Captain Lanting

Alastor Cluster

On this blog page is part 5 of the science fiction story "The Alastor Network". The Alastor star cluster is known to fans of Jack Vance as one of his great literary creations. It is the location of many planets such as Brevik, Dreavero, Trullion, Marune, Numenes, Ottengla, Triskelion, Wyst, Yerophet, Zeck and Yrinna, worlds that are populated by human settlers in the distant future and which also have their own native life forms.

For stories that are set in my Exodemic Fictional Universe, I pretend that Alastor Cluster was not simply invented by Vance; it actually existed as part of our galaxy in the Asimov Reality. In that Reality, Alastor Cluster had been carefully assembled by the Phari over the course of two billion years. All of the planets of the galaxy where intelligent humanoid life forms evolved were systematically collected among the stars of Alastor Cluster. 

Grean (image credits)

Upon arriving in Alastor Cluster, human settlers were treated as breeding stock by the Phari and attempts were made to find human gene patterns that would allow for human telepathic communication. For the Phari, the goal was to link humanity into the Phari network.

Both the positronic robots of Earth (led by R. Gohrlay) and Grean the Kac'hin were complicit in that effort to evolve telepathic humans, however, the human population of the Cluster long remained ignorant of how they were undergoing selective breeding. Eventually, as more and more residents of the cluster were born with interesting telepathic abilities, a few humans began to realize what was going on. The planets Triskelion, Dreavero and Yrinna became centers for the study of telepathy, although most residents of the Cluster remained blissfully unaware of on-going efforts to use advanced technology to amplify or block telepathic signals.

nanites

In part 1 of "The Alastor Network", a special human genome has just been assembled with the potential to create a woman, Lavany, who will become the core of a mind clone network. That telepathically-linked network of mind clones will eventually be able to communicate with the Phari, who reside inside the Hierion Domain. The type of telepathy being evolved in Alastor Cluster makes use of a special hierion, the twitino, to transmit information between people. However, human hierion physicists have not yet discovered the existence of twitinos, so telepathy remains mysterious.

The ability of humans to telepathically transmit and receive information also depends on the presence inside their brains of a Phari endosymbiont, a nanoscopic device that can function as an integrated component of the human brain. However, during the events of "The Alastor Network", humans remain ignorant of the existence of their endosymbionts.

the Lavany embryo

In part 2, Acyreff, the wife of the Connatic, became one of the first humans to know that the robots of Triskelion have telepathic powers. Those robots are being used by R. Nyrtia to help prepare humans for the impending telepathic contact between humans and the Phari. The robot named Lo implants the Lavany embryo inside Acyreff's daughter, Yurahs. The robot named Ra is taking the newly crafted Lavany gene patterns to Yerophet where additional nodes of the Alastor mind clone network will be made.

Kresso

Two of the most sophisticated human efforts to understand telepathy are: 

 

1) The Connatic's research program that has led to the creation of an artificial intelligence system known as Josef. In that secret project of the Whelm, Josef is being used to trace and investigate telepathic signals being sent via the Phari telepathy network. That network links all planets of the galaxy where populations of humanoids exist symbiotically with their Phari endosymbionts. 

 

the robots of Triskelion

2) The starmenters of Yrinna have long been collecting and breeding humans who display telepathic abilities. Recently, the starmenters have found a way to defeat the defenses that are used to protect passenger vessels while they travel between planets of Alastor Cluster.

On the planet Brevik, two twins, Twycky and Kasya Jeghtop, grew up with a strong telepathic linkage between their minds. Twycky is an historian who studies the history of robots. Kasya is a spaceship engineer within the Shadow Drone project which tries to defend passenger ships against starmenter attacks.  

 

During visits to Triskelion, Twycky was able to discover the fact that the robots of Triskelion have telepathic abilities and that the Josef project has become heavily dependent on technology from Triskelion.

As shown in part 3 of "The Alastor Network", Acyreff and Kasya have begun a collaboration which is aimed at making the project Josef technology available to the Shadow Drone project. 

 

Twycky is being held captive by starmenters, but Acyreff's daughter Yurahs has recieved a telepathic vision from the future and knows that her mother will be able to rescue Kasya's sister.

As told in part 4, Kasya and Acyreff (playing the role of Commander Shermatz of the Whelm) depart from Numenes on board the Whelm cruiser, Appenine. Acyreff plans to visit the shipyards of Brevik and learn more about the Shadow Drone project. 

 

The uses of micro-hierion fields.

At first, Acyreff conceives their mission to involve preparation of a report on the logistics of merging the Shadow Drone project with the Josef project. However, Acyreff soon learns that Kasya is already deploying hierion field generators in newly constructed drones. Kasya is surprised to learn that the Josef system has been designed to detect signals being sent via the alien Phari network, not human telepaths. 

 

On route to Brevik, Acyreff notices that her ghark is present inside the Appenine. She is now losing her interest in the technical details of drone construction and begins feeling a powerful compulsion to rescue Twycky. Acyreff talks Kasya and her husband into trying to amplify their telepathic powers by means of simultaneously entering into orgasm trances. That strategy works, and Acyreff telepathically detects Twycky on the planet Yrinna. 

 

However, the prowling space pirates of Yrinna have detected a strong telepathic signal coming from the Appenine. The starmenters would dearly love to capture Kasya and add her to their accumulating telepath breeder stock.

 

Acyreff has already been warned by her ghark that she will die in the pending confrontation with the starmenters. However, Acyreff knows that she must act boldly in order to rescue Twycky from captivity on Yrinna. The events in part five, below, continue immediately from the end of part 4...

 ⎯ The Alastor Network ؄

 

Part 5. Battle of the Nykark. (read part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

 

Acyreff jumped out of the hot tub and using her comring called the Captain of the Appenine. "Go to starmenter protocol three. Tell the fleet to prepare for an attack on the Appenine." In her role as Commander Shermatz, Acyreff used her Rhune accent and she had been exaggerating it while in the presence of Kasya, not wanting Mando to realize Acyreff's other identity as the Connatic's wife. However, in this moment of excitement she had stopped using the Rhune accent. Pulling on her uniform, Acyreff tried to shift back into the speech pattern of her childhood on Marune. She told Dr. Jeghtop and her husband, "Go next door and stay in your quarters with Private Veameck and Maghy." Acyreff was quickly out the door and headed towards the shuttle hangar. While running, she called Private Puthonh.

 

"Puthonh here."

 

"Lock Dr. Jeghtop and her family in the Connatic's suite." Acyreff ordered the Private, "Come meet me in the shuttle hangar. Now!"

Arriving at the hangar section of the ship, Acyreff climbed into the shuttle and powered up the flight systems. The voice of Captain Titarsion, the commanding officer of Appenine, came through to Acyreff from the shuttle's communications system, "Commander Shermatz, we are being approached by a non-registered spaceship on intercept course. Damned if I know how they can track us while we use the Jarnell."

"We're now broadcasting a commercial navigation code?"

"Yes."

 

"Okay. Just relax. I want to pull the pirates into our trap." She cut the comlink and overrode the shuttle's warning systems that were complaining that Appenine was still in Intersplit and the shuttle could not be used.

Private Puthonh arrived and sat in the copilot's seat beside Acyreff. With dismay in her voice, she asked, "We're going to take the shuttle out?"

"I'm going to ram the boarding craft of some attacking starmenters. I want you to hide in the observation cabin. If I fail to stop their approach, you'll be the second line of defense. Remember, your duty is still to protect Dr. Jeghtop."

Puthonh reminded Acyreff, "I also have a duty to protect you, Commander. Don't do anything stupid."

"What are they teaching you kids at the academy? The correct word is 'heroic', not 'stupid'. I'm going to heroically try to stop the starmenters from boarding Appenine." Acyreff did not want to argue the matter. "Get out! Now!"

Muttering about the stupidity of officers and their suicidal behavior quirks, Puthonh climbed out of the shuttle and went to the observation cabin where she could still see the shuttle through a transparent wall. Puthonh pulled two blaster rifles out of a storage bin and then a spacesuit. Suddenly the Appenine fell out of Intersplit and returned to a normal existence within the hadronic domain of the universe. 

 

Captain Titarsion told Acyreff, "The pirate ship just launched a shuttle. ETA ninety seconds."

Acyreff activated the open sequence for the massive outside door of the shuttle hangar. "Titarsion, get all non-essential crew into a defensive perimeter around the Connatic's suite then close all segmentation barriers. Don't use ship's weapons until I so order. Hold the fleet nearby. I want to capture the pirate ship, not destroy it." Acyreff told Puthonh, "As soon as I depart, destroy the torque system for the hangar doors, inactivate the airlock door and do anything else that you think will dissuade the pirates from boarding Appenine."

Puthonh was sealing up her spacesuit. She said, "Don't do this Commander Shermatz. Call in the fleet and come back-"

Acyreff inactivated the communications system. The hangar was now fully open to space. Acyreff shut down the artificial gravity for the hangar and then kicked the shuttle forward at the slowest possible rate. The pirates' shuttle craft came into view through the hangar door. In the other recent attacks, the pirates had always blasted their way into the hangars of the commercial spaceliners. Acyreff now went to high speed and tried to ram the pirates. Whoever was piloting the pirate craft quickly shifted their thinking from surprise that the Appenine's hangar had opened to self preservation and tried to turn away from Acyreff's mad assault. It was only a glancing collision, but the noise was ear-shattering then it ripped open Acyreff's shuttle like a cracked egg and she found herself ejected into outer space.

Acyreff inside the Nykark

In the next instant, Acyreff felt the disorientation of teleportation. She had experienced it once previously, long ago when she had been teleported off of Marune. Glancing around at her surroundings, he realized that she was now inside the Intersplit engine compartment of a spaceship.

 

______________

The pirates' shuttle had been damaged on one side. Using the one remaining ion thrust engine, it slid into the hangar of the Appenine and came to a stop. 

 

Two starmenters in spacesuits emerged from the shuttle, moving cautiously in the low gravity. They tried to activate the manual hangar door closing controls. Discovering that both the main hangar door controls and the airlock controls were not functional, they took up defensive positions, their guns held steady and pointing at the transparent wall that separated the hangar space from the observation chamber where Puthonh sat on the floor behind a communications and controls console. 

 

Private Puthonh was watching video feeds coming from inside the hangar compartment. Taking note that the pirates were not going to immediately retreat into their shuttle and suspecting that somehow they knew that she was hiding there, inside the observation chamber, Puthonh decided that two against one was not too bad and her chance of surviving would only get worse if more pirates came out of the shuttle. Puthonh stood up and blasted the transparent wall with both blaster rifles, one held in each arm. Not having been trained in the space navy, she failed to brace for decompression. When the wall crumbled into pieces she was sucked out into the vacuum of the hangar and bounced off the hull of the pirates' shuttle. She lost one of the riffles and before she could orient herself and aim the other rifle, she was shot by one of the pirates.

An instant later, Puthonh materialized on board the pirate ship. Her right arm was broken, but she still held the blaster rifle with her left hand. She started struggling to her feet and then Acyreff was there, helping her get up. "I'm glad to see you, Puthonh." Acyreff pointed towards a nearby engine access hatch and said, "Open that hatch, Private. Don't bother knocking first."

Puthonh was disoriented due to the teleportation and a minor concussion. Briefly leaning the rifle against the looming bulk of the Jarnell mechanism, she tried to ignore the pain from her broken arm and ripped off her spacesuit helmet. Hoisting the heavy rifle with her good arm, Puthonh fired at the hatch. The little door crumpled, revealing the interior of the ship's engineering control room. Noticing that one of Puthonh's arms hung uselessly at her side, Acyreff asked, "Is something wrong with your arm, Private?"

"Just broken, Commander."

Image credits.

Acyreff took the rifle from the Private and ran towards the hatch. She told Puthonh, "Follow me!" Acyreff dove head-first through the opening of the blasted hatch.

____________

On board the Appenine, shortly after Puthonh had been shot, six more pirates emerged from the shuttle. They took orders from Captain Lanting, one of the first two pirates out of the shuttle who was now bent over the blasted corpse of Puthonh. She had felt a strong telepathic link to the dead soldier, but she tried to put that out of her mind. Lanting gestured towards the observation room. 

 

The team of pirates rushed inside the observation room and checked that small segment of the ship for other crew members of the Appenine. Finding none, they returned to the hangar compartment and blasted open the outer airlock door. The pirates were able to use manual controls to open the inner airlock door a few inches. Air rushed out of the ship segment beyond that door and whistled into the hangar. When the pressure had equalized, the pirates all passed through the inner door. After closing the airlock door behind them, Lanting then led her team deeper into Appenine, towards the strong telepathic signal that she was now tracking. 

 

Walking down the corridor and glancing at the telepathy detector she held in her hand, pirate Captain Lanting felt certain that Dr. Jeghtop was on this ship. Using her own telepathic ability, Lanting could even feel the touch of what she imagined was Dr. Jeghtop's mind and found herself recognizing similarities in the thought pattern to those of Twycky. Lanting and her team moved down the corridor towards the segmentation bulkhead that blocked their way forward. After blasting though that barrier with an explosive charge, Captain Lanting led the way into the next part of the corridor, but before going very far she was hit by blaster fire and almost instantly lost consciousness.

________________

Captain Lanting struggled up into waking consciousness against an agony of pain. Opening her eyes, she looked to the right and saw the blasted ruin of her arm. Her well-shielded spacesuit had absorbed most of the energy of the blast. At that moment she wished she had died. Acyreff was holding her blast rifle pointed at Lanting and said, "I suspected it would be you, Lanting."

Captain Lanting looked past the rifle and focused her eyes on Acyreff. She looked around at the deck, searching for her telepathy detector. Not finding that device, she pulled off her cracked spacesuit helmet with her good arm and nodded politely. "Commander Shermatz." She looked around again, expanding the range of her view and now recognizing the interior of her own ship's engineering control room. "How did I get back on the Nykark?"

"Don't try to figure it out, Captain. At this moment, I need your help." Acyreff waved the rifle for emphasis and said, "Order your crew to surrender."

"Never."

"We are surrounded by a fleet of Whelm ships. You stumbled into a trap and you can't escape. I'm giving you a chance to live."

Lanting got to her feet and went to the nearby control console. Across the room there were two inert bodies sprawled on the floor and standing nearby, a woman who she did not recognize. Lanting stared at the woman, feeling a strong telepathic connection to her. Lanting recognized the same familiar mind pattern that she had previously felt inside the Appenine's hangar: the mind pattern of the woman she had killed. 

 

Puthonh was looking at the wall where a spot on the heavy bulkhead was glowing red. Lanting could only see part of the woman's profile. She turned her attention back to the control console where a row of red indicator lights showed that the ship's engines had been shut down. Her own portable wristcom having been destroyed along with her arm, she activated the communications station on the control panel to link to the main control room of her ship. "Lanting here. I'm down in engineering. Give me a status report!"

"Captain? How did you... we're trying to burn through the bulkhead into engineering. Someone down there shut off the Jarnell systems and-"

"I know." Lanting asked impatiently, "What's happening to the boarding party?"

"They're pinned down and meeting military grade resistance. They said you had been hit and were presumed dead."

"I'm not dead, Benson. You recognize my voice." Feeling a wave of nausea from the pain of her arm, Lanting again wished that she was dead. "Radar?"

"We are surrounded, Captain. Apparently this is the whole damned 8th Fleet. Klesserg asked us to surrender."

Lanting looked at Acyreff and shook her head, awed by the trap she had blundered into. "Tell Fleet Commander Klesserg that I surrender. Tell my boarding party to surrender and tell the crew outside of engineering to stand down. I'll open the emergency bulkheads from this side." She cut the communications link and told Acyreff, "I want medical care for my injured people."

"Of course, Captain. However, there is something blocking my communications equipment. Please shut down all of your shields."

"Open the emergency bulkhead."

Acyreff signaled to Private Puthonh who went to a small control station and activated the bulkhead release sequence. The thick emergency baffles began to retract. Lanting told Acyreff, "Pretty sneaky using Dr. Jeghtop as telepathic bait."

Acyreff shook her head and finally pointed the rifle away from Lanting. She chuckled and said, "I was expecting a peaceful trip to Brevik. You brought all this destruction and pain on yourself."

Captain Lanting walked across the room and checked on the two unconscious engineers. Her head aching and feeling severe dizziness, Lanting, mumbling to herself, said quietly, "I was prepared to attack the Starling... Dr. Jeghtop had a ticket for that commercial liner, her return trip to Brevik..." Lanting had mistakenly assumed that Dr. Jeghtop must have caught a later flight on another commercial liner. Instead, Lanting had been tricked into attacking a ship of the Whelm! Having confirmed that the engineers were both alive, now Lanting walked past the retracting bulkhead and led Acyreff and Puthonh out of the engineering compartment. She told her two crew members who had been trying to melt through the bulkhead, "Go check on the condition of the engineers." 

 

Her head seeming to spin and the edges of her visual field contracting, Lanting continued down the corridor to the next doorway and submitted to a quick automated electrical brain scan which confirmed her identity. She was the one human on board allowed to enter this room. The door slid open. Entering the room behind Lanting, Acyreff could smell ghark. She looked around, trying to obtain visual evidence that her ghark was present. 

 

From across the room came the cries of two members of Lanting's crew, a man and a woman, both shield technicians, "Halt! Intruders!" They rushed towards Acyreff and Private Puthonh. 

 

Lanting held up her hands and shouted, "Stand down! I have surrendered Nykark to the Whelm!" 

 

While Lanting spoke, momentum had brought Acyreff to grips with the woman and Puthonh, one arm useless, had driven a flying kick into the belly of the male crewman. Puthonh had landed hard on her broken arm and let loose with a string of expletives. "Bloody gates of hell, what pain!" Lanting went to the control console and quickly inactivated the ship's shields and the hierion field generator that had been used to force the Appenine out of the Intersplit.

Acyreff's comring now erupted with messages. Ignoring the incoming messages, she issued orders, "Shermatz here, on board the pirate ship. I need a medical team here and get medics to the survivors of the pirate boarding party on Appenine." 

 

The voice of Fleet Commander Klesserg came to Acyreff through her comring, "We have the Wassentel in position to dock. I'll have a boarding party inside the pirate ship in less than a minute." Acyreff had rushed to Puthonh's side and wiped beaded sweat from the Private's brow.

Lanting had slumped to the floor, allowing her head to get more blood. The female shields technician sat on the floor beside Lanting and lifted the Captain's legs. The male technician was kneeling beside Puthonh. He grabbed the Private's arm and jerked the broken bones in her arm back into place. Puthonh screamed in agony and then nearly passed out.

 

Lanting's vision began to return to normal and she could still feel the presence of Puthonh's mind where it telepathically touched her own. Acyreff helped the Private to her feet and told Puthonh, "I need you go to the hangar. Bring the medical team back here. Can you do it?" 

 

Puthonh's face was dead white, but she nodded and said, "Sorry, Commander... I fell rather clumsily, but I guess you can't break an arm twice." Holding her broken arm against her body the Private immediately departed from the shield control room.

 

Acyreff sat on the floor next to Lanting and began trying to peel the pirate's spacesuit away from the charred skin of her arm. Some of the nanites inside Acyreff's body now shifted over into Captain Lanting. In many places the material of Lanting's suit was fused to the burnt tissue. "Tell me, Captain Lanting, why were you so eager to capture Dr. Jeghtop?"

 

gharks and hoos

Lanting gritted her teeth against the pain being caused by Acyreff picking at her arm. "Interesting torture technique, Zara."

 

"If we are on a first name basis now, I'm at a disadvantage." Acyreff looked at the Captain's face, which she recognized from Whelm reports on known starmenters. Good video images of Lanting had recently been collected by a ship's security camera during the raid when Twycky had been abducted. "Whelm security only knows you as Captain Lanting."

 

"My first name is Sally."

 

"Okay, Sally, I'll stop picking at your... what's left of your arm." Acyreff finally set down the blaster rifle. "You tried to capture Dr. Jeghtop twice. You failed. Why take the risk? What did you hope to gain?"

Lanting explained, "All I know is that the genetic analysis of Twycky provoked great interest on Yrinna. I was ordered to bring in Kasya." Sally did not mention that even at that moment she was feeling a weak telepathic connection to Acyreff.

Looking into Lanting's bulging eyes, Acyreff felt a chill run up her spine and imagined that the pirate captain could see into her soul. For a moment, she thought it might be best to kill Lanting. She picked up the rifle and then heard the voice of her ghark: Sally is not that good of a telepath. You need her help. Acyreff put away thoughts of blasting Lanting and asked, "Which clan is giving you orders?"

"I can't say."

"I already know the answer to that question, Sally." Acyreff stood up and pointed the rifle at the pirate. "This is your chance to convince me that you are going to cooperate. Don't make your situation any worse by lying to me."

Sally asked, "What difference does it make? All the clans work together. In this case, the Gensifers have a special interest in the Jeghtop twins."

"Do the Gensifers really expect the Whelm to sit by and allow these brazen starmenter attacks on spacecraft?"

Lanting shrugged. "Until today, you have never been able to stop us."

Private Puthonh arrived, returning with a Whelm medical squad that immediately began giving care to Lanting. Acyreff took Puthonh's good arm and led her down the corridor, back towards the shuttle hangar. "How are you doing, Tithixa? You don't look good."

 

 "I'm fine."

"You look quite pale."

"I don't understand how we got over here, Commander." Puthonh tried to reconstruct her memory chain, "I was sucked into the Appenine's hangar and then-"

"Don't even try to figure it out." Acyreff laughed, mostly in relief that the pirate attack was over. "I'll make a deal, Tithixa. You get your arm treated and then once we get back on our way to Brevik, come to my rooms this evening. I'll explain everything, but first..." There was now a steady stream of Whelm personnel flooding into the pirate ship. Acyreff stopped a technical team that included Lieutenant Collynn as they came down the corridor. "Private Puthonh, take Lieutenant Collynn to that shield control room, then get your arm taken care of." She told Collynn, "Follow Private Puthonh. I want this ship's hierion shield equipment transferred over to the Appenine. At once." Then as an after-thought, "Along with the two shield generator technicians and Captain Lanting." She went into the hangar and got a shuttle lift back to Appenine.

_____________________

 

hierions

What had been an eventful day was coming to a quiet end. It was time for Acyreff's dinner guests to begin arriving in her suite. Acyreff could see a gray smudge in the corner of the room that marked the presence of her ghark. Food was already set out buffet style in the dining room, but they would all eat together in the comfortable lounge area. Captain Lanting sat there with her arm encased in a medical repair device, a mug of beer in her good hand. Lanting had been first to arrive and for a time she and Acyreff had chatted about Lanting's career as a starmenter.

 

Private Puthonh arrived next and told Acyreff, "They finally released me from the medcenter after giving me a bunch of threats and warnings about dangerous blood clots." 

 

Acyreff said, "I watched Doc Hines pull a huge clot out of your arm."

 

Puthonh shrugged, "I feel fine." She went to the buffet, one arm in a sling, and began trying to put food on a plate. After being operated on, she'd been ordered to wait a few hours before eating and now she was hungry, not having eaten much since breakfast more than 12 hours in the past.

 

Kasya and Maghy arrived, coming through the doorway that connected to the adjoining suite of rooms that was usually reserved for the Connatic when he was on board. Acyreff said, "Captain Lanting, meet your intended victim, Dr. Jeghtop."

Lanting was looking at Maghy. She blurted out, "Your daughter is also a telepath!" The girl's name was clear in her mind, "Maghy."

Maghy approached Lanting and said, "Hello, Sally. I could sense your mind during the fighting. Why did you want to take away my mother?"

Lanting replied, "I was going to take her to Yrinna, to be with your aunt Twycky."

Maghy placed a hand against the side of Sally's head. "You seem different now. Calmer."

Captain Lanting knew that she was feeling different. She did not know that Grean was using a sophisticated collection of nanites inside her body to reprogram her memories and attitudes. She was in telepathic contact with several minds, most strongly to that of Private Puthonh whose every movement created a telepathic impulse that forced its way into Sally's thoughts. Tithixa now came from the buffet and sat on the sofa.

Maghy turned away from Sally and sat beside Tithixa. The girl enthusiastically hugged the Private. "Veameck told us that you were dead, your blasted body found in the hangar."

Acyreff said, "It can be difficult to judge the severity of injuries during the chaos of a battle. As you can see, Private Puthonh was only injured, not killed." Upon returning to Appenine, Acyreff had ordered both her own dead body and that of Private Puthonh incinerated while their "new" bodies that Grean had created by teleportation duplication lived on.

 

Officially, the space battle between the Appenine and the Nykark would be described as having resulted in no deaths. +2 - 2 = 0! Grean had made sure of that little detail.

 

Acyreff had already discussed the matter of teleportation with Private Puthonh while she was having surgery performed on her broken arm.

Maghy shook her head and told her mother, "Commander Shermatz is lying! I felt Tithixa die!" However, she had also felt that a living Tithixa had continuously been linked to her mind.

hierion probe

Still wondering how she had been sent from the Appenine back to the Nykark in the middle of the battle, Sally said, "Zara has a lot of explaining to do."

Acyreff held up her hands, "Please, all of you, just relax. Eat. Drink. I'd like to explain only once, to everyone." She guided Kasya and Maghy towards the buffet. For the first time, Acyreff touched Maghy and some of her nanites moved over into the girl's body. 

 

Taking their food to the sofa, Maghy looked at Captain Lanting and told her mother, "I don't believe anything that Commander Shermatz says, but we can trust Captain Lanting. She may be a starmenter, but she is not evil."

Sally giggled and said, "Thank you for that vote of confidence, Maghy."

 

Sylvynn arrived and soon everyone was settled into comfortable seats in the lounge, food and drink at hand. Acyreff looked at the Lieutenant and said, "Tell me, Sylvynn, how are the starmenters able to knock ships out of the Intersplit?"

Lieutenant Collynn set down her wine goblet, pulled two small devices from her pockets and replied, "I've examined these two devices and learned something startling about the art of miniaturization. This small hand-held device might be as sophisticated as our gigantic Josef system!" She activated the telepathy detector that Captain Lanting had brought on board and handed it to Acyreff. "This device can detect sources of telepathic signals."

 

Acyreff had already played with this detector device earlier, before dinner. There in the lounge, in close proximity to several powerful telepaths, the device was useless; the display screen simply showed a solid red glow. She passed the device to Kasya and asked Lieutenant Collynn, "Any idea where it was manufactured, Sylvynn?"

Triskelion

Collynn held up Kasya's hierion field generator and replied, "You can see these two devices look similar. They both have nanoscopic markings that I could read with an electron microscope. Both seem to have been manufactured on Triskelion. Kas!" She tossed the second device to Kasya who then passed the telepathy detector on to Maghy. Collynn continued, "I've learned more from the equipment that was discovered on board the Nykark. That equipment includes a giant hierion field generator. The hand-held version can inactivate a telepathic robot from Triskelion while the larger one can shut down a Jarnell engine, knocking a spaceship right out of Intersplit!"

Acyreff knew that the larger field generator taken from Nykark had already been successfully tested against a ship of the 8th Fleet when the Appenine had resumed the journey to Brevik that afternoon. "Thank you, Sylvynn. I want you and Dr. Indeckuri to keep providing updates on what you learn from your continuing study of these hierion field generators." The small telepathy detector had been passed around to everyone in the room and was back in Sylvynn's hand. Kasya simply tucked her own little hierion field generator device into her pocket.

Maghy complained, "None of these devices explains the death of Tithixa or that thing." She pointed towards the oddly transparent cloud, the shifting smudge of hierions that marked the location of the ghark.

Now that their attention had been drawn to the ghark, everyone present looked at the oddly shaped cloud. Nanites from Acyreff had migrated into all of their brains, giving them the ability to see the ghark. Acyreff explained, "We are in the presence of a ghark. I don't know exactly what a ghark is, but-" As she spoke, the cloud drifted down towards the floor and began to solidify. 

Soon, the swarm of hierions assembled and formed the shape of a near-woman. As the figure was solidifying at the center of the room, Kasya pulled out her field generator and tried to use it on the ghark. Noticing no effect of the hierion probe, she shut it off and slipped it back into her pocket. 

 

Grean spoke, "Allow me to introduce myself. Commander Shermatz has referred to me as a ghark. I'm actually Grean, a Kac'hin, which is a human variant designed to have the ability to exist and function beyond the bounds physical reality as known to human science. I spend much of my time in the Hierion Domain, part of the physical universe that it parallel to the universe that you humans experience."

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Maghy stood up and approached Grean. The girl reached out and gently touched the Kac'hin, as if expecting her hand to pass right through Grean's body. Maghy was processing the infites that had been transferred into her body from Acyreff. She had learned from the infites that the Kac'hin had access to teleportation technology. Maghy proclaimed, "You teleported a copy of Tithixa to the pirate ship just before she was killed."

Grean nodded and smiled, showing her long fangs. Maghy shrank bank and sat beside her mother. Grean explained, "I also teleported Commander Shermatz and Captain Lanting over to Nykark." Grean reached out and placed a hand on the tissue regenerator that was attached to Lanting's arm. "Sally did not die today, so I made no teleportation duplicate of her."

Sylvynn asked, "Did you just teleport yourself into this room?"

"No, I have been here with you, all through your meal this evening. I've been busy making sure that your memory blocks are in place and ready to prevent you all from discussing me and my abilities with your acquaintances." At the center of the room, Grean was slowly turning so that she faced first one human then another. "However, I do plan that you six will be able to remember what you have learned here this evening. You simply will not be able to tell others about me. I want you all functioning as a coordinated team so that you can rescue Twycky."

Sally asked, "Why have you suddenly stepped in to assist Zara and the Whelm?"

"Call it a re-balancing of power." Grean looked at Captain Lanting and said, "Gohrlay gave the pirates of Yrinna access to technology that has allowed for starmenter attacks on spaceships. It is only fitting that the Whelm be allowed to develop a defense."

Acyreff asked, "Who is Gohrlay?"

"Some day she might reveal herself to you. Until then, think of her as the Queen of Robots." Grean smiled enigmatically. "Now, I shall depart..." Grean's body began to disintegrate and became transparent.

Kasya cried out, "Wait. Tell us how to upgrade the Shadow Drones so that..." She fell silent. Grean was gone.

Everyone sat quietly, thinking about Grean and her special powers. Finally, Sylvynn stood up and went to the bar, intent on getting more wine. Acyreff told Tithixa, "Private, please return Maghy to the Connatic's suite."

 

After Tithixa and Maghy passed through the doorway to the adjacent suite, Acyreff turned to Sally and said, "I need to know where your loyalties lie. Your knowledge of Yrinna is valuable. I intend to rescue Twycky... I'd love to have your assistance."

Sally nodded. "It won't be easy. Yrinna is well guarded. The planet Triskelion has long been protected by planetary hierion probes that can disable spaceship drive systems. That technology was recently deployed on Yrinna."

Just then, Private Puthonh returned and told Acyreff, "Miss Maghy is with her father and Private Veameck."

 

Kasya asked Sally, "What can you tell us about the location on Yrinna where my sister is being held prisoner?"

"I believe she is now part of the Gensifer clan." Sally thought about events on Yrinna after she had delivered Twycky to Gensifer City. "There was a wedding announcement from Jamile Gensifer. I did not attend the ceremony, but I have been to Gensifer City many times in the past..." Sally fell silent. She was intently watching Private Puthonh and could not think straight with the Private's thoughts bombarding her. Sensing hostility and distrust from the soldier, Sally said, "Dy... Tithixa please come here." Tithixa approached Sally who reached out with her good arm to take hold of the Private's hand. Sally closed her eyes and said, "When I was a young child, I had a little sister named Dydrea..." She fell silent.

Private Puthonh said, "I was the youngest in my family, with two older brothers."

Acyreff told Tithixa, "The Whelm investigated your background quite carefully, Private. You were adopted."

Sally opened her eyes and told Tithixa, "We can easily do genetic testing, but I'm certain you are my sister, just from the feel of your mind. You have always transmitted your thoughts quite freely..."

Tithixa said, "As to that, I can't say. I might send out telepathic emanations, but I am not telepathically sensitive myself." The Private pulled her hand away from Sally.

 

Sally pressed the call button on the medical repair device that encased her arm. "I promised doctor Hines that I'd be back in the medcenter before it got too late." She told Acyreff, "I will help you find Twycky, however, I do not know much of value beyond what I have already told you."

 

Acyreff said, "Thank you, Sally." 

Sally said, "I do have one condition for my cooperation. Allow my crew members to each decide if they want to return to their home worlds. Don't throw them into some Whelm prison. Call it a prisoner exchange."

Acyreff laughed, "Whelm policy is not to negotiate with starmenters."

"I'm no longer a starmenter, Commander." Sally smiled and said, "I've defected to your side."

Suspecting that she had her ghark to thank for this defection, Acyreff said, "Very well, I agree to your terms."

Doctor Hines and two medcenter assistants arrived and quickly took Captain Lanting away. As soon as the door to the corridor closed, Private Puthonh said, "I don't trust her. Now we have a double agent in our midst."

 

"I'll let the Connatic decide." Acyreff thought: how I wish that Oman was here! "He is an excellent judge of character."

 

Sylvynn drained her goblet and rose a bit unsteadily to her feet. She was not used to drinking so much, but she had been rattled by the events of the day, particularly having seen Commander Shermatz's dead body after in had been dragged back into Appenine from the cold of space. "Don't worry, Hines will subject Captain Lanting to careful psychohallation and chemo-mind-probing during the night. We'll find out where her true loyalties lie before placing any trust in her." Sylvynn reached out a hand towards Kasya, "If you don't mind, I'll take all the Triskelion equipment to the lab for further study."

Kasya resisted, "I doubt if you will be able to make sense of the nanocircuitry in these devices. I'd like to keep my property with me."

Acyreff told Sylvynn, "You have two new toys to play with... that should keep you busy for a while. Let's allow Kas to keep her little hierion probe." Sylvynn shrugged and departed.

 

Tithixa moved to return to the Connatic's suite. Acyreff told the Private, "Take some time to rest that arm." Acyreff saw that Kas was also ready to leave, but with a gesture, she restrained the drone engineer.

Slipping through the passageway that let to the Connatic's suite, the Private muttered, "I will, Commander."

Kasya sat on the edge of her chair and said, "It grows late, Zara. I want to put Maghy to bed."

Acyreff approached Dr. Jeghtop and nodded. Kasya stood up. Acyreff reached out and placed her hands on the other woman's arms. "I hope your daughter was not seriously traumatized by experiencing Tithixa's death."

"No, I think she is fine. I spent all afternoon talking to her. She never lost telepathic contact with... the second copy of the Private... so she was not seriously disturbed by the battle... only puzzled by having sensed the soldier's death. I do wonder what it must be like to feel someone's death telepathically..."

Acyreff changed the subject and said, "We'll be on Brevik tomorrow. Before we land, I want to try an experiment."

In the Buld Reality.
Original cover art by
Leo Summers and see this.

Kasya nodded, "I also want to experiment with that equipment that was taken off the pirate ship."

 

Acyreff reached down and placed a hand on Kasya's crotch. "I want to try another experiment that will require both your genitals and Mando's. Consider this fair trade for letting you keep your hierion probe. Contact me in the morning when you two are available for another long-distance telepathy session."

Kasya smiled, "Very well, Commander. I suspect you just want to get Mando back in that hot tub." She nodded towards the nearby spa room. "In my case, I'll do anything it takes to get Twycky back home." Kas slowly ran her tongue around her lips and winked at Acyreff, then turned and departed, pausing for one last glance at Acyreff over her shoulder.

Next: part 6 of "The Alastor Network".

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