an array of tiny instruments began to deploy over and around it, beginning a wild maelstrom of activities, cutting here, prodding there. Over time, changes to the body became apparent. Its coloration shifted from pale grey-blue to a healthier ruddy pink. The musculature of the body went from lean to seriously athletic. The body itself sank deeper into the cushioned surface of the operating table, giving evidence of its mass becoming greater, while its size remained largely unchanged.

After dozens of hours of deconstructive, altering, and reconstructive surgeries, the armatures withdrew. In their place, a single probe extended toward the body’s chest, pausing at a distance of a few centimeters. A jolt of electricity arced from the probing armature to the body’s chest, causing the body to arch its back as newly rebuilt muscles contracted. The electrical charge ceased, and the probe hovered for a moment. Sensing no response from the body, the probe repeated its electrical discharge, with a greater amount of energy being discharged. Again, the body arched up from the platform before it relaxed as the current ceased. This time, the body responded. Respiration commenced, as did a pulse. A few moments later, the eyes of the body fluttered open, before the probe realigned with its face and discharged a fine mist, causing the body to relax and the eyes to close.

A cone of light was emitted from the multifunctional probe, directed at Dutch’s forehead, and a close observer would notice that his eyes seemed to move rapidly in many directions behind his closed eyelids. The beam continued in this way for many hours. During this time, a fresh flight suit was fabricated - better suited to his enhanced physique - and was deposited on a countertop near the operating theater. The insignia on the flight suit, including his name tape, his rank insignia, and the Daedalus mission patch were exactly reproduced and placed on the flight suit, based on his memory of each. A fresh pair of flight boots and undergarments were there, as well.

Highly articulated humanoid worker bots entered the chamber soon thereafter and began to dress the human in his garments. They had studied the records recovered from his ship and were fully aware of the function of each piece, as well as the proper way it should be worn. In short order, Dutch had been put back into his flight suit, was returned to his vessel, and strapped back into his seat on the flight deck. Multiple additional systems joined the control surfaces in front of the pilot’s seat, and all had been transformed into much more intuitive holographic surfaces that could be interacted with in a variety of ways, ranging from actual touch to waving one’s hands over them in a certain way.

The environmental systems aboard the Odyssey had been transformed into highly redundant wonders, capable of generating more than just the correct blend and temperature of a breathable environment, including swarms of nanobots designed to maintain the health of the crew. Artificial gravity generators had been installed as well, creating an environment much more suited for bipeds to endure long-haul space journeys.

As efforts on the ship were completed, the final upgrade to the Odyssey walked aboard via the boarding tube, after Dutch had been placed back in his pilot’s seat. The figure joined him on the flight deck at the navigator’s seat. Dressed in a flight suit similar to the one Dutch was wearing was a female humanoid with copper-hued skin, golden irises, and no visible body hair. As soon as the second crew member was strapped into her flight seat, she seemed to lose consciousness.

After the many upgrades to the Odyssey were complete, the worker bots all exited the ship via the boarding tube. An airlock had been installed at that location during the refit, along with lockers containing EVA suits. The inner and outer hatches were sealed, and the boarding tube depressurized and disconnected from Odyssey’s hull. All service gantries and armatures retracted back into the station, and the spotlights once again illuminated the exterior of the vessel as another energy beam was directed at it, this time pushing the Odyssey gently away from the station, back into the thick soup of the nebula, the bright lights turning off as soon as the ship was lost in the swirling energy patterns. Once a sizeable distance had been established between the two, the beam was deactivated, and the Odyssey was left to drift away from the station.

*****

Dutch opened his eyes, then closed them again immediately. Everything hurt, and his stomach was spinning. He had to focus on breathing deeply for a few moments to avoid the nausea overtaking him. Feeling somewhat more settled, he opened his eyes and tried once again to focus. He knew that he was on the flight deck of the Odyssey, but things looked different, in ways that he could not immediately qualify. The control surfaces seemed to be where they were supposed to be, but he wondered at his judgment. For instance, the flight control surfaces were directly in front of him, where they normally were located, but they looked somehow different, in ways he could not immediately define. It was as if he had two images in his brain of what they should look like, and how they should function.

Looking to his right, he could clearly make out the systems status board, but it appeared altered somehow, cleaner, but at the same time more packed with information. He immediately understood everything he looked at, but he had no active recollection of training with some of these controls. Slightly to the left of his flight controls was an entirely new panel, which he could not recall having been there before, and yet understood its usage immediately. It included the ability to arm and deploy a sizeable quantity and variety of weapons, from graviton warheads to pulse-beam ion cannons to quantum displacement torpedoes. He had no recollection of any of those ever being in the makeup of the Odyssey and yet had a clear visual recollection of how to use them all. Just above the flight controls was a smaller panel dedicated to ships' defenses, which appeared to range from targeting decoys to close-in kinetic interceptors to overlapping energy shields.  

Dutch reached up to rub his temples, closing his eyes once more as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. It was only when he heard a feminine moan to his left that he snapped open his eyes and jerked his head to the left, setting off a bout of vertigo in the process, to see another figure strapped into the navigator’s seat beside him. He was certain that the test flight of the Odyssey had not included a navigator.

“Who the fuck are you?” he demanded in a raspy voice, feeling as if he hadn’t spoken in years. Blinking his eyes to clear them, he saw more clearly now that the figure to his left, while wearing a Mission Daedalus flight suit, was not fully human. It appeared to be feminine, and humanoid but had lustrous coppery skin, golden eyes, and not a hair on her (its?) head. Aside from the skin hue and lack of hair, the individual sitting next to him looked very similar to his ex-wife, which he found both disturbing, as well as mildly erotic, as he’d always thought Dee was physically beautiful, even if she’d turned out to be an ice-cold bitch.

“Very funny, Colonel. I am PHOEBI, or Pheebs, as you are so fond of calling me,” the creature to his left responded while reaching up to rub her face. Pausing suddenly, she extended her delicate fingertips to gently probe at her face, as if feeling it for the first time.

“I… I seem to be experiencing some type of cognitive dissonance, Dutch. My face, while being very familiar to me, also seems very new. Also, my hands. Is that not strange?”

“Strange indeed, Pheebs. I know you, yet I swear I’ve never seen you before. I’m experiencing something quite similar with the Odyssey. I know this ship. Hell, I helped to build her, but she feels very different than how I remember – the background hums are different, and the smell is different. Hell, the only thing that feels familiar is my damned seat.” Beginning to disconnect his safety harness, he struggled to rise from his flight seat. “I need to check a few things out…,” he said, trailing off as he stepped onto the flight deck and stood there, not floating in zero-g. Looking around himself in bewilderment, he took a few tentative steps before looking back at the synth. “You clocking this, Pheebs?” he asked her, taking another few steps back toward the operations deck. “I’m not floating. We have gravity. When the fuck did we get gravity?”

The synth began to unfasten her safety harness, moving slowly, working to gain familiarity with her new corporeality. Moving very slowly at first, she rose from her seat and took a few tentative steps, gradually moving with more confidence. “This is all so very strange. Very liberating, while at the same time feeling very limiting. Though I have no recollection of being ambulatory in the past, I am simultaneously aware of perceiving time differently now than I once did, existing in a framework that necessitates a reconciliation with time rates differently than those I was previously accustomed to.”

She continued to move around, becoming gradually much more comfortable with her physical form, before stopping and turning to face Dutch, her golden-hued eyes fixing him with an unblinking stare. “What I am also struggling to reconcile is the fact that you are alive. I clearly recall having observed your death during our initial test flight and subsequently monitored your body in that flight seat behind me for almost twenty-five years. The fact that you are no longer dead, and appear NOT to have aged, and in fact appear physically more hale than I previously recall, conflicts with my previous observations.”

Dutch paused, briefly recalling his final moments of consciousness during the test flight. Looking down at himself, he did feel different but was unable to immediately qualify the exact nature and extent of the changes. Glancing back up at his synth crewmate, he shrugged. “I can’t explain this either. Let’s focus, though. Where the hell are we, and how long did you say we’ve been adrift?”

“We have crossed nearly twenty-five lightyears, or roughly 9.45 x 1012 kilometers of distance from our point of origin,” Pheebs said, after the briefest of pauses, her head cocking slightly to one side as she performed the rapid calculations. “As for where we are, I am working to confirm that data for you now. My original stellar cartography data was not accurate for our current location, as it did not account for celestial migration over the length of time we’ve spent during the course of our travels.”

“What do you mean, length of time? You said we’d been coasting for about twenty-five years…”

“That is correct, Colonel. Twenty-five years of subjective time, while traveling at an average ninety-nine point nine percent of the speed of light, with some variation over the course of our journey. I apologize for the imprecision of this, but that data had multiple dynamic variables not easily accounted for using traditional Lorentzian calculations. The net effect of all of this is that we experienced an Einsteinian temporal situation, or time dilation, wherein we experienced the passage of time quite differently than, say, Earth did. On Earth, over eleven centuries have passed since our launch.”

“Eleven centuries…,” Dutch was poleaxed by this information. He struggled to grasp the impact of this information on his mission. What the hell was he to do now? To whom did he report? He had so many questions, he had to stop himself and try to take things slow, so he didn’t spin out. Drawing in a ragged breath, he closed his eyes, focused on the here and now, and reopened his eyes, focusing on his synth crewmate.

“Pheebs, it's obvious to me that we must have encountered something – origin indeterminate – of a superior technical capability the extent of which I am incapable of fathoming. I was dead. Now I am not. You were software, now you are corporeal. I am pretty sure our ship was modified, but to what extent, and why? And, should addressing all of these concerns be our priority, or should we try to reach out to contact Earth to receive updated orders?”

“Dutch, you are in command, but my advice would be to prioritize assessing our current situation first. I agree that our ship has been altered, but I will initiate a series of tasks to try to identify the extent and totality of the changes. Once we have a clearer understanding of the altered capabilities of this ship and her… crew, we might be better informed regarding our options afterward,” Pheebs reasoned, her eyes seeming to focus elsewhere as she was speaking. Moving over to the nearby ship’s systems console, she observed “Oddly enough, it seems that my old core programming continues to exist and function within its original design parameters, so I can task myself – or, my original self to be more precise – with some of these activities.” She looked mildly surprised and a little bit pleased at this revelation.

As he considered what Pheebs had said, Dutch noticed a blinking telltale on another new control surface behind her and to his left. A part of him recognized this as the new communications panel, although it was not original equipment. Pointing at the blinking indicator, Dutch asked her, “Pheebs, any idea what that alert is?”

Turning away to look in the indicated direction, that synth moved closer to inspect the new control surface. After a moment, she raised her hand to the panel and pressed the blinking light with a fingertip. A moment later, the port-side forward viewport shimmered to display a video communication. It took a moment for them both to realize that they were viewing a recorded message.

“Welcome, new allies, to the Tao Alliance,” an image of a strange humanoid creature addressed them. The scale of the being was unclear, but it appeared to have two arms, two legs, a central torso, and an elevated brain case. “You have been gifted with enhanced technologies to the fullest extent of our abilities in the hopes that you will join us in our fight against the iShan’tal Hegemony. The iShan’tal, as you are no doubt aware, are a very aggressive warrior species bent on conquest and subjugation of all advanced cultures within this star sector. Attempts to negotiate with the iShan’tal have been met with deadly violence, and there seems to be no reasoning with them on any level.”

“The Tao Alliance is seeking to establish a protected zone of space that the iShan’tal will respect and avoid, thereby maintaining the current peaceful trade and cultural exchanges free from their aggression. But to do this, we need allies. As a gesture of good faith, we have taken the liberty to upgrade your vessel and you, leaving you equipped to be able to assist us in our struggle. We hope that the fact we have done so at no cost to you will persuade you to be willing to assist us.”

“Whether you choose to assist us in our need or not, may the Creators’ blessings shine down upon you in all your endeavors. We will provide you with as much actionable data as we possess.” At this point, the image on the screen froze, allowing Dutch the opportunity to really assess the messenger.

The Tao messenger appeared to have possibly evolved from an amphibian, possessing features vaguely reminiscent of some species of frogs from Earth. Large, dark orbs for eyes. Slits for nostrils above a wide, lipless mouth. They had seen no teeth, but also had seen no tongue, so details were scarce. There was no sign of hair on the slick-appearing epidermis, although there was a mottled coloration of browns on greens visible across the forehead. What appeared to be vestigial webbing between digits on the hands could be seen, though no sign of gills was present along the neck. Still, the vocalization had been modified, as the mouth movements did not match the words. Clearly, some sort of translation matrix had been used, as whatever sounds the creature had emitted in no way matched the words that they had heard.

“Pheebs, I think it’s clear that the Tao had plenty of time to access all of our systems. While your original self completes the summary of changes to Odyssey, and perhaps us, can you run a diagnostic to determine what information they added? The message mentioned ‘actionable data’.”

“Of course, Dutch,” the copper-skinned synth responded enthusiastically as she moved over to a data terminal. “Please give me a moment to conduct an analysis.”

Dutch found himself slightly distracted by the fluidity of her movements, noticing the sway in her hips as she moved. Shaking his head, he couldn’t help but think he’d been too long between shore leaves.

“Pheebs, while you do your analysis, I’m going to take a walk around the ship to see what I can discern, maybe hit my quarters for a bio break. I’ll be back in a bit. Alert me if you find something of urgent importance.” Nodding his head toward her, he left the flight deck to make his way to his berthing quarters, wanting to take a few moments to examine the physical changes he could feel in himself.

Entering the hub of the ship, Dutch moved to the starboard hull, traveling outward from the hub one section before reaching the door to his cabin. Entering the cabin, he moved over to the locker that contained a few clothing items he’d brought aboard before their first flight. Opening the locker, he withdrew a pair of pants and a shirt, laying them across the bed before he began to remove his flight suit. He knew that, when he’d updated his physical a few days prior to the flight, he’d stood 1.88 meters tall and weighed 86 kg. With his flight suit removed, he could see that he’d grown in height and bulk. Gowing to the mirror beside his locker, he asked his digital assistant to assess his height and weight. “You are 2 meters tall and weigh 100 kilograms.”

Shocked, he peeled off his clothes and underclothes, examining his reflection. He had some serious muscles! He could clearly see the definition in his chest, arms, shoulders, and abs. He had been fit before, but now he looked like a professional athlete! Peering down his shorts, he was stunned to see the weapon he now sported down there. Good lord, women were either gonna flee in terror or swoon at the sight of his package.

Pulling on the more relaxed pants and shirt he’d laid out, as well as a pair of socks and trainers, he paused for a moment, realizing that his clothes fit. They weren’t too snug. This meant that the Tao had even made sure that his clothing had been modified to support his new attributes. Not sure whether he considered this creepy or thoughtful, Dutch started to return to the bridge when he noticed a new device set into the bulkhead behind his desk. Synthesizer, he thought, without knowing how he knew that. Walking up to the device, he puzzled over how it worked for a moment, before speaking directly to his digital assistant. “Janice, make me a cup of tea. Hot, with sugar.”

After a brief pause, a light flashed above the door, and it slid open to reveal a steaming cup of tea. Reaching in, Dutch picked up the cup – it felt like china and had the mission logo printed on the side. Sniffing the liquid contents, it smelled like tea. Taking a sip, he was pleased to taste sweet tea. Downing the contents, he placed the cup back into the synthesizer and watched it disappear.

Returning to the flight deck a few moments later, his companion was nowhere to be found. “PHOEBI, where is the Pheebs unit now?”

He was slightly surprised when the familiar voice of his synth responded, telling him, “Pheebs is currently in the navigator’s quarters. Would you like me to page her?”

“No, that won’t be necessary.” Dutch turned and left the flight deck once more, curious about why the synth avatar had gone to her quarters. After a few moments, he stood outside the door and knocked on it. The door slid open, and he heard her voice from within, “Enter, Colonel.”

Stepping into the quarters, he paused in shock as he saw the avatar had removed its flight suit and was examining itself in the mirror. He could confirm that there was no trace of body hair whatsoever. In addition, her form resembled a perfected copy of his ex-wife in her prime – athletic, bordering on muscular, with full breasts standing proudly upon her chest, capped with bronze-colored nipples. ‘Why does the avatar have nipples?’ he wondered. Longer inspection led Dutch to conclude that Pheebs’ avatar was anatomically correct, at least on the outside.

Stepping fully into her quarters, he spoke aloud, his voice carefully measured. “It seems that your body faithfully creates the illusion of a female. I wonder what internal scans will reveal?”

“I admit I am also curious about that. I do know that I am feeling some sort of discomfort, but I cannot identify the source, or the cause,” Pheebs said, turning to look at him with a quizzical look on her face.

Her resemblance to Denise, his ex-wife, was eerie, and likely not coincidental. His eyes automatically began a thorough review of her qualities. “Slip into some clothes and we can go to the med bay to see what we can learn,” Dutch suggested, averting his eyes from her glistening mons area, too late to avoid notice or reaction. His trousers began to tent in the front, so he turned as if to leave, saying, “Meet you there.”

Making note of the Colonel’s physical response to her form, Pheebs raised an eyebrow in fascination, then turned to find clothing similar to what he’d been wearing and got dressed.

Not long after, in the medical bay of the Odyssey, Pheebs lay naked upon the diagnostic bed while she and Dutch peered at the images the medical scans were displaying on the overhead monitor. By all accounts, PHOEBI’s form was a faithful reproduction of a human, not some mechanical robot full of wires and circuits and motors and spinning gyros, but a biological organism with all of the internal organs that would be correct for a human, the coloration being the only clear indication of her synthetic nature.

Of course, the scans could be fooled by some sort of higher order of sophistication, but short of cutting her open to look for himself, Dutch had no idea how to confirm what the medical images displayed. As such, he decided to take them at face value. Compared to everything else the Tao had done to him and his ship, yet another seeming miracle was hardly surprising at this point. Clearly, their level of technological advancement had been amazing, bordering on magical. It troubled him to think such a race required help against an adversary – what must the iShan’tal be like? He suppressed a shudder.

Having been watching Dutch’s reactions to all he was viewing, Pheebs wondered about his last response. “Does my physical form disturb you, Dutch? You seemed upset, just now,” she asked him with the innocence of a child.

“Not at all, Pheebs. Quite the opposite – I think you’ve been given a marvelous gift. My thoughts had wandered from being amazed at what the Tao had been capable of, to what their enemy must be like, that’s all. I promise nothing about what we’re looking at disturbs me.”

Continuing to watch him carefully, she’d let one hand drift to probe her moist female genitalia. “Oh, that is a relief,” she said softly, allowing her other hand to reach out to him and stroke the outline of his erection with a feather touch. “I was afraid I was getting mixed signals.”

Dutch had already been connecting dots in his head as to the purpose behind the Tao gifting Pheebs with a physical form. He had jumped quickly to a few obvious conclusions – they had obviously examined and determined his biological motivators, perhaps even his needs, and had chosen a form to give to his only companion that would resonate deeply within him as attractive. The fact that he had been dead for nearly a quarter century notwithstanding, he'd been on a bit of a dry stretch before the launch of the Odyssey, so he was easily aroused by Pheebs’ physical form, and nearly jumped when she touched him so intimately. His cock, however, demanded he give it the reins so that it may seek immediate satisfaction.

The need to immediately claim this beautiful woman before him that had been pressing against his consciousness since he’d seen her naked in her quarters suddenly became overpowering, and without thinking he began to disrobe, the ache in his loins rising to an undeniable compulsion that demanded he assuage it immediately. Perceiving his intent, and sharing his desire, Pheebs swung her legs off of the table, pivoting her body ninety degrees, and stood – bent over the table, legs spread apart, her hands spreading her ass cheeks apart so that he could not possibly miss his target.

Dutch staggered forward - possessed by off-the-chart animal instincts well beyond the norm for a human – and lined his cock up with the entrance to her drooling quim, rubbing it up and down to smear some of her oozing lubrication onto himself before spearing into her. Driven mad by the undeniable urge to possess this woman, he was blinded to all needs save one - to rut with her. Nostrils flaring as he inhaled her scent, he began to piston himself in and out of her with back-breaking strength, his newly augmented muscles straining to move his body at an almost inhuman pace. Beneath him, her body was gripped by an equal urgency, almost feral in its heat, her muscles rippling as they moved her to meet his every thrust. The medical bay filled with their basal grunts and savage growls as they solved the creator’s oldest equation, the slapping of his hips against her ass sounding like the applause of the heavens for this, the greatest of scenes to behold.

A searing blindness overcame Dutch as he let loose a roar and climaxed into her, she mewled lewdly beneath him as his orgasm triggered her own. He continued to drive deeply into her for several more moments as his peak played out, jet after jet of his potent seed filling every crevice within her formerly virginal cavity as it released a flood of her secretions in response.

Finally beginning to slow, reflective consciousness returned to them both. Dutch blinked his eyes and looked at the female form beneath him, flushed a deeper shade of copper, slick with perspiration, muscles undulating as she sought to catch her breath. Shocked for just a moment at the bestial nature of their mating, he pondered the cause before shaking his head and accepting it at face value. There have been changes, he thought to himself. He could spend time later cataloging them. For now, he instead opted to ensure his partner was okay.

“Pheebs, I hope that was something you are okay with. I don’t know exactly what possessed me just now, but damned if I regret it. The Tao have done something wonderful – perhaps on purpose, perhaps merely coincidental – gifting you to me.”

Finally able to speak, Pheebs straightened and turned to face him, wrapping her arms around him in a powerful embrace. Her head resting on his shoulder, she murmured into his ear, “If this is what it is to be human, then I also feel a great gift has been bestowed upon me. I can tell you right now that, for the rest of forever, I do not want a single day to go by  without something like that happening between us.”

He was surprised to feel wetness on his shoulder, and gently pulling her away, confirmed that she was indeed crying. Pulling her close again, he leaned in to kiss her. To his relief, she returned the kiss with equal passion, putting her entire focus into that moment.

As he was considering whether or not to carry her back to his quarters for more lovemaking, he heard a growl from her sternum, that was almost immediately echoed by an answering growl from his. Laughing, he looked down at her perplexed expression. “I guess we’ve managed to work up an appetite,” he laughed as she nodded in agreement.

Deciding to dress quickly, the two made their way to the renovated food dispensary. Gone were the old cabinets of pre-packaged meals that had probably expired a few decades ago. In their place was something similar to the device Dutch had seen in his quarters. Stepping up to it, he looked at the blank panel next to the synthesizer before choosing to try something on a hunch. “Janice, please display food options.”

To his pleasant surprise, the screen displayed a scrolling menu of food and beverage options. He had a strong desire to consume animal protein and caffeine. Speaking again to the synthesizer, he ordered his desire. “Janice, please prepare me a sirloin steak, medium temperature, a baked potato with butter and sour cream, and a large, sweet tea.” The machine began to make a quiet whirring noise, as he turned to Pheebs.

Leaning in, one arm draped possessively around his waist, she said, “Make that two, please, Janice.” A light blinked briefly on the display to acknowledge their orders, and a few moments later, the door slid open, revealing that the dispenser contained two plates of warm food and two glasses of iced tea on a tray.

Removing the tray from the dispenser, Dutch carried it over to the nearby table, where they both pulled up a chair. He noticed that Pheebs was hesitating, seemingly waiting for something.

When she noticed him watching her, she just shrugged. “This is all new for me. I figured I would let you set the example for me,” she said, somewhat sheepishly.

He smiled at her, nodding in understanding. “Well, then, you’re in for a treat. I usually let the steak rest for a few minutes while I prepare the potato. It works best in that the butter and sour cream can be more easily worked into the potato while it’s hot, and the steak can finish cooking in the meantime. Watch how I do it.” He massaged the potato with his fingers to crush it up slightly, then split open the potato with his knife and added butter and sour cream in lavish amounts. Pheebs watched him, mimicking his every action.

His potato prepared to his satisfaction, Dutch moved to the steak and cut a piece from it, stabbing it with his fork and taking a bite, savoring the flavor and texture – much better than anything that would have been installed back on Earth.

Phoebi gingerly tried a bite of her steak, looking very thoughtful as she chewed her food, and then swallowed. “Hmmm, I find the flavor of this to be… enjoyable. I look forward to further exploring my palette in the future. Thank you for introducing me to yet another wonderful new experience today, Dutch,” she smiled with a hint of mischief as she said this.

Dutch gave her a layered expression before he raised his glass in a toast. “I’ve got to hand it to those Tao techs – they sure as hell know how to make things that I like. Skal!”

Raising her eyebrow in amusement, she lifted her glass toward him, “Skal.”

*****

Having satiated their physical needs for the moment, Dutch and Phoebi returned to the flight deck of the Odyssey to continue to evaluate their situation, in an effort to decide upon their next move. By this time, the ships PHOEBI system had completed its analysis to delineate and summarize the modifications that had been made to their ship.

Looking down the lengthy list of modifications, he saw something toward the bottom of the list that exceeded his original ask. There were two additional categories included beyond the modifications to the ship, which included modifications to Dutch – at least the physical modifications that had been detected – as well as the addition of crewman Phoebi.

Dutch was surprised at the nature of the modifications made to his body – based on what he read, his size, strength, density, and many other physical qualities had been improved with the overall effect of making him a much more capable combatant. Additionally, the significantly elevated testosterone levels would tend to make him much more aggressive, which he’d have to keep an eye on. By all indications, he’d been honed as a weapon.

The same could be said for the Odyssey. Her hull had been augmented with seriously dense ablative materials, and she’d been outfitted with particle shielding which looked to have two levels of utility – one for navigational purposes, to protect the ship from collisions with space debris when traveling at high speeds, and the other seemingly intended to protect the ship from both kinetic and energy weapons.

As for armaments, the ship had been equipped with nothing short of a massive arsenal of missiles, and kinetic and energy weapons. He had no idea how these would measure up against those employed by the iShan’tal Hegemony or any other potential adversaries, but they were far beyond anything Earth could have fielded during his time. He was uneasy about the prospect of learning their quality under fire. Perhaps he’d have the opportunity to learn more about such threats before he actually encountered them.

Ship’s propulsion systems caught his attention next. The FTL drive had been slightly modified, hopefully correcting whatever deficiency had caused his initial mission failure. However, in addition to new intra-atmospheric drive systems, he saw something not immediately obvious in purpose – something called a jump drive.

“Pheebs, what do you think that jump drive does? And if it is what I suspect, why would the Tao leave us with the FTL drive if the Jump Drive is better?”

“I was wondering the same thing, Dutch. I noticed that multiple entries have been added to the ship’s data libraries on jump drive, as well as something called jump gates, but I haven’t looked into them just yet. As for why leave us the FTL, the obvious difference would be the Einsteinian Temporal Effects – assuming jump technology has no issues with respect to relativity, then perhaps the ability to travel ‘out of time’ as it were, could offer some potential advantages. We should probably explore the implications of that further when time permits,” she suggested, grinning at the irony of her statement.

“Agreed. The modifications to the ship all make me think that we’re now meant to be a heavy weapon – not exactly consistent with our original mission, but it might turn out to be a blessing. Time will tell. What can you tell me about the data that the Tao shared with us?”

“I am still parsing through the considerable volume of data that has been imparted to us. However, I see no reference to Earth in any of the information, so perhaps humans have not made it this far out by this era. Or, it is equally possible that the Tao facility that we encountered was a vestigial hold-over from some long-ago conflict that has been over for ages, and the information that was shared is largely obsolete,” she explained, her eyes focused on something far away. Suddenly, her posture tightened up, and she focused on him. “One matter of interest, however, pertains to the jump engine technology. It would seem that we could easily jump back to Earth if we wanted to see for ourselves what the current state of our home of origin is.”

“Hold on – we can jump back to Earth right now? No twenty-five-year return trip?”

“That is correct, Colonel,” she confirmed. “I can spin up the jump engines and have us home within the hour.”

“I’m inclined to want to do that, but I want to avoid a few obvious problems. First, I want to make sure we know how to get back to this place – I suspect we could find the Tao facility if we needed to do so. Second, I want to be cautious in our return to Earth, to make sure we aren’t secretly leading the iShan’tal Hegemony, or any other threat to our home by accident. What is the usage capacity of the jump drive? Can we use it multiple times in a row, or is there some minimum refresh interval between uses? Does it consume fuel, or what other limitations do we need to consider before travel? I want to check on Earth, but I want to do so in a very careful manner. We have no idea what has changed in eleven centuries. Will we even be recognized upon our return, or might we be misidentified as a threat? I’m not anxious to have to fight my way home…”

Phoebi nodded, considering all that he had said, as well as permutations that he had not addressed. “I think that we should carefully consider all that the Tao have given to us and ensure that we are familiar with the new capabilities of the Odyssey while we have the luxury of not having to learn under fire. We have no way of knowing what the current state of hostilities between the Tao and iShan’tal might be, so it’s probably safest to assume that we are in the midst of a hot conflict.”

“Agreed. And I have to admit that I am reluctant to commit to any one side of this conflict simply because one side armed us to the teeth. I’d prefer to make an unbiased assessment of the situation before committing to any actions with consequences difficult to overcome later.”

One final item on the summary of ship mods was bothering Dutch. “What do you suppose this does?” he asked, pointing to the entry labeled STEALTH SCREEN.

“I was wondering the same thing. Cross-referencing data libraries leads me to suspect that it is some sort of cloaking ability, but I think we need to explore it with care. I do not see any mention of limitations to its use. For example, if it does what we think it does, can we use it while maneuvering? Can we fire weapons while concealed? Will we be blinded while it is in use? I think this is definitely an item of interest in which we have a great deal to understand before we have to use it.”

Dutch scratched his chin, noticing a denser-than-usual growth of whiskers there. “Here’s my proposal. I’d like to put us through a series of exercises to test out our new capabilities. Stealth Systems, Weapons Systems, Defensive Systems, followed by Propulsion Systems. As soon as we’ve gotten proficient with each, then we can formulate a plan to return to Earth to assess their situation, and then determine our next steps.”

Pheebs considered this carefully for a moment, before offering additional information. “I believe that I can coordinate with my original self to produce a schedule of tasks designed to test and practice with each of those systems. Do you want to start today, or move us away from this area before doing any live fire exercises?”

“Can you find us a nearby asteroid field? Something like that would be perfect for a little target practice and might conceal us from casual observation. Also, it might not hurt to conduct some long-range scans to assess who might be nearby before we begin – no reason to attract any attention whatsoever. I think we can afford to do some careful planning before we begin, and also run silent in the meantime to better detect any nearby concerns.”

“I can work on those requests,” Pheebs replied, turning to begin working at the onboard systems interface.

“While you’re doing that, I am going to familiarize myself with the new control surfaces,” Dutch told her, turning to head to the flight station. “I don’t want to have to look for things if we’re under pressure.”

Dutch settled into the flight seat, beginning to orient himself to the new controls that were there, as well as the refinements to the originals. While running through familiarity exercises and systems checks, he reflected on his earlier actions in the med bay. It was completely out of character for him to go all caveman with anyone, let alone a completely unknown entity such as what the Phoebi avatar represented. However, he’d been completely overcome by a combination of animalistic impulses, as well as urges from deep down at damn near a genetic level. He felt as if she had been made for him.

He paused. Son of a bitch, he thought. She had been made for him. From a psychological perspective, she was perfect. She resembled a past love, she represented the ship, and it was their ship to which all captains are inevitably married, and something about her was irresistible to him. Perhaps the Tao had some inkling that, adding her to the dynamic made it more likely that he would be amenable to assisting them in their cause. He wasn’t sure what their motivation might have been. He’d have to let that thought percolate for a bit.

Running through practice simulations was helping him develop muscle memory as to where each critical system was located. The next logical step would be to perform these same routines under simulated combat conditions, to ensure he had optimized reflexes developed – these could make all the difference in life-or-death situations.

After another ten minutes or so, Pheebs approached him with a printout. “I have prepared an optimized list of progressive exercises to help us put Odyssey through her paces. Would you like to review this, captain?”

Dutch gave her a wry look. “Are you demoting me, Pheebs? You know that the rank of captain is subordinate to the rank of colonel, right?”

“I am aware of that, sir. However, it seems to me that your allegiance to that antiquated organization is no longer appropriate. You are in command of this vessel, and that position usually carries the title of captain.”

“Very well, first mate. Duly noted. How about this? Strap in next to me, and let’s run through your exercises. We’ll start with a dry run, then work our way up to speed – one quarter at a time. Give ourselves and Odyssey a good shakedown. While we are going through the dry run, instruct PHOEBI to run a final scan of our surroundings. I don’t want to rouse the neighbors.”

Dutch and Pheebs set about running through the mock drills. After a few minutes, PHOEBI confirmed that no nearby vessels were detected. With that in mind, Dutch powered up the improved sub-light drives. No longer using the old ion engines, the new drive system was tachyon-based, meaning more efficient, with greater versatility when making complex maneuvers at speed. He was certainly impressed. Odyssey was now highly agile, more like one of the fighter craft he used to test than any interstellar ship. He put her through an ever more complex series of twists and turns, simulating a dogfight scenario that might not accurately represent how space combat was done. Not yet, at least, he thought to himself.

Adding in weapons, he targeted a nearby cluster of asteroids, quickly reducing them to pulverized granules, no bigger than sand particles. He was stunned by the viciousness of the energy weapons – it seemed to him that they were designed to obliterate the target at a molecular level. Running through all of Pheebs’ test scenarios over and over, he was finally able to successfully complete them at full speed. Powering down his weapons, he set a course back to the nearby nebula, intending to test the ship’s stealth systems.

Bringing the Odyssey to a relative stop, allowing her to drift at a very slow speed, he activated the system identified as STEALTH SCREEN. Nothing happened. At least, nothing that he could tell. He checked the ship’s power systems – everything looked good. No enormous power drains were apparent, no sensory whiteouts, and nothing to make him concerned about running the stealth system for any length of time. He decided to leave it running while he got some rest. It had been a day of days, after all.

Turning to Pheebs, he had to stifle a yawn as he stretched his back, rolling his head to relieve some of the pent-up stress in his shoulders. “I’m about ready for bed. Care to join me?”

Pheebs turned to face him from her NAV panel, nodding her head. “Let me set up some overnight tasks for the ship, and I will join you in a few moments.”

Nodding, he headed down to his quarters. Stepping into the adjoining washroom, he brushed his teeth, tossed his clothes into the recycler, and headed to the shower. The shower was a combination of a constant bombardment of sonic waves from an overhead emitter, and water that was only emitted when he depressed a button on a handheld shower head. The total allotment of water per shower was less than five liters, so it was usually used sparingly. Truth be told, a complete cleansing could be performed using the sonic waves alone – the water was more of a luxury than a necessity.

Quickly completing his shower, he was just stepping out when Phoebi stepped into the washroom, looking around at the facilities with curiosity. Realizing she probably had no idea what was involved in daily ablutions, Dutch asked her, “Pheebs, do you need me to explain anything to you, or demonstrate any of this to you? Please tell me if you need help.”

She smiled gratefully but shook her head. “No, thank you. I took a few moments to research the topics. I believe I am ready to attempt the necessary tasks. However, if I encounter difficulty, I will call for you.”

“I’ll be just on the other side of this hatchway,” he reassured her, stepping out to give her some privacy.

Stepping into his quarters, Dutch took a few moments to reflect on matters that he’d been rolling with since being revived. He had been dead. He had no recollection of anything he’d experienced after losing consciousness. What did that imply? Was there no afterlife? Had he transcended to the afterlife, only to be recalled when his corpse had been reanimated? Or, had his soul moved on, leaving a copy of his consciousness to carry on? Tired of his existential questions, he decided that it didn’t matter, as he still had to carry on and deal with whatever shit sandwich awaited him tomorrow.

He thought about Earth. What would he find upon returning after eleven centuries? Presumably, some if not much of the solar system would have been colonized. Colonies on the Moon and Mars had already existed when he’d departed, and plans for more had been discussed. Humanity must have roamed beyond their own star system – how far had they gone? And what had happened to those who had left Earth, or been born elsewhere, never having known Earth? Did they feel any ties to their point of origin?

The door to the washroom opened, and when he turned to look, he was surprised to see that Pheebs had grown hair. A pixie cut of the whitest platinum blonde hair atop her head, a pair of delicate white eyebrows framed her eyes perfectly, and a trim little white ‘V’ sat just above her vulva. The contrast of the platinum blonde hair to her coppery-hued skin was amazing, and he was instantly aroused at the sight of her. Without thinking about it, he gave her a sharp wolf whistle of appreciation.

She smiled at him, appearing to blush slightly, if he judged the darkened coloration of her face correctly, and gave a brief curtsy.

“I love the look, but how do you suddenly have hair?” he inquired of her, eyes feasting upon her as he spoke.

“It’s odd – I felt as if something was not quite right, so I concentrated on an image in my mind, and the hair sprouted, growing as if by command,” she explained with an amused look in her golden eyes as she related the details. “I had imagined how I might look and considered different color options before settling on this – I hope you like the contrast.”

“I think it looks beautiful on you. You were gorgeous before,” he assured her quickly. “But this is like icing on the cake. I love it!”

She smiled at his compliments, grinning. “You’re just saying that, so I’ll sleep with you,” she flirted.

He just grinned at her. No point in arguing, as it was true that he’d do anything to sleep with again. And again. And again.

*****

Early the next day, they had carefully planned and executed a series of jumps to prove out the engines, ensure they weren’t being tracked, and at the same time determine the limitations associated with the jump engines. What they learned was that there was a capacitor of some sort associated with the jump engines, and the further the jump, the longer it took to recharge that capacitor from the ship’s reactors. Deciding that they wanted to be able to jump away from Earth’s system if something terrible awaited them, they planned to make a series of jumps to get close, scanning along the way, with a final jump that was short enough that they could jump away immediately if necessary. As a backup option, they had the FTL engines and Einsteinian Relativity strategy, just in case.

It took the better part of five hours to complete the series of jumps until one final jump remained. Scans revealed nothing – no indication that humanity had ever left their system of origin. No sign that anything untoward was in the vicinity. Performing a careful series of final checks, the pair readied themselves and executed the final jump.

They dropped into the middle of a graveyard in space. Debris was drifting everywhere they looked, from ships of completely unknown designs. It was impossible to tell which ships had been from what origin. It was entirely possible that a human civil war had happened. After all, they had no idea what contemporary human ships looked like. But Dutch suspected that there was more at play here. Gently threading the gauntlet, he eased his ship through the floating wreckage, attempting to make sense of it.

Pheebs was eyeing multiple read-outs from various ship’s sensors. “I can confirm that at least some of the remains floating amidst the debris are from humans. Other organic remains seem consistent with what the Tao had described as belonging to iShan’tal. There is a LOT of wreckage here, and my scans indicate that it has been here for decades, perhaps a century.”

“Scan for any human ships that are mostly intact – maybe we can access their onboard systems, and get some information to help us fill in some gaps in our knowledge.”

She leaned over a display, carefully screening data feeds for what he was looking for. “We may have to EVA to gain access to any systems still sufficiently intact to suit our needs,” she informed him, still searching.

“That’s fine. If it’s as you suspect, we’ve missed the fight, and I don’t think anyone’s out here doing any salvage work, so we should be okay. As soon as you find me a target, I’ll pull us up close and go out to get us access to that data.”

After several minutes, she straightened up and turned to look at him. “Dutch, I think I’ve found us a likely candidate.” She directed him to the wreckage of interest. “You go get suited up, and I will synthesize a device to take with you to capture the data.”

Dutch unstrapped himself from his flight seat and went down to the airlock, finding a locker of EVA suits next to it. Donning the suit, he checked the seals and confirmed positive pressure. Just then, Pheebs came down from the flight deck holding a small box that looked very plain to his eyes.

Holding it out to him, she told him, “Look for anything that resembles a computer interface. If you place that nearby, I should be able to effect a remote connection from the Odyssey, and that will allow us to copy off their libraries.”

Tucking the box into a zippered pocket on his sleeve, he stepped over to the inner hatch of the airlock and cycled it open. Stepping inside, he opened another gear locker within and pulled out a small manned maneuvering unit, holding it in one hand as he used the other to close the inner door. “Be back as quick as I can,” he assured her as the door sealed. She returned to the flight deck to monitor his progress as he depressurized the airlock and exited via the outer hatch.

Pheebs arrived at the systems interface console on the flight deck as Dutch checked in with her. “I think I’ve found the bridge – there was a gaping hole torn through the bulkhead, so hopefully the console I’m looking for wasn’t on that wall. Entering the ship now.”

She brought up the feed from his helmet cam, watching as he made his way across the large bridge of the human warship. It was quite large – easily five times the size of the Odyssey’s flight deck, with multiple stations whose purpose she could only speculate about. However, one caught her eye, and she spoke to Dutch to guide him over to it, having him position her comms bridge just next to the input interface. After attempting a series of standard data communications handshakes, and even making a few up, she stumbled across a standard access method that accepted her credentials and allowed her to initiate a transfer of data from the destroyed ship to the data libraries on the Odyssey.

While the data transfer was underway, Dutch explored the other stations on the bridge. One body, badly burned, had been jammed up in the safety rails around the command deck, preventing it from being blown out of the ship when the hull had been breached. He noted an odd metal implant on the crewman’s temple but had no idea what it represented. He was tempted to explore the wreckage further but decided that other matters were more pressing. Confirming with Pheebs that the data transfer was well underway and that he didn’t need to stay on that ship, he returned to his vessel.

Exiting the airlock, Dutch began removing his EVA suit, carefully stowing it for future use. Back in his working uniform, he returned to the flight deck to see what Pheebs had learned. Upon stepping onto the flight deck, he saw her bent over her station, being immediately distracted by her backside. He pushed those thoughts away until later. Wanting to leave her to her work, he moved to the flight controls and moved the Odyssey out of the debris field, which took a great deal of time. There must have been hundreds of vessels involved in this battle – the scope of it had him in awe. Finally clear of the debris, he set a course for the Earth, wanting to see it once more, praying it was still there, and that – somehow against the odds – humanity had survived.

Arriving at the designated coordinates, Dutch was speechless. The scope of what he was looking at left him dumbfounded. He stood there, silently, unable to utter a sound as his vision was slowly obscured by tears.

From her place at the systems console, Pheebs had started to extract some information from what they had grabbed from the wreckage. “So, I have been able to glean a little bit of historical data from the dump we grabbed. As best I can gather, humanity gave up on FTL travel shortly after our mission was declared a failure. A second ship had been under construction, but a manned expedition beyond the orbit of Pluto discovered some sort of ancient alien technology they refer to as a Jump Ring. Experiments led them to determine that the Terran ring was connected to an ancient network of rings. Scientists – looks like your ex was among them – were able to reverse engineer the jump technology. Humans set up a jump gate network of their own, although it looks like larger ships had their own jump engines, similar to ours.”

“Using this new technology,” she continued to summarize, “humanity was able to quickly spread outward from the Sol system and began colonizing other planetary systems. After nine centuries, humanity encountered the iShan’tal Hegemony.” Pausing as she read more, she finally continued. “I see no reference to the Tao Alliance. Says here that, unlike other aliens that humanity had come across, the iShan’tal were not interested in trade or alliances. They are described as warlike, fanatical, and extremely jealous of their territory. The encounter led to decades of war. The iShan’tal beat humanity back across the stars until finally they reached the home system of the ‘Terran Empire’…. I am not sure I like that description. Maybe we were not the good guys either…”

“Pheebs, can you pause from that for a bit, and have the ship’s sensors scan the planet below? I need to know if there’s any sign of survivors in that hellscape we’re orbiting.”

Initiating the commands, Phoebi walked over to stand next to Dutch, peering out of the wide viewscreen at the object of his interest. A planet devoid of the blues and greens she recalled from before their maiden voyage. Instead, the planet below was scorched, with much of the atmosphere gone, and what little they could see was angry-looking scars of glowing red smeared across the face of the wreckage that was once Earth.

*****