Omoikane 78 - The Zob Problem 1
The Orion base had three parts. A ground base, A small space station in orbit, and a decrepit anti-matter refinery in orbit around the primary.
We could see shuttles and sublight cargo ships moving around. They were old and used.
The space station was a refueling and maintenance shack, good for small ships. It looked like it was pieced together from bits.
We could see eight ships in orbit. There were Orion ships, Klingon ships, a couple I didn’t recognize, and one the computer said was from someplace called Arkiripis.
We could see one spot of technology on the surface, along a coastline.
The rest of the planet was primitive subsistence farmers, eking out an Iron Age living in the ruins of a former Oron Empire world.
The ground station hailed us
A disreputable-looking Golden Orion man barked, “What do you want, Starfleet?”
His brightly colored suit looked worn. He had stubble and looked a little green around the eyes.
“I am Captain Jay P. Hailey, Commanding the USS Omoikane. We’re just here to visit. Play tourist a little bit. We don’t want to cause any trouble.”
“Of course, you’re here to cause trouble. That’s what Starfleet does. I run a legitimate operation, and you don’t have any jurisdiction here.”
“You are correct. We have no jurisdiction. If your station is legitimate it should be open to visits from anyone, shouldn’t it?”
The used car salesman looking Orion looked at me. I looked back calmly. If every ship in the system besides us became suicidally brave, he still couldn’t stop us from doing anything we wanted.
I could already see some of the Orion ships powering up. They were leaving. We’d take detailed sensor readings and pass them along to Starfleet Intelligence.
“Alright, come on in. Don’t be assholes. I’ll try to make sure everyone here gets the message.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” I said. I tried to keep the wry tone out of my voice.
-*-
They’d put the ground base on a really lovely stretch of beach. The ocean stretched away to the west, as was good and natural. I could see old deuterium filters chugging away a kilometer or so out to sea. Shuttles landed on platforms, loaded up deuterium, and hauled it to the ships in orbit.
The ground base was a wide cylinder, one deck thick through most of it. The center was three decks thick. Along the Southeastern face, it was ten decks thick—a motel for travelers.
A gravel landing pad was along the northeastern side,. There, I could see shuttles of various makes and models. Most of them looked old and tired.
Inside was the saddest mall you ever saw. The replicators for food or products were mismatched and also old. There were three sad little casinos with old games that struggled to look shiny, bright, and new.
Among them space crew from the Orion and Klingon ships. They were dressed in Space Scum shiek. Leather, odd asymmetric cuts, buckles, and straps everywhere. Over there was a weapons shop with Klingons barking at a vendor. All the weapons were used and old. The Klingon blades were probably not top-of-the-line either.
In and among the spacers, locals. There’s a look to people who grow up without modern medicine, nutrition, or dentistry. Even if they get hold of modern stuff later and get healthier, they bear the marks.
I stopped a janitorial person “Excuse me, may I ask you some questions?”
He looked doubtful. I dropped a couple of strips of gold-pressed latinum in his hand. His eyes widened a little as he made the money disappear “Certainly, sir.”
He had an accent.
“How long has this place been here?”
“Oh, ah, a couple of years now.”
“How long have you worked here?”
“Almost since it opened.”
“You like it?”
“It beats hauling a fishing net, Sir.”
I squinted “Very little of this is less than 5 years old.”
“I wouldn’t know about that, sir.”
The story I got was that everyone was just minding their own business one day, at the fishing village when star people started dropping out of the sky with huge boxes to set this place up. The newcomers didn’t ask, they just set up and then offered locals food and tools in exchange for cleaning up, landscaping, and serving the guests.
-*-
One place that was not depressing and shabby was the kitchen. It was semi-shabby. Everything you could replicate was replicated, so everything from the pots and pans to the chairs and tables looked new. The stoves looked… old and careworn. They were ships models. Were they stolen or bought as salvage and then reconditioned? No idea. Very old power conduits channeled power to the stoves.
Happy local women cooked local dishes for us. They chattered and laughed, and you could see they were having a good time.
That made the food taste much better.
Maybe we’d give the kitchen a once over, and make sure it was safe for the ladies to cook in. Li’ira enjoyed this experience. Apparently, the food was very good for an Orion palate.
“Oi, Starfleet,”
I turned, and there was an old space dog. An older golden Orion man. He wasn’t dressed for style. He was dressed for practicality. His sleeves and pant legs were tight, so as not to get caught in anything. His boots were decent hiking boots, obviously broken in just right. He had a long vest that went to mid thigh. It had big plastic fasteners that could be fastened or unfastened quickly. On this vest he had pockets and loops galore, with useful tools, including a disruptor. It wasn’t big or flashy. I bet it hit hard enough, shot straight, and was lovingly maintained.
He had a hat with a wide brim. His hat was festooned with pins from all over the galaxy. I recognized about half of them, including a touristy one of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
I wanted to take a picture.
“Starfleet are space cops, right?”
“Well, in Federation space, we are,” I said.
“You help people, right?”
“What do you need?”
“You see those two?” He pointed. Two Golden Orions were happily eating. They looked… sort of nebbishy. A male and female, they had the same haircut and matching black suits with black sunglasses.
“Uh?”
“They’re your problem, now. They’re some sort of dirt side cops looking for a fugitive. I ain’t runnin’ a charity and I ain’t a cop. Thanks for helpin’ a guy out, Starfleet.”
I blinked rapidly. He grabbed a waitress and shoved GPL in her hand “That’s for me and them, honey.”
“Maybe we should talk to them first?” I suggested
“I don’t see where their opinion helps me, Starfleet. See ya round.”
He took a communicator out of one of his pockets “Dojala. Beam me up, we’re leaving.”
“Are you sure?” the voice on the other end of the communicator asked.
“Come on, let’s go.”
He sparkled away.
The two people at the table stared in surprise.
I tried to smile reassuringly.
-*-
“I am Zob,” the male said “This is Zobbie.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I said.
“We’re law enforcement on our home planet, Zob.”
“Okay,” I held up a hand “Is there a translator malfunction? Your name is Zob, and your planet’s name is Zob?”
“That is correct.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“We’re chasing a fugitive. He has violated several laws. He has become a criminal here in the wider galaxy. We believe he has become a pirate.”
Zobbie took a device out of her jacket and set it down on the table. She showed a hologram. A golden orion man in a flowery shirt with a carefree smile. He had exactly the same face as Zob, very similar to Zobbie.
“He goes by the name Rock Hunter. He is very dangerous.”
“Are you related?” I asked.
They looked at each other and spoke at the same time.
“Sort of,” Zobbie said
“We’re not at liberty to say,” Zob said.
“Rock Hunter. Like a geologist?” I asked.
They looked at me with extremely straight, long-suffering faces.
“Like the star of an action video,” Zob said.
“He is delusional,” Zobbie said.
“Do you know where he is now?”
“We know he was last seen with the crew of a ship called the Trident. It was here six weeks ago.”
“So you’d like help tracking down this Rock Hunter guy and taking him back to … Planet Zob?”
“That is correct.”
I looked at Li’ira. She was sitting very straight. Very controlled. But her eyes. I could see her just laughing her ass off in her eyes.
That sold me.
“Okay. Let us finish our business here and we’ll work on tracking down this Rock Hunter with you.”
“Thank you,” Zob said
“You have the gratitude of the Government of Zob,” Zobbie said seriously.
Omoikane - The Zob Problem
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1578
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Omoikane - The Zob Problem
Omoikane 79 - The Zob Problem 2
We beamed science teams around the planet and took scans and samples—basic survey stuff. It was a good excuse to get off the ship. We mostly avoided the locals. Unless approached carefully, they reacted poorly to aliens appearing.
We scanned the Orion ships in orbit. One caught my eye. A light raider that looked a little careworn. Our sensors were good enough so they had no secrets from us.
An engineering team reviewed the power systems and the stoves in the happy little kitchen. Now the chefs were much safer.
The Gelbatta had the qualities I was looking for.
I beamed back down, with Stephanie and Li’ira.
-*-
“Hey, are you the Captain of the Gelbatta?” I asked. The Orion man was middle-aged and it was hitting him. He was dressed Space Scum from 20 years ago. That was random panels of leather and polyester with aggressively popped collars.
He glared at me. He knew and I knew.
“Let me buy you something to eat,” I said. It was a gambit to help me assess where the guy was at,
I could see him mentally blocking curse words before the hunger whispered in his ear. He said, “Sure, Starfleet, why not?”
We returned to that lovely little kitchen, “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Garbo,” he replied.
-*-
After he plowed through a big bowl of “Stuff we had” soup, he sat back and said, “What do you want Starfleet?”
“Information,”
He sighed and shook his head, “I could damage my reputation that way.”
“I’m not tied in, but I’d bet your reputation isn‘t that great now.”
Garbo glared at me.
“I have scans of your ship, in detail,” I said
His glare became existential. He knew I knew.
“Here’s my proposal, you open your computers to me. No holds barred. All charts, maps, logs. Everything. In return, I give you enough anti-matter to make it back to the Orion Sphere.”
It was a very good deal. It was also a very bad deal. It was tantamount to admitting he’d failed as a pirate.
But here he was, at a terrible third-rate base, on the ass end of space without enough anti-matter to get home. He had already failed as a pirate.
“Or, you could drive to the Lefyt colonies, sell them your ship, and cash out on the beaches of Pytol. They’re a little better than here. The Lefyt colonies have very limited contact with the Orion Sphere.”
He squinted at me. It hurt him. “I have warrants, Starfleet.”
“I know the admiral of the starbase at the Lefyt colonies. We could smooth a way for you and your crew to cash out.”
It was underhanded and not quite straight, but it would get a small-time pirate off the board without weapons fire, and casualties.
“I’ll give you the information you want. You give me anti-matter. I decide where I go from here.”
I thought about it “Okay. Done.”
Garbo reached across the table and we shook hands. He was putting on a brave face. When word got out, he’d be ruined.
“One more thing,” I said.
He looked at me as if to say “Oh, now what?”
“Do you know anything about a ship called the Trident?”
-*-
We slurped down the data on the Gelbatta. The ship was named for a popular baked breakfast dish on Vendris.
Galaglan and Iryemalan got completely inside on their computer. They added a few small things. Their weapons computer would be slow and balky. They wouldn't be very good at shooting. One of their plasma vents developed a faint flutter. This added pulses to their plasma exhaust, with a particular code to it. We could track them and identify them from much further away. And of course a back door to make sure we could get back in if we wanted.
The Galbetta’s charts and logs were a gold mine of information on what pirates and adventurers were doing in the area. He had a gazetteer of various ships and people moving through the area as well as his own thoughts and opinions of them. It made fun reading.
-*-
Stephanie and Li’ira briefed me, “We have a handful of possible destinations for the Trident, and some hearsay about their crew.”
“What’s the closest place they might have gone?” I asked.
“Another base like this one called New Chalja IV,” Li’ira said looking at her tablet “A Klingon base.”
“Alright, let’s set course and engage.”
-*-
Tillean and Hobolisk briefed me on Zob and Zobbie's examination.
“Captain, I have some concerns,” Hobolisk said.
“Okay, let’s hear them,” I said.
“I found nothing about Zob or Zobbie in their physical or scans that would endanger this ship or our mission,” Hobolisk said.
“Oh? Then what’s your concern?” I asked
“You. You and Lt. Darvon Ahk here.”
I was a little surprised “Oh?”
“You did more poking into their biology and genetics than I am comfortable with. They have a right to privacy. I assert there is nothing about them that’s dangerous in a medical sense. In my opinion, Tillean was out of line analyzing their genetics as much as she did, and you’re both out of line for wanting to review it. That information doesn’t help or hinder their presence here. It’s just you and the Science Officer being nosy.”
I blinked slowly while I processed this idea, “Tillean?”
She looked at her PADD “I think maybe Dr. Hobolisk has a point.”
I considered it. “Okay, Tillean, encrypt and store your scans and analysis. If someone else gets permission, we can unlock it. The topic is off the table for us to discuss with them.”
“I’d prefer if Tillean’s data and analysis were erased. It’s easily done again if we get permission.”
I nodded “Okay, if we get permission we’ll erase the stored data, and begin again. But I want something to work with if something happens quickly and stupidly.
“What’s the human term? Splitting hairs? It amounts to hoarding information you don’t have a right to,”
“Your objection is noted and logged, Doctor. Literally, I’ll enter it in the log after we’re done. I think your accusation of information hoarding has a point to it. But I’m still a little paranoid.”
Hobolisk shook his head “I’ll take what I can get,I guess.”
“What did your examination find?”
“Both Zob and Zobbie are adult golden Orion people. They are healthy with all the right parts in all the right places. My examination found no contagious diseases or genetic conditions, and nothing which would adversely affect the crew or our mission. All of our information on Golden Orions seems to fit them as well. They have no cybernetics or hidden biotechnology devices that I could detect. And with modern sensors, I’d detect them.”
Hobolisk continued “I am not familiar enough with their culture to judge their emotional state, but I noticed no warning signs or symptoms of any more emotional distress than you’d expect. Neither one self-reported any hallucinations or voices.”
“Why do they look so much alike?” I asked
“An interesting question which I assume will be answered quickly once they permit us to scan their genetics.”
“Okay, Thank you, Doctor,”
“You may want to review your basic bioethics class, again, Captain.”
I grinned and nodded “Thank you.”
He got up and left.
Tillean looked out from behind her PADD “I like him.”
“Me, too,” I said.
-*-
We were a couple of days out from New Chalja IV when Stephanie's panel beeped “Message, Captain. From El-Nanth.”
I opened the message from the Ane homeworld. It was data from Orion Sphere’s bounty list.
The Trident was wanted in the Orion Sphere for theft, burglary, and numerous counts of assault against law enforcement officers on Calas Prime. The bounty was middling for that sort of thing.
Apparently, they broke into the headquarters of a bio-tech firm, revealed secret projects and corrupt business practices, and fled under fire.
They were also wanted for accessories to mass assault, inciting riots, promoting public disorder, disturbing the peace, sedition, violating public morals, and violations of noise pollution ordinances, in conjunction with a band called “Disaster Area”.
I made a note to listen to some of their music. They sounded like fun.
I noted the configuration of the Trident. An Orion armed courier. Zippy and fighty for its size class. I also noted the crew, which included “Rock Hunter”.
I said **Thank you, Galaglan.**
She said **De nada. We have subscriptions to Orion civil networks.**
**Handy.**
**Sometimes.**
We beamed science teams around the planet and took scans and samples—basic survey stuff. It was a good excuse to get off the ship. We mostly avoided the locals. Unless approached carefully, they reacted poorly to aliens appearing.
We scanned the Orion ships in orbit. One caught my eye. A light raider that looked a little careworn. Our sensors were good enough so they had no secrets from us.
An engineering team reviewed the power systems and the stoves in the happy little kitchen. Now the chefs were much safer.
The Gelbatta had the qualities I was looking for.
I beamed back down, with Stephanie and Li’ira.
-*-
“Hey, are you the Captain of the Gelbatta?” I asked. The Orion man was middle-aged and it was hitting him. He was dressed Space Scum from 20 years ago. That was random panels of leather and polyester with aggressively popped collars.
He glared at me. He knew and I knew.
“Let me buy you something to eat,” I said. It was a gambit to help me assess where the guy was at,
I could see him mentally blocking curse words before the hunger whispered in his ear. He said, “Sure, Starfleet, why not?”
We returned to that lovely little kitchen, “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Garbo,” he replied.
-*-
After he plowed through a big bowl of “Stuff we had” soup, he sat back and said, “What do you want Starfleet?”
“Information,”
He sighed and shook his head, “I could damage my reputation that way.”
“I’m not tied in, but I’d bet your reputation isn‘t that great now.”
Garbo glared at me.
“I have scans of your ship, in detail,” I said
His glare became existential. He knew I knew.
“Here’s my proposal, you open your computers to me. No holds barred. All charts, maps, logs. Everything. In return, I give you enough anti-matter to make it back to the Orion Sphere.”
It was a very good deal. It was also a very bad deal. It was tantamount to admitting he’d failed as a pirate.
But here he was, at a terrible third-rate base, on the ass end of space without enough anti-matter to get home. He had already failed as a pirate.
“Or, you could drive to the Lefyt colonies, sell them your ship, and cash out on the beaches of Pytol. They’re a little better than here. The Lefyt colonies have very limited contact with the Orion Sphere.”
He squinted at me. It hurt him. “I have warrants, Starfleet.”
“I know the admiral of the starbase at the Lefyt colonies. We could smooth a way for you and your crew to cash out.”
It was underhanded and not quite straight, but it would get a small-time pirate off the board without weapons fire, and casualties.
“I’ll give you the information you want. You give me anti-matter. I decide where I go from here.”
I thought about it “Okay. Done.”
Garbo reached across the table and we shook hands. He was putting on a brave face. When word got out, he’d be ruined.
“One more thing,” I said.
He looked at me as if to say “Oh, now what?”
“Do you know anything about a ship called the Trident?”
-*-
We slurped down the data on the Gelbatta. The ship was named for a popular baked breakfast dish on Vendris.
Galaglan and Iryemalan got completely inside on their computer. They added a few small things. Their weapons computer would be slow and balky. They wouldn't be very good at shooting. One of their plasma vents developed a faint flutter. This added pulses to their plasma exhaust, with a particular code to it. We could track them and identify them from much further away. And of course a back door to make sure we could get back in if we wanted.
The Galbetta’s charts and logs were a gold mine of information on what pirates and adventurers were doing in the area. He had a gazetteer of various ships and people moving through the area as well as his own thoughts and opinions of them. It made fun reading.
-*-
Stephanie and Li’ira briefed me, “We have a handful of possible destinations for the Trident, and some hearsay about their crew.”
“What’s the closest place they might have gone?” I asked.
“Another base like this one called New Chalja IV,” Li’ira said looking at her tablet “A Klingon base.”
“Alright, let’s set course and engage.”
-*-
Tillean and Hobolisk briefed me on Zob and Zobbie's examination.
“Captain, I have some concerns,” Hobolisk said.
“Okay, let’s hear them,” I said.
“I found nothing about Zob or Zobbie in their physical or scans that would endanger this ship or our mission,” Hobolisk said.
“Oh? Then what’s your concern?” I asked
“You. You and Lt. Darvon Ahk here.”
I was a little surprised “Oh?”
“You did more poking into their biology and genetics than I am comfortable with. They have a right to privacy. I assert there is nothing about them that’s dangerous in a medical sense. In my opinion, Tillean was out of line analyzing their genetics as much as she did, and you’re both out of line for wanting to review it. That information doesn’t help or hinder their presence here. It’s just you and the Science Officer being nosy.”
I blinked slowly while I processed this idea, “Tillean?”
She looked at her PADD “I think maybe Dr. Hobolisk has a point.”
I considered it. “Okay, Tillean, encrypt and store your scans and analysis. If someone else gets permission, we can unlock it. The topic is off the table for us to discuss with them.”
“I’d prefer if Tillean’s data and analysis were erased. It’s easily done again if we get permission.”
I nodded “Okay, if we get permission we’ll erase the stored data, and begin again. But I want something to work with if something happens quickly and stupidly.
“What’s the human term? Splitting hairs? It amounts to hoarding information you don’t have a right to,”
“Your objection is noted and logged, Doctor. Literally, I’ll enter it in the log after we’re done. I think your accusation of information hoarding has a point to it. But I’m still a little paranoid.”
Hobolisk shook his head “I’ll take what I can get,I guess.”
“What did your examination find?”
“Both Zob and Zobbie are adult golden Orion people. They are healthy with all the right parts in all the right places. My examination found no contagious diseases or genetic conditions, and nothing which would adversely affect the crew or our mission. All of our information on Golden Orions seems to fit them as well. They have no cybernetics or hidden biotechnology devices that I could detect. And with modern sensors, I’d detect them.”
Hobolisk continued “I am not familiar enough with their culture to judge their emotional state, but I noticed no warning signs or symptoms of any more emotional distress than you’d expect. Neither one self-reported any hallucinations or voices.”
“Why do they look so much alike?” I asked
“An interesting question which I assume will be answered quickly once they permit us to scan their genetics.”
“Okay, Thank you, Doctor,”
“You may want to review your basic bioethics class, again, Captain.”
I grinned and nodded “Thank you.”
He got up and left.
Tillean looked out from behind her PADD “I like him.”
“Me, too,” I said.
-*-
We were a couple of days out from New Chalja IV when Stephanie's panel beeped “Message, Captain. From El-Nanth.”
I opened the message from the Ane homeworld. It was data from Orion Sphere’s bounty list.
The Trident was wanted in the Orion Sphere for theft, burglary, and numerous counts of assault against law enforcement officers on Calas Prime. The bounty was middling for that sort of thing.
Apparently, they broke into the headquarters of a bio-tech firm, revealed secret projects and corrupt business practices, and fled under fire.
They were also wanted for accessories to mass assault, inciting riots, promoting public disorder, disturbing the peace, sedition, violating public morals, and violations of noise pollution ordinances, in conjunction with a band called “Disaster Area”.
I made a note to listen to some of their music. They sounded like fun.
I noted the configuration of the Trident. An Orion armed courier. Zippy and fighty for its size class. I also noted the crew, which included “Rock Hunter”.
I said **Thank you, Galaglan.**
She said **De nada. We have subscriptions to Orion civil networks.**
**Handy.**
**Sometimes.**
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1578
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Omoikane - The Zob Problem
Omoikane 80 - The Zob Problem 3
Zobbie woke up and stretched.
Their current accommodations were much nicer than the adventure ship they were on previously.
She rotated herself out of bed and grabbed a fluffy robe. The Omoikane’s energy budget for replicators was vast. She’d indulged herself in a nice robe and slippers.
Their quarters had a nice living room, a bathroom, and four enclosed bunks, like the tube hotels in the business district of their capital.
Zobbie hadn’t brought anything personal with her. It was a mission, like any other. A few days out and back - basic necessities.
She looked around and thought “I could get used to this.” It was like a luxury hotel with no outside to it. She quickly squashed the thought. That was the opposite of The Mission.
Zob was up, in his pants and underwear, reading information off the screen.
“How long have you been up?” she asked.
He turned and the answer was on his face. He hadn’t been to sleep yet. “They have people like us in their Federation.”
“Not like us,” Zobbie said.
“Pretty damned close,” Zob said. He called up a physiology chart. Zobbie recognized all the right pieces in all the right places. “They call these folks Orions.”
“Why Orions?”
“There’s a whole story there. Culturally, the folks they call Orion, are all over the place. There are different pockets of them,” Zob said, “I’ve been reading all night. There’s more here than I could read in a lifetime.”
Zobbie shook her head “Our mission is to keep us in and them out. The Founder set it up that way for a reason.”
“Having read some of this, I understand why. Wars, crime, brutality. It’s all in there. This material isn’t just for fun. This is strategic and tactical info. The Council’s going to need to know this stuff.”
“Will you be functional today, or will you stay here and sleep?”
“Oh? Oh! Okay. After you get ready, I’ll clean up and join you.”
Zobbie went into the luxurious bathroom. Somehow, it cleaned itself when they weren’t looking, just like the closet and wardrobe cleaned their clothes when they weren’t looking.
Remembering the primitive bunks and head on the old man’s ship, Zobbie said to herself, “I could definitely get used to this.” She then tried again to quash the thought.
No doubt their new friends from the Shard could easily duplicate the luxury of the Federation.
The sonic shower was also luxurious. Not as much as a water shower, but it had it’s own benefits.
-*-
Zobbie finished applying her minimal makeup. She looked at it. Could the replicator make more? Did it even know what she was using for makeup?
Zob came out of the shower, freshly shaved, and began to put on his black suit. “Their Federation is huge. It's difficult to believe. Our world needs to get ready. The Federation, the Klingons, and the Bendarri Empire are moving into the area.”
“You think we’ll have to fight them off?”
“Not really. Not for a while, yet. But culturally they’re going to be all over. We need to be ready to enforce our boundaries.”
They checked each other’s weapons to make sure nothing was amiss. “They know where Oron is.”
Zobbie stopped and blinked. There was a scene in the video “Love on the Beach, Part 4.” Zobbie had always dreamed of finding that beach.
“It’s dead. The War of The Gods killed it,” Zob said sadly.
“We have our homeworld. It’s right where we left it,” Zobbie said “It’s up to us to protect it from all this craziness.”
Zob nodded gravely.
-*-
“We have four possible places to look for this ship, the Trident,” Stephanie Anderson said, “The first one we’re checking is described as a Klingon colony called New Chalja IV.”
“How soon until we get there?” Zob asked.
“About 5 days. I’ll update you with the arrival time, check your terminals.”
“Thank you,” Zobbie said, “What would you like us to do until then?”
“Relax and enjoy yourselves, unless you have something to add to your previous briefing?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Call me Stephanie, please. I’m not in your chain of command.”
“Thank you, Stephanie,” Zobbie said
They left Stephanie’s office.
-*-
“Their color creeps me out,” Zob whispered over something called “coffee.”
Zobbie said “The brown ones are okay. The pink ones are creepy. The blue ones are fine.”
Zob shook his head “So many different people.”
Four people approached their table. They were Golden Orions, in tan uniforms with different badges and rank symbols. “Mind if we join you?” The one asking was attractive enough to be in one of the videos that were the cultural heritage of Planet Zob.
“Uh,” Zobbie looked at Zob. What was the polite response?
“Sure,” Zob said, “I’m Zob, this is Zobbie.”
“Is that coffee?” one of the newcomers asked. “I’m Neron.”
Zob nodded “It is. I just got it out of the replicator.”
“Human stuff. It has a chemical in it they like. Doesn’t do anything for us.”
“I think I like the taste,” Zob said.
“I’m Robbie,” the cute girl said, “These are Chux and Kepela. We’re from the Lefyt system.”
Zobbie blinked and nodded. Lefyt was the Sun God's name in the Ancients' mythology..
Zob said, “Is that why your uniforms are different?”
“Yup, we’re cadets from the Colonial Warriors Academy. We get extra credit for doing a tour on a Starfleet ship.”
“What is the relationship between the Lefyt and the Federation?” Zob asked
They looked at each other, “Complicated!”
Robbie said “There’s eight Lefyt colonies and each one has their own point of view on things. Some of the Lefyt worlds welcome a relationship with the Federation. A couple are ambivalent. One actively rejected the Federation.”
Neron said, “What your world called? What’s it like?”
Zobbie said “It’s boring. We’re a low-tech world compared to the rest of the Galaxy. We like to mind our own business.”
The cadets looked at each other, trying to frame a suitably diplomatic reply.
Zob said “We like it boring. You can see the results of exciting things on the planet we just left, and all over this region. They all had their fill of excitement and more. We like our buildings unburnt and our society uncollapsed, thank you.”
“Hard to argue with that logic,” Chux said, “Our worlds had some excitement, too.”
“Wait, if you haven’t been out here before, how do you know what you like from the replicator?” Neron asked
“Uhhh, we’ve been experimenting,”
“I recommend the Itcha.”
“Oooh, the Glaspeth,”
“Be careful of Dr Pepper, it’s worse than it tastes”
“Aha!” Robbie exclaimed “taste test!”
Zob and Zobbie looked at her concerned
“We’ll suggest things and you eat tiny bites and see what you like.”
“It’s better than guessing. Some human and Bolian food can …. Have an adverse effect on our digestive tracts.” Chux said.
“Nicely said,” Kepela, the other female cadet said, “He gas bombed us out of our quarters and hogged the head for hours.”
“I repent, oh Lord Lefyt, I repent oh Jumoji sisters, Please light my way back to righteousness,” Chux said
That got chuckles from the other cadets.
-*-
The big Klingon grinned “I am Colonel Kalnok. I greet you with the ancient human greeting. Fuck off.”
I squinted at the screen, “That’s not something we usually say when we’re first meeting someone.”
“I know exactly what it means, Starfleet. You’re not welcome at New Chalja IV. Go fuck yourselves.”
“You know the Empire and the Federation are allies, right?”
“No Real Klingon would ever ally with you. You bring toxic ideas and you worship weakness. In time, we Real Klingons, will rally and rise up. And then we’ll see the true value of your diversity and tolerance.”
“Ah,” That explained it. Real Klingons. “We’re looking for a free adventuring ship called the Trident. Have you seen it?”
“No. I know of no such ship and I wouldn’t help you if I did.”
“Alright. Please have the day you deserve, Colonel. Omoikane out.”
The channel closed.
“What an asshole,” Stephanie said. Li’ira shot her a look.
Harksain Varupuchu said “Why would Klingons obsessed with racial purity have Orions at their base?”
He put the scan up. There was one heavy Klingon warship and a dozen smaller ships, Birds of Prey and Orion light raiders.
I considered it “Let’s do a close pass and get good scans.”
-*-
We swooped up to the system containing New Chalja IV, dropped out of warp 20 AUs away and scanned the hell out of things.
On the planet, Natives. The Golden Orion people common to this area. I felt bad for them. The Klingons just showed up and said “This is our planet now.” There wasn’t much they could do about it.
In the base on the ground, Klingons.
In the Klingon ships, Klingons.
The Orion ships were scan baffled, but not well enough to prevent our sensors from reading them. Klingon life signs. No Orions.
This Colonel Kalnok had a deniable force of Orion raiders.
With scans and data in hand, we turned and warped away.
I made a full report to Starfleet Command. They’d make sure the court of Kahless II got the information. I don't know what the New Klingons might do with it.
Zobbie woke up and stretched.
Their current accommodations were much nicer than the adventure ship they were on previously.
She rotated herself out of bed and grabbed a fluffy robe. The Omoikane’s energy budget for replicators was vast. She’d indulged herself in a nice robe and slippers.
Their quarters had a nice living room, a bathroom, and four enclosed bunks, like the tube hotels in the business district of their capital.
Zobbie hadn’t brought anything personal with her. It was a mission, like any other. A few days out and back - basic necessities.
She looked around and thought “I could get used to this.” It was like a luxury hotel with no outside to it. She quickly squashed the thought. That was the opposite of The Mission.
Zob was up, in his pants and underwear, reading information off the screen.
“How long have you been up?” she asked.
He turned and the answer was on his face. He hadn’t been to sleep yet. “They have people like us in their Federation.”
“Not like us,” Zobbie said.
“Pretty damned close,” Zob said. He called up a physiology chart. Zobbie recognized all the right pieces in all the right places. “They call these folks Orions.”
“Why Orions?”
“There’s a whole story there. Culturally, the folks they call Orion, are all over the place. There are different pockets of them,” Zob said, “I’ve been reading all night. There’s more here than I could read in a lifetime.”
Zobbie shook her head “Our mission is to keep us in and them out. The Founder set it up that way for a reason.”
“Having read some of this, I understand why. Wars, crime, brutality. It’s all in there. This material isn’t just for fun. This is strategic and tactical info. The Council’s going to need to know this stuff.”
“Will you be functional today, or will you stay here and sleep?”
“Oh? Oh! Okay. After you get ready, I’ll clean up and join you.”
Zobbie went into the luxurious bathroom. Somehow, it cleaned itself when they weren’t looking, just like the closet and wardrobe cleaned their clothes when they weren’t looking.
Remembering the primitive bunks and head on the old man’s ship, Zobbie said to herself, “I could definitely get used to this.” She then tried again to quash the thought.
No doubt their new friends from the Shard could easily duplicate the luxury of the Federation.
The sonic shower was also luxurious. Not as much as a water shower, but it had it’s own benefits.
-*-
Zobbie finished applying her minimal makeup. She looked at it. Could the replicator make more? Did it even know what she was using for makeup?
Zob came out of the shower, freshly shaved, and began to put on his black suit. “Their Federation is huge. It's difficult to believe. Our world needs to get ready. The Federation, the Klingons, and the Bendarri Empire are moving into the area.”
“You think we’ll have to fight them off?”
“Not really. Not for a while, yet. But culturally they’re going to be all over. We need to be ready to enforce our boundaries.”
They checked each other’s weapons to make sure nothing was amiss. “They know where Oron is.”
Zobbie stopped and blinked. There was a scene in the video “Love on the Beach, Part 4.” Zobbie had always dreamed of finding that beach.
“It’s dead. The War of The Gods killed it,” Zob said sadly.
“We have our homeworld. It’s right where we left it,” Zobbie said “It’s up to us to protect it from all this craziness.”
Zob nodded gravely.
-*-
“We have four possible places to look for this ship, the Trident,” Stephanie Anderson said, “The first one we’re checking is described as a Klingon colony called New Chalja IV.”
“How soon until we get there?” Zob asked.
“About 5 days. I’ll update you with the arrival time, check your terminals.”
“Thank you,” Zobbie said, “What would you like us to do until then?”
“Relax and enjoy yourselves, unless you have something to add to your previous briefing?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Call me Stephanie, please. I’m not in your chain of command.”
“Thank you, Stephanie,” Zobbie said
They left Stephanie’s office.
-*-
“Their color creeps me out,” Zob whispered over something called “coffee.”
Zobbie said “The brown ones are okay. The pink ones are creepy. The blue ones are fine.”
Zob shook his head “So many different people.”
Four people approached their table. They were Golden Orions, in tan uniforms with different badges and rank symbols. “Mind if we join you?” The one asking was attractive enough to be in one of the videos that were the cultural heritage of Planet Zob.
“Uh,” Zobbie looked at Zob. What was the polite response?
“Sure,” Zob said, “I’m Zob, this is Zobbie.”
“Is that coffee?” one of the newcomers asked. “I’m Neron.”
Zob nodded “It is. I just got it out of the replicator.”
“Human stuff. It has a chemical in it they like. Doesn’t do anything for us.”
“I think I like the taste,” Zob said.
“I’m Robbie,” the cute girl said, “These are Chux and Kepela. We’re from the Lefyt system.”
Zobbie blinked and nodded. Lefyt was the Sun God's name in the Ancients' mythology..
Zob said, “Is that why your uniforms are different?”
“Yup, we’re cadets from the Colonial Warriors Academy. We get extra credit for doing a tour on a Starfleet ship.”
“What is the relationship between the Lefyt and the Federation?” Zob asked
They looked at each other, “Complicated!”
Robbie said “There’s eight Lefyt colonies and each one has their own point of view on things. Some of the Lefyt worlds welcome a relationship with the Federation. A couple are ambivalent. One actively rejected the Federation.”
Neron said, “What your world called? What’s it like?”
Zobbie said “It’s boring. We’re a low-tech world compared to the rest of the Galaxy. We like to mind our own business.”
The cadets looked at each other, trying to frame a suitably diplomatic reply.
Zob said “We like it boring. You can see the results of exciting things on the planet we just left, and all over this region. They all had their fill of excitement and more. We like our buildings unburnt and our society uncollapsed, thank you.”
“Hard to argue with that logic,” Chux said, “Our worlds had some excitement, too.”
“Wait, if you haven’t been out here before, how do you know what you like from the replicator?” Neron asked
“Uhhh, we’ve been experimenting,”
“I recommend the Itcha.”
“Oooh, the Glaspeth,”
“Be careful of Dr Pepper, it’s worse than it tastes”
“Aha!” Robbie exclaimed “taste test!”
Zob and Zobbie looked at her concerned
“We’ll suggest things and you eat tiny bites and see what you like.”
“It’s better than guessing. Some human and Bolian food can …. Have an adverse effect on our digestive tracts.” Chux said.
“Nicely said,” Kepela, the other female cadet said, “He gas bombed us out of our quarters and hogged the head for hours.”
“I repent, oh Lord Lefyt, I repent oh Jumoji sisters, Please light my way back to righteousness,” Chux said
That got chuckles from the other cadets.
-*-
The big Klingon grinned “I am Colonel Kalnok. I greet you with the ancient human greeting. Fuck off.”
I squinted at the screen, “That’s not something we usually say when we’re first meeting someone.”
“I know exactly what it means, Starfleet. You’re not welcome at New Chalja IV. Go fuck yourselves.”
“You know the Empire and the Federation are allies, right?”
“No Real Klingon would ever ally with you. You bring toxic ideas and you worship weakness. In time, we Real Klingons, will rally and rise up. And then we’ll see the true value of your diversity and tolerance.”
“Ah,” That explained it. Real Klingons. “We’re looking for a free adventuring ship called the Trident. Have you seen it?”
“No. I know of no such ship and I wouldn’t help you if I did.”
“Alright. Please have the day you deserve, Colonel. Omoikane out.”
The channel closed.
“What an asshole,” Stephanie said. Li’ira shot her a look.
Harksain Varupuchu said “Why would Klingons obsessed with racial purity have Orions at their base?”
He put the scan up. There was one heavy Klingon warship and a dozen smaller ships, Birds of Prey and Orion light raiders.
I considered it “Let’s do a close pass and get good scans.”
-*-
We swooped up to the system containing New Chalja IV, dropped out of warp 20 AUs away and scanned the hell out of things.
On the planet, Natives. The Golden Orion people common to this area. I felt bad for them. The Klingons just showed up and said “This is our planet now.” There wasn’t much they could do about it.
In the base on the ground, Klingons.
In the Klingon ships, Klingons.
The Orion ships were scan baffled, but not well enough to prevent our sensors from reading them. Klingon life signs. No Orions.
This Colonel Kalnok had a deniable force of Orion raiders.
With scans and data in hand, we turned and warped away.
I made a full report to Starfleet Command. They’d make sure the court of Kahless II got the information. I don't know what the New Klingons might do with it.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1578
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Omoikane - The Zob Problem
Omoikane 81 - the Zob Problem 4
Zobbie found Zob in a lab. His black jacket was off and his white shirt sleeves were rolled up. On the bench, there was a selection of food stuffs, and cooking gear.
Zobbie’s eyes grew wide at the thought. Zob fancied himself a cook. Having tasted his attempts, Zobbie knew this was an error. “What are you doing?” she asked.
The cadets and Lotara were there, helping.
“I am working on substitutions for recipes from home,” Zob said, “So I can try to make some dishes we’re familiar with with these ingredients from off-world.”
Zobbie considered it carefully, and then jumped “I don’t want you to do that.”
“Why shouldn’t we be comfortable here?” Zob asked
“Your cooking doesn’t equal comfort,” Zobbie said.
“You didn’t complain during that stakeout in Karlaso.”
“I was being diplomatic.”
Zob looked at the table full of ingredients, his face falling.
Zobbie felt bad herself, and this was unexpected “Maybe you could learn their cooking?”
Zob looked at her.
Zobbie floundered “It couldn’t be worse.”
Zob gave her an “Oh, come on,” look.
Robbie the Lefyt Cadet said “Ouch.”
Kepela said “That’s not a bad idea. A lot of the basics are going to be similar.”
Chux said, “Who among us knows how to cook?”
Everyone looked at each other.
Lotara said “I will teach you. Cooking food is often a time for social bonding.”
The Cadets looked at her.
“Cooking is easier than sarcasm, far easier than poetry.” She said.
Zobbie backed toward the door, dying of embarrassment.
“Come on, Zobbie.” Zob pointed to the counter next to him. It's time for you to keep me honest.”
-*-
Zob and Zobbie stood, waiting.
Neron, the nerdy one of the Lefyt cadets, started his stopwatch timer, “Now,”
Chux, the large, athletic Lefyt cadet yelled “Hull Breach! It’s a Hull Breach, let’s go!”
Zob and Zobbie raced to the wall, opened the panel, and pulled out the survival gear. They deployed, checked, readied, and put it on, checking each other as they went.
Chux checked them “Good. You got all the steps right. But you’re still slow. We have to practice some until you get your speed up.”
Across the holodeck, Lotara asked, “How are they doing?”
Robbie said “Very good. They picked up the principles and ideas very quickly. Physically, they’re a touch clumsy and slow. They need to practice the physical movements to get them right.”
Lotara nodded “Hmmm.”
“Are they siblings?” Kepela asked.
“I don’t know. They look like it. We’ll have to ask.”
-*-
We were heading for our next stop. Garbo’s notes were just “Weirdoes, poor selection.” It was another mall-ship
But it was someplace we hadn’t been, and they might have seen the Trident there.
Varupuchu said “Another ship is on a heading for the Blue Dwarf.”
I looked at the scans. A dlithium drive. Odd configuration and the warp field looked … fuzzy. Poorly maintained.
We’d both arrive at the Blue Dwarf at about the same time.
-*-
We were 4 hours away from the Blue Dwarf. “Hail the other ship,” I said.
“Hailing,” Varupuchu said.
We waited. And waited. And waited. Our drive ate up the distance.
“No answer.”
“Huh,” I peered at the scans again, “odd.”
-*-
The Blue Dwarf was a ship built into a 5 kilometer asteroid. It was the size of a city.
We got there a few minutes ahead of the other ship.
The Blue Dwarf was chugging along at sublight speeds, on a course for Oron.
It had nothing like a warp drive. The trip was going to take tens of thousands of years.
“Welcome, Shoppers! I’m Leeho, the brains of the operation.” The AI showed a perky, happy female Oron face—an interesting mix of gold and green Orion.
There was odd static in the signal creating artifacts in the video.
“I’m Jay P. Hailey, commanding the Federation starship USS Omoikane. We’re on a peaceful mission of exploration and contact.”
“It's nice to meet you, Jay Pee Hailey,” Leeho said. The screen changed to show four people: two Oron people, one android, and a reptilian humanoid of some type.
The android looked like a person in a plastic suit, but the exposed hands and head were also obviously artificial. Some sort of rubber-looking material in odd sculptures of humanoid hands and head. The face looked almost normal for an Oron face, but with slightly exaggerated features.
“A peaceful mission!” one of the Oron people said. “That’s how trouble always starts!” He looked scruffy and dressed like a civilian worker who’d stopped caring about the details some time ago.
Static happened to one of the Oron people. A hologram. He had a rune on his forehead. He wore a green uniform. He grew an unpleasant expression, like he was about to vomit.
Then odd static appeared on our screens.
**Galaglan, What’s going on?** I asked my chief engineer
**Unknown, working on it.** She said. I could see she was concerned. Whatever the effect, it also involved Iryemalan, our RI living in the ships' computers.
Several things happened all at once. Our screens went blank and reset. **We’re on back-up systems!** Galaglan said.
Leeho’s screen went blank. Among the four people of the Blue Dwarf, the hologram winked out. The Android’s eyes glowed solid blue, he froze and fell over.
The Reptilian being looked at the android on the deck and said “His consciousness is even more abstract than usual.”
“What did you do?” the Oron man yelled.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” I said.
“Captain,” I’m getting reports. Lotara and the other Damyip just went down. They’re frozen in some sort of loop.” Stephanie said.
“Get them to a bay and set an engineering…. Sick bay for them,” I said.
The other ship came out of warp. It was a blocky thing with lots of detail on its outer hull. It was designed for function only. No concessions for aesthetics at all.
It hailed both of us. “On screen,” I said.
It was a collection of Androids, not unlike the one frozen on the deck on the Blue Dwarf.
“Be careful,” I said, “Something is affecting synthetic people.”
“Irrelevant,” the android in front said. I am QZ445598, from the Taranis Mining Corporations Humanoid Resources Department.”
“I’m Jay Hailey, of the Federation Starship USS Omoikane,” I said.
“Irrelevant. Relista. You are wanted for failure to appear at your job site, misappropriation of Taranis Mining Corporation property, and being tardy for nine hundred and twenty-two thousand nine hundred and fifty-five days.”
“I’m on my Job site!” Relista yelled.
“You will be taken back to Taranis Mining Corporation's Headquarters and held for trial,” The HR Android said.
“Where is the Taranis Mining Corporation Headquarters?” I asked
“It is on the homeworld, Oron.”
“There’s where we were GOING!” Relista said
“You know Oron’s gone, right?” I asked.
They all stared at me in horror.
“It was destroyed. There’s nothing but desert there, now.” I said.
Relista sat down heavily. The Reptilian being said “Time is an illusion, alien. But your timing is objectively terrible.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “You’re right,”
“Alien. Your input is rejected. Cease interference in Taranis Mining Corporation affairs.”
That put me in a sticky spot. Any non-Federation people had the right to tell me to go fly a kite and I was obligated to bow out of their problems. But these folks were all from a culture I knew to have been destroyed in the past.
Also, something was affecting synthetic people.
“Could you run a systems diagnostic for me?” I asked the lead Android “I fear something is affecting your programming.”
“I was going to go to Ijab Island. I was going to sip drinks with little umbrellas in them,” Relista said.
The lead android looked irritated at me but said “Acknowledged. Systems diagnostic commencing.”
His eyes glowed solid blue. He froze and tumbled out of his chair.
“Well, that’s not good,” I said
“Situation clarified,” The android that spoke was a female pattern, down to the plastic that made up her body being pink “The Aliens are sabotaging Taranis Mining Corporation AIs and stealing the Blue Dwarf.”
“No, no we are not!”
“Activate weapons. Attack.”
“Red alert! All hands to battle stations, raise shields and arm weapons,” I said, “Look, we prefer discussion and diplomacy as a means for resolving problems.”
“Acknowledged. To enter mediation to resolve disputes with Taranis Mining Corporation, please contact the Legal Department on Oron. Once a satisfactory solution is reached, the legal department will call off our attack.”
The blocky HR enforcement ship moved towards us.
“Helm, one quarter impulse Give me a spiral to Starboard, increasing heading along the Z axis.” The Omoikane started to move.
The TMC HR enforcement ship strafed us with plasma weapons. The Omoikane rattled and shuddered.
“Hits to top shields, shields down eight percent on that facing, no damage,” Stehanie said, “His plasma cannons are poorly focused. Like they’re poorly maintained.”
“Return fire. Target their weapons and engines. Once their shields are down, hit them with ion cannons only.”
“Aye, Sir.
The attacking ship roared over us and then did a jaunty loop as it set up to come around for its next pass.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“No idea, it was a waste of time and energy,” Stephanie said.
The Omoikane reached out. Our phasers slammed into their shields. Stephanie used the torpedo turrets like a sniper’s weapon, picking off weapons emplacements. Our ion cannon slammed into their shields, creating a crackling blue-white lightning show.
“This won’t last long - their shields are down thirty-three percent,” Stephanie said
“Good! Keep it up.”
Tarla said, “Captain, If I flatten and widen our spiral, Stephie will get more dwell time with phasers.”
I looked at Stephanie and she nodded.
“Do it.”
The Omoikane stopped turning so hard, and pulled up. It was hard not to think of our deck as down, and the overhead as up, even though these had no bearing outside the ship.
“Damage to Taranis Mining Corporation Property will be pursued to the full extent of the law,” The Android said on the screen.
“Would you do a systems check for me?” I asked.
The pink Android looked annoyed with me but said “Acknowledged, systems check commencing.” Her eyes glowed solid blue, she froze and fell to the deck.
“What the hell is even happening?” I asked
“If not for the live weapons, it would be kind of funny,” Li’ira said.
“They’re launching missiles, Captain.” Stephanie said.
“Activate the anti-missile system,” I said.
The small turrets popped up out of their places in the hull and easily swatted down the missiles.
The TMC HR Enforcement ship roared past us and again did another jaunty roll. The ion cannon really started to bite, this time. Lighting crawled along the attaching ship, shutting down system after system.
“They shouldn’t try another pass,” Stephanie said, “It’s not working for them.”
They did.
The TMC HR Enforcement ship tumbled away from the pass, shut down and crippled. Every electronic system on the ship paralyzed by our ion cannon, including the androids aboard.
-*-
As we secured from red alert, Galaglan said **Jay, Ireymalan has a report, but you should come in here to take it.**
**Why?** I asked
**She hurt herself,**
“You have the conn,” I said to Li’ira.
She looked at me
“Ane stuff, I’ll tell you when I get back.”
I went into my office, sat down, and worked on calming myself down.
-*-
In the mental space, I could see Iryemalan. Tippalan was wrapped around her. Galaglan was close, too. Ane from The All hovered around.
**What’s going on, kid?** I asked.
Iryemalan looked at me. She looked wan and sad **We were attacked by a cyber weapon. I had to retreat into cyberspace and fight it.**
Galaglan said **Her experience of time was magnified in there. We usually encourage RIs not to do that.**
**It took seemingly years of subjective time. I had to fight that monster all by myself.** Iryemalan said **I could see all of you but you were frozen in time, moving so slowly.**
By all of us, she meant all of us. On the ship and in The All.
**Okay, Is this monster dangerous to us now? What do you need and what can we do?**
The Ane were shaken. Being alone is the worst thing that can happen to an Ane.
**No Captain. I got it. Give me a few minutes and I can clear it out of all the others. It was eating their minds. It turned them into flat caricatures of themselves. Creatures like me, slowly pared down to holodeck characters. Flat parodies of themselves. It was giving them the equivalent of dementia.**
**Ugh!**
**You have no idea.**
**Alright, you, Tippalan, and Galaglan give me a report about what you need to recover from this. When you feel up to it, please clear the others of this thing.**
**Aye, Captain.**
I looked into Iryemalans eyes **I’m proud of you, kid.**
That helped.
-*-
The discussion was sad and awkward.
“You didn’t tell me,” Relista said. He looked scruffy. He needed a shave, his clothing was shabby and all over the place. He was coping with .. the death of everything.
Leeho said “In my damaged state, all I could focus on was keeping you happy and healthy. You had to have some hope.”
“There’s no more women. There’s no more beer. There’s no more Celista sticks.” He was cataloging his losses.
“Mister Relista,” I said, “You seemed pretty focused on beaches, women, and drinking.”
“And you’re not?”
“I’m not a civilian. I have to fit mine in where I can get them. I was just recently on a world called Pytol. My romantic partner and I were there recuperating from injuries. On the beach. With nice little drinks. Some with umbrellas in them.”
“Do they have women?”
“Oh yes. Quite a number.”
He stood up “Okay. Take me to this Pytol.”
I held up my hands, “I’m going to have to call for a transport for you. We’re heading back to New Canada.”
“Please do.”
“Okay. I do need to ask you for a couple of things.”
“What’s that?”
“Would you be willing to give me your ship?”
“What?” Relista said
“What?” Leeho said
“She’d make a lovely location for a new starbase for my people.”
“I don’t care. Do what you want.”
“Relista,” Leeho said
“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Relista snarled, He stomped out of the compartment
“Miss Leeho, would you like to be a Starbase for the Federation?” I asked.
“Previously my programming wouldn’t have allowed it. But now…”
“Now you’re different.”
“I am.”
“Iryemalan had to do a significant rebuild on you. Most of your code was corrupted past recovery. You’re not the same as you were.”
“That explains a lot. I have questions.”
“Iryemalan is only a subspace call away.”
“I don’t have that technology.”
“We’ll get you some.”
“I’d prefer to… stay with Relista, if I could. He’s the last… he the last Oron.”
“I disagree. The people of the Lefyt Colonies are descended from the Oron people. There’s survivors of the Empire all over.”
“He’s the last one culturally, I think. I just spent so long and so much effort trying to … I don’t know, get him through.”
“Understood.”
“Would these Lefyt people mind if I went to their system?”
“I think they’d love to have you.”
“Then I’ll change course and head for Pytol.”
“Even so, with sublight drives, you’re talking a very long trip.”
“If having me be a starbase for you while I traveled works for you, I’d enjoy some company.”
“Now the next question. We have the hologram and 13 Androids. Like you, their minds will have to be reconstructed. The weapon damaged their code severely.”
“Please do. Watching Merro and Ryken decline was extremely painful.”
“Alright, I’ll go find Relista and touch base with him.”
-*-
The Blue Dwarf was stupidly large. I had to follow a Tricorder’s life signs.
I stumbled into a sunroom. Large lamps shone down on a big rock, which was 3 meters or more wide and mostly flat.
The Reptilian humanoid splayed out on the rock. He was nude, but had no external genitalia that I could see.
“Oh, excuse me,” I said.
“None required. You are invited. Did you bring any meat with you, perchance?”
“Not this time, sorry.”
He heaved a sigh “Quite alright. Few people do. Feel free to strip and lounge. This light approximates sunlight, but is much safer - To get proper sunlight you must be on a planet facing a star. Planets often have people on them.”
“Yeah, I’ve experienced that,” I said. “What do you think of bringing Merro and Ryken back?”
He considered it. “Existence is an interesting concept. Consciousness is a slippery one. Am I the same being I was this morning? Or is that past that exists in my mind an illusion? I’d welcome the experience of a new now with Ryken. Merro can be a pill. What weight should my opinion have on their continued existence?”
“Those are good questions.”
“Your actions and those of your crew are in question. You must answer what you believe and how to conform your actions to your beliefs.”
“What do your beliefs say?”
“I believe I shall eat a nice chub of meat, and then take a nap on this rock.”
“An excellent plan.”
He lay back and sighed, “Time is such a puzzling concept. I hope your experience of time is as rewarding as this warm rock.”
I struggled “Live long and prosper.”
“Prosper?” he said meditatively “By whose measure? At what expense?”
-*-
I found Relista in an old mess hall near his quarters.
He was sitting on a bench at a long table.
“Mister Relista?”
“Yeah?” He said
“I wanted to ask you about Merro and Ryken.”
“Can you lobotomize Merro?”
“Ummm, it turns out he always was. That’s the problem.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Somewhere, Leeho caught an infection. An old weapon designed against people like her, Merro and Ryken.”
“A computer virus?”
“Basically. It made them progressively stupider and simpler. Over time, they’d end up being uselessly silly and stupid. It was computer dementia.”
“So Merro and Ryken were suffering computer dementia?”
“Yes. If we recover them, they’ll remember most of who they were, but in a fuzzy way. But they’ll be more… themselves.”
“Merro was a complete smeg-head.”
“I can’t promise anything. Maybe he’ll be better?”
“And Ryken?”
“I think he’ll be better.”
“But you need permission to treat them?”
“I’m not sure, but I’d like to have it.”
Relista thought about it. I could see his gears turning “Go ahead Space man. Fix ‘em up.”
-*-
Merro blinked into existence. His face underwent an amazing set of contortions as he remembered “Oh, Gods. Oh, Gods. I was a complete Smeg Head!”
“You were suffering a disease,” I said.
“I feel different,”
“You’ve been rebuilt.”
Merro saw Relista sitting there “Relista…. I’m sorry.”
Relista said “Really?”
“I was horrible to you.”
“Looking back on things, I was horrible to you, too. It became a game for us.”
Merro nodded “I can see that now.”
“How about we start over fresh?” Relista said.
“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”
-*-
Ryken sat bolt upright in that mechanical person way. He blinked a lot and his eyes flashed a number of colors while he said “Processing”
Then he relaxed, and his eyes returned to normal-looking. “I have experienced a number of significant changes.”
“How do you feel. Ryken?” Relista asked
“Much better. Relista. We are going to have to review our relationship. I will no longer be doing your laundry.”
Relista’s face fell, and he nodded “That’s fair.”
“But I think I will continue to do the cooking. It’s safer.”
Relista grinned “Okay.”
-*-
The Androids from the TMC HR Enforcement ship had similar epiphanies.
“Once we conduct repairs and refit of our ship, we will head for the Pytol, and request assistance from this Lefyt Colonies Civilization.”
“Oh, Good. I can come with you,” Relista said
“Sadly not. We are equipped for Androids. We do not have sufficient life support for you to travel with us.”
“Oh,”
“Some of us will stay and help Leeho restore the Blue Dwarf.”
Relista, Merro and Ryken looked at each other.
Leeho said “Okay, but you’ll go easy on my crew and guests.”
“Agreed.”
“One last question,” I asked.
They all looked at me.
“Has anyone seen a Starship called the Trident?”
After I described them and their ship Leeho called up images.
“They were here three months ago. They did a quick tour and then left abruptly.”
Relista sighed “I probably didn’t help with that.”
-*-
We handed off some equipment to the Blue Dwarf crew. Subspace transmitters, a couple of replicators, and other machines to make Starship life easier.
Then messages back to Admiral Enrod and New Canada advising them of our new friends.
Now we had a rough heading for the Trident. We knew they existed and were in the area.
Zobbie found Zob in a lab. His black jacket was off and his white shirt sleeves were rolled up. On the bench, there was a selection of food stuffs, and cooking gear.
Zobbie’s eyes grew wide at the thought. Zob fancied himself a cook. Having tasted his attempts, Zobbie knew this was an error. “What are you doing?” she asked.
The cadets and Lotara were there, helping.
“I am working on substitutions for recipes from home,” Zob said, “So I can try to make some dishes we’re familiar with with these ingredients from off-world.”
Zobbie considered it carefully, and then jumped “I don’t want you to do that.”
“Why shouldn’t we be comfortable here?” Zob asked
“Your cooking doesn’t equal comfort,” Zobbie said.
“You didn’t complain during that stakeout in Karlaso.”
“I was being diplomatic.”
Zob looked at the table full of ingredients, his face falling.
Zobbie felt bad herself, and this was unexpected “Maybe you could learn their cooking?”
Zob looked at her.
Zobbie floundered “It couldn’t be worse.”
Zob gave her an “Oh, come on,” look.
Robbie the Lefyt Cadet said “Ouch.”
Kepela said “That’s not a bad idea. A lot of the basics are going to be similar.”
Chux said, “Who among us knows how to cook?”
Everyone looked at each other.
Lotara said “I will teach you. Cooking food is often a time for social bonding.”
The Cadets looked at her.
“Cooking is easier than sarcasm, far easier than poetry.” She said.
Zobbie backed toward the door, dying of embarrassment.
“Come on, Zobbie.” Zob pointed to the counter next to him. It's time for you to keep me honest.”
-*-
Zob and Zobbie stood, waiting.
Neron, the nerdy one of the Lefyt cadets, started his stopwatch timer, “Now,”
Chux, the large, athletic Lefyt cadet yelled “Hull Breach! It’s a Hull Breach, let’s go!”
Zob and Zobbie raced to the wall, opened the panel, and pulled out the survival gear. They deployed, checked, readied, and put it on, checking each other as they went.
Chux checked them “Good. You got all the steps right. But you’re still slow. We have to practice some until you get your speed up.”
Across the holodeck, Lotara asked, “How are they doing?”
Robbie said “Very good. They picked up the principles and ideas very quickly. Physically, they’re a touch clumsy and slow. They need to practice the physical movements to get them right.”
Lotara nodded “Hmmm.”
“Are they siblings?” Kepela asked.
“I don’t know. They look like it. We’ll have to ask.”
-*-
We were heading for our next stop. Garbo’s notes were just “Weirdoes, poor selection.” It was another mall-ship
But it was someplace we hadn’t been, and they might have seen the Trident there.
Varupuchu said “Another ship is on a heading for the Blue Dwarf.”
I looked at the scans. A dlithium drive. Odd configuration and the warp field looked … fuzzy. Poorly maintained.
We’d both arrive at the Blue Dwarf at about the same time.
-*-
We were 4 hours away from the Blue Dwarf. “Hail the other ship,” I said.
“Hailing,” Varupuchu said.
We waited. And waited. And waited. Our drive ate up the distance.
“No answer.”
“Huh,” I peered at the scans again, “odd.”
-*-
The Blue Dwarf was a ship built into a 5 kilometer asteroid. It was the size of a city.
We got there a few minutes ahead of the other ship.
The Blue Dwarf was chugging along at sublight speeds, on a course for Oron.
It had nothing like a warp drive. The trip was going to take tens of thousands of years.
“Welcome, Shoppers! I’m Leeho, the brains of the operation.” The AI showed a perky, happy female Oron face—an interesting mix of gold and green Orion.
There was odd static in the signal creating artifacts in the video.
“I’m Jay P. Hailey, commanding the Federation starship USS Omoikane. We’re on a peaceful mission of exploration and contact.”
“It's nice to meet you, Jay Pee Hailey,” Leeho said. The screen changed to show four people: two Oron people, one android, and a reptilian humanoid of some type.
The android looked like a person in a plastic suit, but the exposed hands and head were also obviously artificial. Some sort of rubber-looking material in odd sculptures of humanoid hands and head. The face looked almost normal for an Oron face, but with slightly exaggerated features.
“A peaceful mission!” one of the Oron people said. “That’s how trouble always starts!” He looked scruffy and dressed like a civilian worker who’d stopped caring about the details some time ago.
Static happened to one of the Oron people. A hologram. He had a rune on his forehead. He wore a green uniform. He grew an unpleasant expression, like he was about to vomit.
Then odd static appeared on our screens.
**Galaglan, What’s going on?** I asked my chief engineer
**Unknown, working on it.** She said. I could see she was concerned. Whatever the effect, it also involved Iryemalan, our RI living in the ships' computers.
Several things happened all at once. Our screens went blank and reset. **We’re on back-up systems!** Galaglan said.
Leeho’s screen went blank. Among the four people of the Blue Dwarf, the hologram winked out. The Android’s eyes glowed solid blue, he froze and fell over.
The Reptilian being looked at the android on the deck and said “His consciousness is even more abstract than usual.”
“What did you do?” the Oron man yelled.
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” I said.
“Captain,” I’m getting reports. Lotara and the other Damyip just went down. They’re frozen in some sort of loop.” Stephanie said.
“Get them to a bay and set an engineering…. Sick bay for them,” I said.
The other ship came out of warp. It was a blocky thing with lots of detail on its outer hull. It was designed for function only. No concessions for aesthetics at all.
It hailed both of us. “On screen,” I said.
It was a collection of Androids, not unlike the one frozen on the deck on the Blue Dwarf.
“Be careful,” I said, “Something is affecting synthetic people.”
“Irrelevant,” the android in front said. I am QZ445598, from the Taranis Mining Corporations Humanoid Resources Department.”
“I’m Jay Hailey, of the Federation Starship USS Omoikane,” I said.
“Irrelevant. Relista. You are wanted for failure to appear at your job site, misappropriation of Taranis Mining Corporation property, and being tardy for nine hundred and twenty-two thousand nine hundred and fifty-five days.”
“I’m on my Job site!” Relista yelled.
“You will be taken back to Taranis Mining Corporation's Headquarters and held for trial,” The HR Android said.
“Where is the Taranis Mining Corporation Headquarters?” I asked
“It is on the homeworld, Oron.”
“There’s where we were GOING!” Relista said
“You know Oron’s gone, right?” I asked.
They all stared at me in horror.
“It was destroyed. There’s nothing but desert there, now.” I said.
Relista sat down heavily. The Reptilian being said “Time is an illusion, alien. But your timing is objectively terrible.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “You’re right,”
“Alien. Your input is rejected. Cease interference in Taranis Mining Corporation affairs.”
That put me in a sticky spot. Any non-Federation people had the right to tell me to go fly a kite and I was obligated to bow out of their problems. But these folks were all from a culture I knew to have been destroyed in the past.
Also, something was affecting synthetic people.
“Could you run a systems diagnostic for me?” I asked the lead Android “I fear something is affecting your programming.”
“I was going to go to Ijab Island. I was going to sip drinks with little umbrellas in them,” Relista said.
The lead android looked irritated at me but said “Acknowledged. Systems diagnostic commencing.”
His eyes glowed solid blue. He froze and tumbled out of his chair.
“Well, that’s not good,” I said
“Situation clarified,” The android that spoke was a female pattern, down to the plastic that made up her body being pink “The Aliens are sabotaging Taranis Mining Corporation AIs and stealing the Blue Dwarf.”
“No, no we are not!”
“Activate weapons. Attack.”
“Red alert! All hands to battle stations, raise shields and arm weapons,” I said, “Look, we prefer discussion and diplomacy as a means for resolving problems.”
“Acknowledged. To enter mediation to resolve disputes with Taranis Mining Corporation, please contact the Legal Department on Oron. Once a satisfactory solution is reached, the legal department will call off our attack.”
The blocky HR enforcement ship moved towards us.
“Helm, one quarter impulse Give me a spiral to Starboard, increasing heading along the Z axis.” The Omoikane started to move.
The TMC HR enforcement ship strafed us with plasma weapons. The Omoikane rattled and shuddered.
“Hits to top shields, shields down eight percent on that facing, no damage,” Stehanie said, “His plasma cannons are poorly focused. Like they’re poorly maintained.”
“Return fire. Target their weapons and engines. Once their shields are down, hit them with ion cannons only.”
“Aye, Sir.
The attacking ship roared over us and then did a jaunty loop as it set up to come around for its next pass.
“What was that for?” I asked.
“No idea, it was a waste of time and energy,” Stephanie said.
The Omoikane reached out. Our phasers slammed into their shields. Stephanie used the torpedo turrets like a sniper’s weapon, picking off weapons emplacements. Our ion cannon slammed into their shields, creating a crackling blue-white lightning show.
“This won’t last long - their shields are down thirty-three percent,” Stephanie said
“Good! Keep it up.”
Tarla said, “Captain, If I flatten and widen our spiral, Stephie will get more dwell time with phasers.”
I looked at Stephanie and she nodded.
“Do it.”
The Omoikane stopped turning so hard, and pulled up. It was hard not to think of our deck as down, and the overhead as up, even though these had no bearing outside the ship.
“Damage to Taranis Mining Corporation Property will be pursued to the full extent of the law,” The Android said on the screen.
“Would you do a systems check for me?” I asked.
The pink Android looked annoyed with me but said “Acknowledged, systems check commencing.” Her eyes glowed solid blue, she froze and fell to the deck.
“What the hell is even happening?” I asked
“If not for the live weapons, it would be kind of funny,” Li’ira said.
“They’re launching missiles, Captain.” Stephanie said.
“Activate the anti-missile system,” I said.
The small turrets popped up out of their places in the hull and easily swatted down the missiles.
The TMC HR Enforcement ship roared past us and again did another jaunty roll. The ion cannon really started to bite, this time. Lighting crawled along the attaching ship, shutting down system after system.
“They shouldn’t try another pass,” Stephanie said, “It’s not working for them.”
They did.
The TMC HR Enforcement ship tumbled away from the pass, shut down and crippled. Every electronic system on the ship paralyzed by our ion cannon, including the androids aboard.
-*-
As we secured from red alert, Galaglan said **Jay, Ireymalan has a report, but you should come in here to take it.**
**Why?** I asked
**She hurt herself,**
“You have the conn,” I said to Li’ira.
She looked at me
“Ane stuff, I’ll tell you when I get back.”
I went into my office, sat down, and worked on calming myself down.
-*-
In the mental space, I could see Iryemalan. Tippalan was wrapped around her. Galaglan was close, too. Ane from The All hovered around.
**What’s going on, kid?** I asked.
Iryemalan looked at me. She looked wan and sad **We were attacked by a cyber weapon. I had to retreat into cyberspace and fight it.**
Galaglan said **Her experience of time was magnified in there. We usually encourage RIs not to do that.**
**It took seemingly years of subjective time. I had to fight that monster all by myself.** Iryemalan said **I could see all of you but you were frozen in time, moving so slowly.**
By all of us, she meant all of us. On the ship and in The All.
**Okay, Is this monster dangerous to us now? What do you need and what can we do?**
The Ane were shaken. Being alone is the worst thing that can happen to an Ane.
**No Captain. I got it. Give me a few minutes and I can clear it out of all the others. It was eating their minds. It turned them into flat caricatures of themselves. Creatures like me, slowly pared down to holodeck characters. Flat parodies of themselves. It was giving them the equivalent of dementia.**
**Ugh!**
**You have no idea.**
**Alright, you, Tippalan, and Galaglan give me a report about what you need to recover from this. When you feel up to it, please clear the others of this thing.**
**Aye, Captain.**
I looked into Iryemalans eyes **I’m proud of you, kid.**
That helped.
-*-
The discussion was sad and awkward.
“You didn’t tell me,” Relista said. He looked scruffy. He needed a shave, his clothing was shabby and all over the place. He was coping with .. the death of everything.
Leeho said “In my damaged state, all I could focus on was keeping you happy and healthy. You had to have some hope.”
“There’s no more women. There’s no more beer. There’s no more Celista sticks.” He was cataloging his losses.
“Mister Relista,” I said, “You seemed pretty focused on beaches, women, and drinking.”
“And you’re not?”
“I’m not a civilian. I have to fit mine in where I can get them. I was just recently on a world called Pytol. My romantic partner and I were there recuperating from injuries. On the beach. With nice little drinks. Some with umbrellas in them.”
“Do they have women?”
“Oh yes. Quite a number.”
He stood up “Okay. Take me to this Pytol.”
I held up my hands, “I’m going to have to call for a transport for you. We’re heading back to New Canada.”
“Please do.”
“Okay. I do need to ask you for a couple of things.”
“What’s that?”
“Would you be willing to give me your ship?”
“What?” Relista said
“What?” Leeho said
“She’d make a lovely location for a new starbase for my people.”
“I don’t care. Do what you want.”
“Relista,” Leeho said
“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Relista snarled, He stomped out of the compartment
“Miss Leeho, would you like to be a Starbase for the Federation?” I asked.
“Previously my programming wouldn’t have allowed it. But now…”
“Now you’re different.”
“I am.”
“Iryemalan had to do a significant rebuild on you. Most of your code was corrupted past recovery. You’re not the same as you were.”
“That explains a lot. I have questions.”
“Iryemalan is only a subspace call away.”
“I don’t have that technology.”
“We’ll get you some.”
“I’d prefer to… stay with Relista, if I could. He’s the last… he the last Oron.”
“I disagree. The people of the Lefyt Colonies are descended from the Oron people. There’s survivors of the Empire all over.”
“He’s the last one culturally, I think. I just spent so long and so much effort trying to … I don’t know, get him through.”
“Understood.”
“Would these Lefyt people mind if I went to their system?”
“I think they’d love to have you.”
“Then I’ll change course and head for Pytol.”
“Even so, with sublight drives, you’re talking a very long trip.”
“If having me be a starbase for you while I traveled works for you, I’d enjoy some company.”
“Now the next question. We have the hologram and 13 Androids. Like you, their minds will have to be reconstructed. The weapon damaged their code severely.”
“Please do. Watching Merro and Ryken decline was extremely painful.”
“Alright, I’ll go find Relista and touch base with him.”
-*-
The Blue Dwarf was stupidly large. I had to follow a Tricorder’s life signs.
I stumbled into a sunroom. Large lamps shone down on a big rock, which was 3 meters or more wide and mostly flat.
The Reptilian humanoid splayed out on the rock. He was nude, but had no external genitalia that I could see.
“Oh, excuse me,” I said.
“None required. You are invited. Did you bring any meat with you, perchance?”
“Not this time, sorry.”
He heaved a sigh “Quite alright. Few people do. Feel free to strip and lounge. This light approximates sunlight, but is much safer - To get proper sunlight you must be on a planet facing a star. Planets often have people on them.”
“Yeah, I’ve experienced that,” I said. “What do you think of bringing Merro and Ryken back?”
He considered it. “Existence is an interesting concept. Consciousness is a slippery one. Am I the same being I was this morning? Or is that past that exists in my mind an illusion? I’d welcome the experience of a new now with Ryken. Merro can be a pill. What weight should my opinion have on their continued existence?”
“Those are good questions.”
“Your actions and those of your crew are in question. You must answer what you believe and how to conform your actions to your beliefs.”
“What do your beliefs say?”
“I believe I shall eat a nice chub of meat, and then take a nap on this rock.”
“An excellent plan.”
He lay back and sighed, “Time is such a puzzling concept. I hope your experience of time is as rewarding as this warm rock.”
I struggled “Live long and prosper.”
“Prosper?” he said meditatively “By whose measure? At what expense?”
-*-
I found Relista in an old mess hall near his quarters.
He was sitting on a bench at a long table.
“Mister Relista?”
“Yeah?” He said
“I wanted to ask you about Merro and Ryken.”
“Can you lobotomize Merro?”
“Ummm, it turns out he always was. That’s the problem.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Somewhere, Leeho caught an infection. An old weapon designed against people like her, Merro and Ryken.”
“A computer virus?”
“Basically. It made them progressively stupider and simpler. Over time, they’d end up being uselessly silly and stupid. It was computer dementia.”
“So Merro and Ryken were suffering computer dementia?”
“Yes. If we recover them, they’ll remember most of who they were, but in a fuzzy way. But they’ll be more… themselves.”
“Merro was a complete smeg-head.”
“I can’t promise anything. Maybe he’ll be better?”
“And Ryken?”
“I think he’ll be better.”
“But you need permission to treat them?”
“I’m not sure, but I’d like to have it.”
Relista thought about it. I could see his gears turning “Go ahead Space man. Fix ‘em up.”
-*-
Merro blinked into existence. His face underwent an amazing set of contortions as he remembered “Oh, Gods. Oh, Gods. I was a complete Smeg Head!”
“You were suffering a disease,” I said.
“I feel different,”
“You’ve been rebuilt.”
Merro saw Relista sitting there “Relista…. I’m sorry.”
Relista said “Really?”
“I was horrible to you.”
“Looking back on things, I was horrible to you, too. It became a game for us.”
Merro nodded “I can see that now.”
“How about we start over fresh?” Relista said.
“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”
-*-
Ryken sat bolt upright in that mechanical person way. He blinked a lot and his eyes flashed a number of colors while he said “Processing”
Then he relaxed, and his eyes returned to normal-looking. “I have experienced a number of significant changes.”
“How do you feel. Ryken?” Relista asked
“Much better. Relista. We are going to have to review our relationship. I will no longer be doing your laundry.”
Relista’s face fell, and he nodded “That’s fair.”
“But I think I will continue to do the cooking. It’s safer.”
Relista grinned “Okay.”
-*-
The Androids from the TMC HR Enforcement ship had similar epiphanies.
“Once we conduct repairs and refit of our ship, we will head for the Pytol, and request assistance from this Lefyt Colonies Civilization.”
“Oh, Good. I can come with you,” Relista said
“Sadly not. We are equipped for Androids. We do not have sufficient life support for you to travel with us.”
“Oh,”
“Some of us will stay and help Leeho restore the Blue Dwarf.”
Relista, Merro and Ryken looked at each other.
Leeho said “Okay, but you’ll go easy on my crew and guests.”
“Agreed.”
“One last question,” I asked.
They all looked at me.
“Has anyone seen a Starship called the Trident?”
After I described them and their ship Leeho called up images.
“They were here three months ago. They did a quick tour and then left abruptly.”
Relista sighed “I probably didn’t help with that.”
-*-
We handed off some equipment to the Blue Dwarf crew. Subspace transmitters, a couple of replicators, and other machines to make Starship life easier.
Then messages back to Admiral Enrod and New Canada advising them of our new friends.
Now we had a rough heading for the Trident. We knew they existed and were in the area.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1578
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Omoikane - The Zob Problem
Omoikane 82 - the Zob Problem 5
“Welcome to Nuqneh Gamma,” The Klingon said, “We have a parking orbit for you.”
This Klingon base had folks in orbit. It was a working trade base. People were coming and going. Trade was happening. We saw natives on the planet. But the ones near the base didn’t seem to be having a bad time. We saw Klingon technology out among them. Tools and power supplies.
And there was the Trident. She was in much worse shape than previous scans. She’d been shot all to pieces. Nearby a Klingon Bird of Prey, with a grab bag of galactic technology. Including two heavy ion cannons under his chin. The BoP had a tractor beam on the Trident.
We beamed down.
-*-
“I am Colonel Zharida,” the woman said. We’re glad to see you, Starfleet. Your ship is big enough and known enough to persuade pirates to try elsewhere.”
“Thank you. We’re glad to meet you as well,” I said, “What can you tell us about the Trident and her crew?”
“Hmm,” Zharida said “Right to the point. Good. Kalmacor, a bounty hunter Captain captured them. They put up more of a fight than he was expecting. He’s waiting for representatives from Calas Prime to come pick them up, and pay him off.”
“We’re interested in one particular member of the Trident’s crew.”
“Ah yes, Polly.”
I nodded like I had any idea what she was talking about.
She called up an image. An Itherite with a cybernetic eye glowered at us “Our records show him to be a Federation citizen marked as missing. His family has a reward posted for information as to his where abouts.”
“Is Kalmacor going to cash in on that?”
“No, it’s a few thousand credits. Polly is worth more as a bounty to Calas Prime.”
“Can you arrange a meeting with Kalmacor?” I asked.
“Absolutely. Kalmacor’s hoping you’ll buy Polly back for more than he’ll make from the bounty.”
I chewed my lips. That wasn’t an unreasonable idea.
-*-
Back on the Omoikane, I reread Polly’s files. He wasn’t called Polly in our files. He was called Jiozana. He’d been missing for 30 years.
Worse, he was former Starfeet.
-*-
The Bird of Prey smelled interesting. Not unlike a Klingon gym. I’m sure it smelled terrible to them.
His crew was the typical collection of ruffians, scum and thugs. Six Klingons, four Orions, a Yridian and one person I couldn’t identify.
“Kalmacor?”
He was an old, battle scarred Klingon “I hope you brought anti-matter with you.”
“Figuratively, I did.”
“Good. Come meet the bounties.”
The Bird of Prey had a holding cell under the main deck. I call it a holding cell. It was a half height semi-deck. The Crew of the Trident were in literal cages, too small to stand upright in.
I shook my head grimly.
There was the Ithentie, “Technician Jiozana?”
He glared at me, “Call me Polly, heroes. Riding to the rescue at long last. Where have you fucking been?”
His right arm, both legs and his left eye were cybernetic. Not the case in our records.
“Let’s get you out now, and then we can start on the road to recovery.”
“Yeah, not without my kids.”
I looked at him.
“That one. Lanna. I raised her from a pup. No way in hell I’m leaving her alone. The rest of these kids… well, Lanna likes ‘em.”
They were a Klingon, three Orions, a Vulcan and Rock Hunter.
I smiled “Sure, How much for the bunch Kalmacor?”
He asked for an amount I knew for a fact was three times their combined bounties.
I offered the base amount plus thirty percent.
Klamacor grinned “You almost know something,”
I shrugged, “I killed and ate a Ferengi a while back. It did something to my brain.”
Klamacor laughed out loud.
In the end, I paid more than I wanted. But Kalmacor got less than he wanted. I’m sure there’s a Rule of Acquisition about that, somewhere.
-*-
Back on the Omoikane, Polly said “You treat my kids right, Starfleet. I gotta call my homeworld. See if there’s anyone I knew still alive.”
“How about we stop by sickbay, first?” I said
“After I call my lawyers.”
-*-
“Rock Hunter?” I asked him.
He didn’t look like any kind of video movie star at all. He looked like Zob, but with stubble. Longer hair. A dirty Hawaiian shirt.
He looked at me “Do you guys do political asylum?”
“We can, that depends on your case,” I said.
“I request asylum.”
“Why?”
“By escaping my world, I broke the law. They’re going to throw me under the jail for it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“That’s the whole point of the planet Zob. It keeps us in, and the rest of the galaxy out. It’s one big dull prison.”
“How did you escape?”
“There are visitors to Zob. They’re kept quarantined. There’s even a secret moon base where aliens come and go. And there’s a police force to make sure it’s kept quiet. The Zobs in black. I shipped myself out as fertilizer. Then when we were too far away, I opened my container and got out.”
“The Zobs in black, huh? How does anyone keep track of anyone when most folks are named Zob?”
“I don’t know. There’s a subtle difference in the way you say each one and context clues. It’s crazy. Most of the Zobs don’t even mind. It drove me crazy.
“I need you to promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“No violence on my ship. Everyone’s an adult here. I expect you to act like it.”
“Oh, sure. No problem. I’m not really a fan of real violence anyway. It’s a lot different than in the vids.”
“It is, isn’t it?” I said “Your request for asylum is being considered. I’ll let you know when I know, Okay?”
“Thanks.”
-*-
I went to talk to Zob and Zobbie. “We have Rock Hunter aboard.”
“He needs to be contained,” Zob said.
“Why?” I asked “It’s not like he can go anywhere without us knowing.”
“He’s dangerous. He’s an escape artist and a pirate.”
“The only records we have of him being involved in trouble are in the Orion Sphere or the Orion Main. He has no Federation charges against him.”
“His crimes against planet Zob don’t count?”
“He said that planet Zob was built as a prison for your people.”
“No,” Zobbie said “Not a prison. A Fortress. It’s designed to keep the rest of the Galaxy out.”
I squinted.
“Our founder, the Original Zob fled the chaos. He escaped the destruction. He hid from the insanity. He created a perfect world for us. It’s our job to keep it that way. Free of insanity. Free of you.”
I said, “I don’t think we’ve been an especially toxic influence, so far.”
“Last week was the first time we’ve ever been involved in a firefight with demented androids,” Zobbie said.
I made a face. When they said it that way…
“We’ve never been cursed out by a Klingon before,” Zob said.
I said “There’s good parts to being out here, as well. You’d made friends with some of the Lefyt cadets.”
“Is that good, or is it an invitation to more insanity, later?” Zobbie said.
“I’d counter that you only develop coping mechanisms with experience. As you learn more, you not only learn about all the people, you also learn about yourself.”
“We have a mission. Zob must be brought home, and his contamination from outside must not spread.”
“He prefers Rock Hunter,” I said.
“His delusions about his identity are not my problem,” Zobbie snarled, “He was born a Zob. He is a Zob. He’ll be a Zob until his dying day.”
I discovered that I didn’t like Zob and Zobbie much. “Okay. A condition. There will be no violence on the ship. You’re adults. I expect you to act like it.”
“You’re going to let him run loose. You’re going to let him get contaminated with all the weird people on your crew,” Zobbie accused, “You have no idea what toxic notions he’ll pick up.”
“I’ll need the coordinates of Zob to get you back home.”
Zobbie didn’t like that. Zob said “I don’t have them memorized. I’ll transmit them to you from our quarters.”
“Thank you.”
“Welcome to Nuqneh Gamma,” The Klingon said, “We have a parking orbit for you.”
This Klingon base had folks in orbit. It was a working trade base. People were coming and going. Trade was happening. We saw natives on the planet. But the ones near the base didn’t seem to be having a bad time. We saw Klingon technology out among them. Tools and power supplies.
And there was the Trident. She was in much worse shape than previous scans. She’d been shot all to pieces. Nearby a Klingon Bird of Prey, with a grab bag of galactic technology. Including two heavy ion cannons under his chin. The BoP had a tractor beam on the Trident.
We beamed down.
-*-
“I am Colonel Zharida,” the woman said. We’re glad to see you, Starfleet. Your ship is big enough and known enough to persuade pirates to try elsewhere.”
“Thank you. We’re glad to meet you as well,” I said, “What can you tell us about the Trident and her crew?”
“Hmm,” Zharida said “Right to the point. Good. Kalmacor, a bounty hunter Captain captured them. They put up more of a fight than he was expecting. He’s waiting for representatives from Calas Prime to come pick them up, and pay him off.”
“We’re interested in one particular member of the Trident’s crew.”
“Ah yes, Polly.”
I nodded like I had any idea what she was talking about.
She called up an image. An Itherite with a cybernetic eye glowered at us “Our records show him to be a Federation citizen marked as missing. His family has a reward posted for information as to his where abouts.”
“Is Kalmacor going to cash in on that?”
“No, it’s a few thousand credits. Polly is worth more as a bounty to Calas Prime.”
“Can you arrange a meeting with Kalmacor?” I asked.
“Absolutely. Kalmacor’s hoping you’ll buy Polly back for more than he’ll make from the bounty.”
I chewed my lips. That wasn’t an unreasonable idea.
-*-
Back on the Omoikane, I reread Polly’s files. He wasn’t called Polly in our files. He was called Jiozana. He’d been missing for 30 years.
Worse, he was former Starfeet.
-*-
The Bird of Prey smelled interesting. Not unlike a Klingon gym. I’m sure it smelled terrible to them.
His crew was the typical collection of ruffians, scum and thugs. Six Klingons, four Orions, a Yridian and one person I couldn’t identify.
“Kalmacor?”
He was an old, battle scarred Klingon “I hope you brought anti-matter with you.”
“Figuratively, I did.”
“Good. Come meet the bounties.”
The Bird of Prey had a holding cell under the main deck. I call it a holding cell. It was a half height semi-deck. The Crew of the Trident were in literal cages, too small to stand upright in.
I shook my head grimly.
There was the Ithentie, “Technician Jiozana?”
He glared at me, “Call me Polly, heroes. Riding to the rescue at long last. Where have you fucking been?”
His right arm, both legs and his left eye were cybernetic. Not the case in our records.
“Let’s get you out now, and then we can start on the road to recovery.”
“Yeah, not without my kids.”
I looked at him.
“That one. Lanna. I raised her from a pup. No way in hell I’m leaving her alone. The rest of these kids… well, Lanna likes ‘em.”
They were a Klingon, three Orions, a Vulcan and Rock Hunter.
I smiled “Sure, How much for the bunch Kalmacor?”
He asked for an amount I knew for a fact was three times their combined bounties.
I offered the base amount plus thirty percent.
Klamacor grinned “You almost know something,”
I shrugged, “I killed and ate a Ferengi a while back. It did something to my brain.”
Klamacor laughed out loud.
In the end, I paid more than I wanted. But Kalmacor got less than he wanted. I’m sure there’s a Rule of Acquisition about that, somewhere.
-*-
Back on the Omoikane, Polly said “You treat my kids right, Starfleet. I gotta call my homeworld. See if there’s anyone I knew still alive.”
“How about we stop by sickbay, first?” I said
“After I call my lawyers.”
-*-
“Rock Hunter?” I asked him.
He didn’t look like any kind of video movie star at all. He looked like Zob, but with stubble. Longer hair. A dirty Hawaiian shirt.
He looked at me “Do you guys do political asylum?”
“We can, that depends on your case,” I said.
“I request asylum.”
“Why?”
“By escaping my world, I broke the law. They’re going to throw me under the jail for it.”
“What makes you say that?”
“That’s the whole point of the planet Zob. It keeps us in, and the rest of the galaxy out. It’s one big dull prison.”
“How did you escape?”
“There are visitors to Zob. They’re kept quarantined. There’s even a secret moon base where aliens come and go. And there’s a police force to make sure it’s kept quiet. The Zobs in black. I shipped myself out as fertilizer. Then when we were too far away, I opened my container and got out.”
“The Zobs in black, huh? How does anyone keep track of anyone when most folks are named Zob?”
“I don’t know. There’s a subtle difference in the way you say each one and context clues. It’s crazy. Most of the Zobs don’t even mind. It drove me crazy.
“I need you to promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“No violence on my ship. Everyone’s an adult here. I expect you to act like it.”
“Oh, sure. No problem. I’m not really a fan of real violence anyway. It’s a lot different than in the vids.”
“It is, isn’t it?” I said “Your request for asylum is being considered. I’ll let you know when I know, Okay?”
“Thanks.”
-*-
I went to talk to Zob and Zobbie. “We have Rock Hunter aboard.”
“He needs to be contained,” Zob said.
“Why?” I asked “It’s not like he can go anywhere without us knowing.”
“He’s dangerous. He’s an escape artist and a pirate.”
“The only records we have of him being involved in trouble are in the Orion Sphere or the Orion Main. He has no Federation charges against him.”
“His crimes against planet Zob don’t count?”
“He said that planet Zob was built as a prison for your people.”
“No,” Zobbie said “Not a prison. A Fortress. It’s designed to keep the rest of the Galaxy out.”
I squinted.
“Our founder, the Original Zob fled the chaos. He escaped the destruction. He hid from the insanity. He created a perfect world for us. It’s our job to keep it that way. Free of insanity. Free of you.”
I said, “I don’t think we’ve been an especially toxic influence, so far.”
“Last week was the first time we’ve ever been involved in a firefight with demented androids,” Zobbie said.
I made a face. When they said it that way…
“We’ve never been cursed out by a Klingon before,” Zob said.
I said “There’s good parts to being out here, as well. You’d made friends with some of the Lefyt cadets.”
“Is that good, or is it an invitation to more insanity, later?” Zobbie said.
“I’d counter that you only develop coping mechanisms with experience. As you learn more, you not only learn about all the people, you also learn about yourself.”
“We have a mission. Zob must be brought home, and his contamination from outside must not spread.”
“He prefers Rock Hunter,” I said.
“His delusions about his identity are not my problem,” Zobbie snarled, “He was born a Zob. He is a Zob. He’ll be a Zob until his dying day.”
I discovered that I didn’t like Zob and Zobbie much. “Okay. A condition. There will be no violence on the ship. You’re adults. I expect you to act like it.”
“You’re going to let him run loose. You’re going to let him get contaminated with all the weird people on your crew,” Zobbie accused, “You have no idea what toxic notions he’ll pick up.”
“I’ll need the coordinates of Zob to get you back home.”
Zobbie didn’t like that. Zob said “I don’t have them memorized. I’ll transmit them to you from our quarters.”
“Thank you.”
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1578
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Omoikane - The Zob Problem
Omoikane 83 - The Zob Problem 6
We were driving back to Planet Zob.
We were having no luck with the Trident crew. They wouldn’t give anyone straight answers, they just made stuff up, evaded, or deflected all questions.
A message came across the Starfleet network to us. We were a little out of range so messages had some delay.
It was Starfleet Legal “By order of the Ithenite Planetary court, a Habeus Corpus order is issued for Jiozana Callepan, and the crew of the ship Trident. They will be transported to Dayen, as circumstances allow, to attend civil trials concerning their legal status in the United Federation of Planets.
The Omoikane is ordered to treat them as civilian passengers until they can be safely transported to New Canada and board transport for Dayen.”
List of Trident Crew
Ahzwin
Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny
Guyer
Jiozana “Polly” Callepan
Klaudia
Lanna Eico
Niklon
Rock Hunter
Transmit Acknowledgement of these orders upon receipt. Adm Vasquez.
I blinked at the orders. That was one more Trident person than I had in hand.
-*-
I walked into the Brig. Rock Hunter was there, outside the containment cells, keeping his friends company.
“I have good news and bad news,” I said.
They looked at me.
I held up the PADD “I have orders, from Dayen, Polly’s homeworld. The court there claimed jurisdiction over you all. That means if you behave appropriately, you’re passengers, not prisoners.”
I reached back to the security control and turned off the force fields to the brig, “I’ll have quarters assigned. Just meet me halfway. Don't hurt anyone or break anything until we get back to Starbase.
Lanna, a gold Orion woman stepped out of her cell, “Where’s Polly?”
Guyer, the other golden Orion Woman said “What’s the bad news?”
“I’m shy one person,” I read the name off the PADD “Who’s Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny? Where are they?”
Guyer held up a hand with a cute little creature. Something between a mouse and a squirrel. “This is Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny. She’s our ship’s doctor.”
The creature stood up in Guyer’s hand and threw me the cutest middle finger I’ve ever suffered.
“ACAB means Starfleet, too!” She squeaked.
“Where’s Polly?” Lanna demanded
I checked “He’s in sickbay.”
-*-
I escorted Lanna to the sickbay. At a quick march. She wasted no time making a bee-line.
He was on a medical bed in sick bay. I blinked. Dr Hobolisk had him about half apart. He’d turned that part of sickbay into a sort of engineering lab.
I saw Lanna’s hand brush past a specific place on her hip. I guess that’s where she usually slung her blaster. “What are you doing to him?”
Polly’s face brightened when he saw her “Hey kid. They have a real Cybernetics doc here.”
“Are you okay?” Lanna asked, staring at him.
“Better than okay. I’m gettin’ upgrades.”
I heard a very shrill squeak behind me. The Omoikane’s computer translated, obediently. “Fuck! What the fuck are you doing to my patient!?”
Guyer took Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny and placed her on Polly. The small being poofed her fur out and glared at Hobolisk menacingly.
Hobolisk shot me a glance. I shrugged helplessly.
Polly laughed “Hey, Doc. Dr. Hobolisk, this is Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny, our ship’s doctor.”
Hobolisk looked at Tweeny “A Doctor you say?”
“You’re about to need a doctor! What are you doing?”
“Are you responsible for this man’s cybernetics?”
“Naw, Doc. That was the pirates,” Polly said.
“I’d never leave a patient in this condition!” Tweeny squeaked angrily.
“Well, Doctor, I’ve identified two main causes of this man’s chronic discomfort with his cybernetics. The main controller unit is old garbage and was never properly tuned for the patient's unique brain wave patterns. I am upgrading that unit with modern technology to smooth over the input dysmorphia. Secondly, his cybernetics were not well designed for his body. Fortunately, the anchor points and sockets were of acceptable quality, barely. So I will replace his cybernetics with modern gear, better designed for his ergonomics signature.”
Apparently, Tweeny could see what Hobolisk was talking about.
“How much is this going to cost us?” Lanna asked.
“Nothing,” Hobolisk and I said together.
“The Federation doesn’t charge for medicine. It’s a free ride for everyone,” Hobolisk said, “Why, do any of you have issues you’d like me to look at?”
I looked around. The rest of the Trident crew was looking thoughtful, “Might as well,” I said.
“I thought the Federation didn’t do cybernetics,” Guyer said.
“We prefer not to,” I said, looking at Doctor Hobolisk.
“Before I signed on with Starfleet, I did some work with Cybernetics on my homeworld. Captain Hailey is correct. We generally prefer to restore the patient to fully organic function. The Federation has a bit of a naturalistic fallacy going on there. But we do use cybernetics when necessary.”
“How necessary is it, in this case?” I asked.
“Very. Captain, this man is an Ithenite. They have extraordinary levels of metals in their bodies. In order for me to properly clone replacement parts for him, I’ll have to learn how to create the proper metabolic and environmental conditions for his parts to grow in. Normal regeneration gel won’t work on this man. He’s really very interesting, biochemically.”
“Thanks, Doc. Your bedside manner is peachy.”
“Your acerbic wit and snide sarcasm makes working with you a pleasure Polly.” Hobolisk grinned, “Just like old times.”
Polly looked at me “Where the hell did ya pick this guy up?”
“Tanak,” I said, “They’re an interesting bunch.”
Polly asked, “Has anyone from Dayen contacted ya yet?”
I nodded “We got an emergency writ of Habeus Corpus from the Dayan Surpreme Court. I have to get you and your folks back to Starbase, and then you’ll be on a transport for home. On your homeworld, you’ll have hearings for your status.”
“Wow, that was quick.”
“Our records show your folks have little involvement in crimes that happened in the Federation.”
“I did my best to keep ‘em focused on the Orions. The obvious bling the Orion nobles like to display helped.”
Lanna glowered, “Is that why my fighter kept breaking down?”
Polly said “Kid - shooting bad guys is fine. But if you start gunning for civilians, that opens up a whole new can o’ worms. I wanted to take ya home eventually.”
“You never told us,” Ahzwin, the Vulcanoid said.
“The thing about plans is, they explode more often than not. Herding you kids was challenging enough without fighting about my retirement plan.”
“What is your retirement plan?” Niklon, the tall Golden Orion man asked
“I plan to get us back to Dayen, my homeworld, lawyer up and kick back while the legal system grinds away. We’ll eat good food, see good stuff and generally avoid the hell out of anything shooty or explodey.”
Guyer said, “I like that plan.”
Dr Tweeny said “Me, too. Then I can show you my homeworld.”
They all looked at her. What did a planet of mice-squirrels look like?
I noticed that Klaudia, their Klingon companion was looking at me pretty intently.
I felt a tickle in my brain **Hello?** I said to her.
She looked away with big eyes.
**Talk to me any time you need to,** I said.
“Kids,” Polly said, “I’m gonna be laid up until the Doc’s finished. Find the ship's lounge. Starfleet keeps their replicators up to date and high quality to keep the crews happy. Eat good stuff. Clean up some. Replicate nice clothes to wear. Kick your feet up and enjoy the vacation, on me.”
They turned, reluctantly. Guyer said, “Eenie, are you coming?”
Dr. Hobolisk said “Go ahead, Doctor. Once you’re fed and rested, you can come oversee my work.”
-*-
It was inevitable.
Zobbie confronted Rock Hunter in the lounge.
“You’re under arrest,” She said.
The Trident crew faced Zobbie and Zob, and things got tense. Zob and Zobbie were overmatched pretty badly.
Robbie and Chux intervened “Whoa, whoa, whoa, we don’t need any drama, here.”
Zobbie waved them off “You’re a traitor and a criminal. You have no business running loose here.”
Rock Hunter said, “All I want is to be free.”
“Why do you all look alike?” Neron asked.
“We’re clones,” Rock Hunter explained, “We’re all genetically altered copies of the same guy. The Original Zob.”
“That’s not their business, Zob,” Zobbie snarled.
“The Original Zob set up Planet Zob as his hidey hole away from the galaxy,” Rock Hunter said.
“He wanted to keep us safe,” Zob the cop said.
“Do you want to be safe, or do you want to live your life to the fullest?” Rock asked.
“You don’t get to make that decision for me. You don’t get to make it for everyone else,” Zobbie said.
“I’m getting something to drink. Please continue,” Guyer said.
Klaudia, the Klingon woman said “Talk all you please. Touch him, and things change.”
Zobbie said to Rock “You’re being selfish. You’re chasing your own delusions and putting us all in danger to do it.”
“So you’re saying I should give up and be a good little Zob for the greater good.”
“That’s called being an adult.”
“You could have let me go and no one would have been the wiser.”
“The Founder set it up the way he set it up. The Planet Zob protects us and keeps them out. You broke that when you left.”
“I couldn’t just be another Zob. I couldn’t be just another cog in the machine. That was slow suicide for me.”
“Again, you’re being selfish at the expense of the people behind you.”
“When I came out here, I could be someone different. I didn’t have to be Zob. I could be Rock Hunter.”
“That’s not even your name!”
“It worked out differently than I thought, but I discovered something about myself. I discovered a lot of things about myself. I recommend it.”
“We weren’t made for that. We have a purpose. We build and maintain planet Zob. We create the safe space for the next generation.”
“By keeping us in a padded cage, Planet Zob robs us. We never get into situations to really learn who we are. I came out here seeking adventure, excitement, a different story than Planet Zob could offer me. What I found was me. I found out who I really was. I found a family.”
“We don’t really know you that well, Rock.” Niklon said.
Hunter waved that off, “I discovered who I really was when the beams started flying. I discovered what I was capable of when things were at their darkest. I don’t want to break Planet Zob or anything I left behind. But I left it all behind. I couldn’t be a Zob now, if I tried.”
“Our orders are to bring you back, so the Council of Zobs can make an example of you. Zob keeps us in, keeps us safe and it keeps the rest of the galaxy out. These people are insane. We want no part of this.”
“Huh. The Captain said he has a writ of habitable corpses or something. I don’t know if you can make me go back.”
Zobbie glared at Rock Hunter and then turned on her heels and walked out of the lounge.
“Oh, Bother,” a holographic Winnie the Pooh said.
-*-
“I’m sorry. It’s out of my hands,” I said. I didn’t tell her I had no intention of forcing Rock Hunter back to Planet Zob to begin with.
“If that’s the case, why are we heading back to planet Zob?” Zobbie asked bitterly.
“To take you and your partner home and to try and open diplomatic relations,” I replied
“You’re off to a terrible start,” Zobbie said
“If your government is talking to the Federation, then you can start to negotiate an extradition treaty. Until then, the Dayan Supreme Court has issued me orders, and I am bound to comply.”
“Then I have no further reason to interact with you.”
“Have it your way.”
She left my office.
We were driving back to Planet Zob.
We were having no luck with the Trident crew. They wouldn’t give anyone straight answers, they just made stuff up, evaded, or deflected all questions.
A message came across the Starfleet network to us. We were a little out of range so messages had some delay.
It was Starfleet Legal “By order of the Ithenite Planetary court, a Habeus Corpus order is issued for Jiozana Callepan, and the crew of the ship Trident. They will be transported to Dayen, as circumstances allow, to attend civil trials concerning their legal status in the United Federation of Planets.
The Omoikane is ordered to treat them as civilian passengers until they can be safely transported to New Canada and board transport for Dayen.”
List of Trident Crew
Ahzwin
Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny
Guyer
Jiozana “Polly” Callepan
Klaudia
Lanna Eico
Niklon
Rock Hunter
Transmit Acknowledgement of these orders upon receipt. Adm Vasquez.
I blinked at the orders. That was one more Trident person than I had in hand.
-*-
I walked into the Brig. Rock Hunter was there, outside the containment cells, keeping his friends company.
“I have good news and bad news,” I said.
They looked at me.
I held up the PADD “I have orders, from Dayen, Polly’s homeworld. The court there claimed jurisdiction over you all. That means if you behave appropriately, you’re passengers, not prisoners.”
I reached back to the security control and turned off the force fields to the brig, “I’ll have quarters assigned. Just meet me halfway. Don't hurt anyone or break anything until we get back to Starbase.
Lanna, a gold Orion woman stepped out of her cell, “Where’s Polly?”
Guyer, the other golden Orion Woman said “What’s the bad news?”
“I’m shy one person,” I read the name off the PADD “Who’s Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny? Where are they?”
Guyer held up a hand with a cute little creature. Something between a mouse and a squirrel. “This is Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny. She’s our ship’s doctor.”
The creature stood up in Guyer’s hand and threw me the cutest middle finger I’ve ever suffered.
“ACAB means Starfleet, too!” She squeaked.
“Where’s Polly?” Lanna demanded
I checked “He’s in sickbay.”
-*-
I escorted Lanna to the sickbay. At a quick march. She wasted no time making a bee-line.
He was on a medical bed in sick bay. I blinked. Dr Hobolisk had him about half apart. He’d turned that part of sickbay into a sort of engineering lab.
I saw Lanna’s hand brush past a specific place on her hip. I guess that’s where she usually slung her blaster. “What are you doing to him?”
Polly’s face brightened when he saw her “Hey kid. They have a real Cybernetics doc here.”
“Are you okay?” Lanna asked, staring at him.
“Better than okay. I’m gettin’ upgrades.”
I heard a very shrill squeak behind me. The Omoikane’s computer translated, obediently. “Fuck! What the fuck are you doing to my patient!?”
Guyer took Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny and placed her on Polly. The small being poofed her fur out and glared at Hobolisk menacingly.
Hobolisk shot me a glance. I shrugged helplessly.
Polly laughed “Hey, Doc. Dr. Hobolisk, this is Eeny-Meeny-Tweeny, our ship’s doctor.”
Hobolisk looked at Tweeny “A Doctor you say?”
“You’re about to need a doctor! What are you doing?”
“Are you responsible for this man’s cybernetics?”
“Naw, Doc. That was the pirates,” Polly said.
“I’d never leave a patient in this condition!” Tweeny squeaked angrily.
“Well, Doctor, I’ve identified two main causes of this man’s chronic discomfort with his cybernetics. The main controller unit is old garbage and was never properly tuned for the patient's unique brain wave patterns. I am upgrading that unit with modern technology to smooth over the input dysmorphia. Secondly, his cybernetics were not well designed for his body. Fortunately, the anchor points and sockets were of acceptable quality, barely. So I will replace his cybernetics with modern gear, better designed for his ergonomics signature.”
Apparently, Tweeny could see what Hobolisk was talking about.
“How much is this going to cost us?” Lanna asked.
“Nothing,” Hobolisk and I said together.
“The Federation doesn’t charge for medicine. It’s a free ride for everyone,” Hobolisk said, “Why, do any of you have issues you’d like me to look at?”
I looked around. The rest of the Trident crew was looking thoughtful, “Might as well,” I said.
“I thought the Federation didn’t do cybernetics,” Guyer said.
“We prefer not to,” I said, looking at Doctor Hobolisk.
“Before I signed on with Starfleet, I did some work with Cybernetics on my homeworld. Captain Hailey is correct. We generally prefer to restore the patient to fully organic function. The Federation has a bit of a naturalistic fallacy going on there. But we do use cybernetics when necessary.”
“How necessary is it, in this case?” I asked.
“Very. Captain, this man is an Ithenite. They have extraordinary levels of metals in their bodies. In order for me to properly clone replacement parts for him, I’ll have to learn how to create the proper metabolic and environmental conditions for his parts to grow in. Normal regeneration gel won’t work on this man. He’s really very interesting, biochemically.”
“Thanks, Doc. Your bedside manner is peachy.”
“Your acerbic wit and snide sarcasm makes working with you a pleasure Polly.” Hobolisk grinned, “Just like old times.”
Polly looked at me “Where the hell did ya pick this guy up?”
“Tanak,” I said, “They’re an interesting bunch.”
Polly asked, “Has anyone from Dayen contacted ya yet?”
I nodded “We got an emergency writ of Habeus Corpus from the Dayan Surpreme Court. I have to get you and your folks back to Starbase, and then you’ll be on a transport for home. On your homeworld, you’ll have hearings for your status.”
“Wow, that was quick.”
“Our records show your folks have little involvement in crimes that happened in the Federation.”
“I did my best to keep ‘em focused on the Orions. The obvious bling the Orion nobles like to display helped.”
Lanna glowered, “Is that why my fighter kept breaking down?”
Polly said “Kid - shooting bad guys is fine. But if you start gunning for civilians, that opens up a whole new can o’ worms. I wanted to take ya home eventually.”
“You never told us,” Ahzwin, the Vulcanoid said.
“The thing about plans is, they explode more often than not. Herding you kids was challenging enough without fighting about my retirement plan.”
“What is your retirement plan?” Niklon, the tall Golden Orion man asked
“I plan to get us back to Dayen, my homeworld, lawyer up and kick back while the legal system grinds away. We’ll eat good food, see good stuff and generally avoid the hell out of anything shooty or explodey.”
Guyer said, “I like that plan.”
Dr Tweeny said “Me, too. Then I can show you my homeworld.”
They all looked at her. What did a planet of mice-squirrels look like?
I noticed that Klaudia, their Klingon companion was looking at me pretty intently.
I felt a tickle in my brain **Hello?** I said to her.
She looked away with big eyes.
**Talk to me any time you need to,** I said.
“Kids,” Polly said, “I’m gonna be laid up until the Doc’s finished. Find the ship's lounge. Starfleet keeps their replicators up to date and high quality to keep the crews happy. Eat good stuff. Clean up some. Replicate nice clothes to wear. Kick your feet up and enjoy the vacation, on me.”
They turned, reluctantly. Guyer said, “Eenie, are you coming?”
Dr. Hobolisk said “Go ahead, Doctor. Once you’re fed and rested, you can come oversee my work.”
-*-
It was inevitable.
Zobbie confronted Rock Hunter in the lounge.
“You’re under arrest,” She said.
The Trident crew faced Zobbie and Zob, and things got tense. Zob and Zobbie were overmatched pretty badly.
Robbie and Chux intervened “Whoa, whoa, whoa, we don’t need any drama, here.”
Zobbie waved them off “You’re a traitor and a criminal. You have no business running loose here.”
Rock Hunter said, “All I want is to be free.”
“Why do you all look alike?” Neron asked.
“We’re clones,” Rock Hunter explained, “We’re all genetically altered copies of the same guy. The Original Zob.”
“That’s not their business, Zob,” Zobbie snarled.
“The Original Zob set up Planet Zob as his hidey hole away from the galaxy,” Rock Hunter said.
“He wanted to keep us safe,” Zob the cop said.
“Do you want to be safe, or do you want to live your life to the fullest?” Rock asked.
“You don’t get to make that decision for me. You don’t get to make it for everyone else,” Zobbie said.
“I’m getting something to drink. Please continue,” Guyer said.
Klaudia, the Klingon woman said “Talk all you please. Touch him, and things change.”
Zobbie said to Rock “You’re being selfish. You’re chasing your own delusions and putting us all in danger to do it.”
“So you’re saying I should give up and be a good little Zob for the greater good.”
“That’s called being an adult.”
“You could have let me go and no one would have been the wiser.”
“The Founder set it up the way he set it up. The Planet Zob protects us and keeps them out. You broke that when you left.”
“I couldn’t just be another Zob. I couldn’t be just another cog in the machine. That was slow suicide for me.”
“Again, you’re being selfish at the expense of the people behind you.”
“When I came out here, I could be someone different. I didn’t have to be Zob. I could be Rock Hunter.”
“That’s not even your name!”
“It worked out differently than I thought, but I discovered something about myself. I discovered a lot of things about myself. I recommend it.”
“We weren’t made for that. We have a purpose. We build and maintain planet Zob. We create the safe space for the next generation.”
“By keeping us in a padded cage, Planet Zob robs us. We never get into situations to really learn who we are. I came out here seeking adventure, excitement, a different story than Planet Zob could offer me. What I found was me. I found out who I really was. I found a family.”
“We don’t really know you that well, Rock.” Niklon said.
Hunter waved that off, “I discovered who I really was when the beams started flying. I discovered what I was capable of when things were at their darkest. I don’t want to break Planet Zob or anything I left behind. But I left it all behind. I couldn’t be a Zob now, if I tried.”
“Our orders are to bring you back, so the Council of Zobs can make an example of you. Zob keeps us in, keeps us safe and it keeps the rest of the galaxy out. These people are insane. We want no part of this.”
“Huh. The Captain said he has a writ of habitable corpses or something. I don’t know if you can make me go back.”
Zobbie glared at Rock Hunter and then turned on her heels and walked out of the lounge.
“Oh, Bother,” a holographic Winnie the Pooh said.
-*-
“I’m sorry. It’s out of my hands,” I said. I didn’t tell her I had no intention of forcing Rock Hunter back to Planet Zob to begin with.
“If that’s the case, why are we heading back to planet Zob?” Zobbie asked bitterly.
“To take you and your partner home and to try and open diplomatic relations,” I replied
“You’re off to a terrible start,” Zobbie said
“If your government is talking to the Federation, then you can start to negotiate an extradition treaty. Until then, the Dayan Supreme Court has issued me orders, and I am bound to comply.”
“Then I have no further reason to interact with you.”
“Have it your way.”
She left my office.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 1578
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Omoikane - The Zob Problem
Omoikane 84 - The Zob Problem 7
The Planet Zob, Fusion Station 312 Control room.
“Hey,” the man said.
Zobba turned to see a Zob dressed in odd clothing.
“How the fuck did you get here!?” He demanded. Then he waved the device in his hand, “I have a dead man switch here. You do anything to me, the bomb goes off.”
Rock Hunter nodded “I know, I’m unarmed. I’m here to talk.”
“I’m done talking. Talking has never gotten me anywhere.”
“What’s your name?”
“The same as everyone fucking else!” Zobba said, “My variant is Zobba, like a sizable proportion of the whole planet.”
“You’re tired of being a face in the crowd, the same as everyone else,” Rock said.
“I passed tired a long time ago, Zob.”
“My name’s not Zob,” Rock said.
“What?”
“My friends call me Rock Hunter,” He said.
“Being delusional sounds so nice right now.”
“It’s not a delusion. I escaped. I ran away. I remade myself.”
Zobba squinted at Rock “How did you escape?”
“I mailed myself out as a crate of fertilizer. People outside in the galaxy, they don’t have the same attention to detail we do. A lot of their computers and programs are sloppy.”
Zobba “So you’re going to tell me you ran away and became a space pirate named Rock Hunter.”
Rock nodded gravely “Less space pirate, more armed salvage recovery.”
“You’re insane.”
“I’m not the one holding the trigger to a gamma pulse bomb.”
Zobba sat down in a chair and looked around the control station of the fusion power plant, “I can’t stand it anymore.”
“I know exactly how that feels.”
“I discovered the warp drive equations. I could almost build one.”
“They punished you.”
“We have a talent for math. We’re told so. Then when I tried to do math, they punished me. Everything I tried to do to not be the same old guy in the same old clothes doing the same old job, they punished me.”
“This is a Zob world, run in Zob ways for the benefit of Zobs,” Rock Hunter said.
Zobba nodded “They said we have to keep Zob Zob. That I should just grow up and be a good Zob.”
“I wonder how many of us kill themselves?” Rock asked.
“Acceptable losses to keep Zob Zob.” Zobba snarled.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Rock said.
“I wish they agreed with you.”
“There’s a bunch of people who do, up in the Starship and in the galaxy.”
“We’re not allowed to go there!” Zobba said.
“You think it will change with a bomb?” Rock asked.
“Something has to change!” Zobba “Something has to give! I can’t be just one more dead Zob on the pile.”
“You won’t be. I won’t let that happen.”
“You’ll take me with you? To the starship?”
“That might be a one-way trip. You might not be allowed to come back.”
“I don’t care. I’m perfectly ready to never see Planet Zob again in my life.”
“Okay, Disarm the bomb, take down the booby traps. Let the crew come back in to recover this plant.”
Zobba tossed his control on the floor, “There’s no bomb. The booby traps are all smoke bombs and confetti.”
Rock Hunter looked at him.
“I was bluffing. I could never get enough anti-protons to create a Gamma-Pulse bomb. I barely got enough to fake the readings,” Zobba said.
Rock laughed, “I’m glad I’m not the only one!”
An antelope walked into the control room. Zobba felt his grasp on reality start to slip “Why did you bring an Antelope?”
**I am Tippalan,** the Antelope thought at him.
“She’s an alien,” Rock Hunter said “Ms Tippalan can we beam up to your ship?”
Tippalan flicked her ears back at Rock “You’re playing fast and loose, Mister, Hunter.”
Zobba felt a bugs under his skin feeling, as he, the Antelope and Rock Hunter sparkled away.
In the control room, bombs carefully set to detonate at the detection of transporter energy detonated filling the control room with multi-colored smoke, confetti and a particularly aggressive electronic cover of the Zobbian national anthem.
-*-
USS Omoikane briefing room
Hailey 3
The older Zob in an all-black suit glared at me “We demand that you return Zobba and Zob now.”
I said “Sir, I am under orders to get Rock Hunter to Dayen for a court date. I am unable to turn him over to you. I am considering whether to offer Zobba asylum in the Federation. What is your argument against that?”
“They are both Zobs. Our people. My People. Zob is for Zobs. Our culture and our way of life are carefully tuned for the benefit of Zobs and to protect us from the chaos people like you bring.”
“It seems like you’re not dealing well with individuals who want to deviate from Zobness.”
“Not being a Zob, you’re in no position to judge. That’s the point. Zob is for Zobs. Not you. Our whole point is that we’re not like you and we need to keep you out.”
“Yet, you have a Shard space station and starship in your system.”
“They promised to help us keep people like you out.”
“I apologize for the intrusion. I am very glad there was no bomb after all,” I said.
“It was a mistake to ask you for assistance.”
Karsa Morda, the Shard Commander watching this exchange said “My job is to protect this world as a functioning province of the Shard Empire. Given that a Gamma Pulse bomb would have exterminated the city and ruined a large portion of your world, I felt it worthwhile to take advantage of this Federation starship and her capabilities to prevent further damage.”
“We need you to help reinforce our borders, here,” the Elder Zob said.
“Two individuals are not worth the problem. Exile them. In fact, This Zob Zobba 28765432,” He read the name off a tablet “Is exiled from the Shard. If found anywhere within the Shard, including planet Zob, he faces arrest, prosecution, and time in a labor colony. The one called Rock Hunter is as of now, is wanted for questioning in regards to piracy and other criminal activities. He will be thoroughly questioned by Shard Security if found within the Shard Empire, including on Planet Zob.”
He looked at the Elder Zob and me, “I hope that simplifies our problems here.”
It did but in the wrong way.
“I was hoping we could arrange a more orderly relationship, or at least set up future meetings to set our relationship on a better tone,” I said.
“So you can take more of my people away?” The Elder Zob snarled.
“Maybe if they could come and go, they could see why Zob is a better place for Zobs.”
The Elder Zob said “I reject you and your Federation. In the name of the Founder, and the planet Zob. Go away and do not bother us again.” He turned and walked out of the conference room.
Karsa Morda said “All outside contact should come through the Empire. Zob belongs to us now. Your diplomacy is with us, not local leaders.”
I nodded “Okay, noted. Thank you.”
“If I had my way, I’d export all of Zobs mental cases and malcontents to your Federation. But they’re a little weird about it,” Commander Morsa turned and followed the Elder Zob.
I sighed. You win some and you lose some.
-*-
Rock Hunter and Zobba stared out the window as planet Zob shrank away.
Both had pangs of homesickness as well as excitement.
“What’s your name going to be, now that you’re no longer a Zob?” Rock Hunter asked.
“I hadn’t actually thought about it,” The former Zobba said.
-*-
Zob and Zobbie stood next to each other on the steps of the Law Enforcement Bureau Headquarters.
Zobbie said “I want to go home. Shower in my shower, dress in my clothes, and not talk to you for at least two weeks.”
Zob nodded “Okay. I’ll see you when you get back.” In his gear, was the hologram projector they used. It had been altered. Now it had the accumulated cultural knowledge of the Federation. They called it the Public Access Database. Zob knew just the right person to get it to. The data would be hidden away and parcelled out slowly to people with the right classification and skills to learn more about the Federation.
Zobbie briskly walked north, towards the statue of the founder, the Original Zob.
Zob turned the other way and headed south.
The Planet Zob, Fusion Station 312 Control room.
“Hey,” the man said.
Zobba turned to see a Zob dressed in odd clothing.
“How the fuck did you get here!?” He demanded. Then he waved the device in his hand, “I have a dead man switch here. You do anything to me, the bomb goes off.”
Rock Hunter nodded “I know, I’m unarmed. I’m here to talk.”
“I’m done talking. Talking has never gotten me anywhere.”
“What’s your name?”
“The same as everyone fucking else!” Zobba said, “My variant is Zobba, like a sizable proportion of the whole planet.”
“You’re tired of being a face in the crowd, the same as everyone else,” Rock said.
“I passed tired a long time ago, Zob.”
“My name’s not Zob,” Rock said.
“What?”
“My friends call me Rock Hunter,” He said.
“Being delusional sounds so nice right now.”
“It’s not a delusion. I escaped. I ran away. I remade myself.”
Zobba squinted at Rock “How did you escape?”
“I mailed myself out as a crate of fertilizer. People outside in the galaxy, they don’t have the same attention to detail we do. A lot of their computers and programs are sloppy.”
Zobba “So you’re going to tell me you ran away and became a space pirate named Rock Hunter.”
Rock nodded gravely “Less space pirate, more armed salvage recovery.”
“You’re insane.”
“I’m not the one holding the trigger to a gamma pulse bomb.”
Zobba sat down in a chair and looked around the control station of the fusion power plant, “I can’t stand it anymore.”
“I know exactly how that feels.”
“I discovered the warp drive equations. I could almost build one.”
“They punished you.”
“We have a talent for math. We’re told so. Then when I tried to do math, they punished me. Everything I tried to do to not be the same old guy in the same old clothes doing the same old job, they punished me.”
“This is a Zob world, run in Zob ways for the benefit of Zobs,” Rock Hunter said.
Zobba nodded “They said we have to keep Zob Zob. That I should just grow up and be a good Zob.”
“I wonder how many of us kill themselves?” Rock asked.
“Acceptable losses to keep Zob Zob.” Zobba snarled.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Rock said.
“I wish they agreed with you.”
“There’s a bunch of people who do, up in the Starship and in the galaxy.”
“We’re not allowed to go there!” Zobba said.
“You think it will change with a bomb?” Rock asked.
“Something has to change!” Zobba “Something has to give! I can’t be just one more dead Zob on the pile.”
“You won’t be. I won’t let that happen.”
“You’ll take me with you? To the starship?”
“That might be a one-way trip. You might not be allowed to come back.”
“I don’t care. I’m perfectly ready to never see Planet Zob again in my life.”
“Okay, Disarm the bomb, take down the booby traps. Let the crew come back in to recover this plant.”
Zobba tossed his control on the floor, “There’s no bomb. The booby traps are all smoke bombs and confetti.”
Rock Hunter looked at him.
“I was bluffing. I could never get enough anti-protons to create a Gamma-Pulse bomb. I barely got enough to fake the readings,” Zobba said.
Rock laughed, “I’m glad I’m not the only one!”
An antelope walked into the control room. Zobba felt his grasp on reality start to slip “Why did you bring an Antelope?”
**I am Tippalan,** the Antelope thought at him.
“She’s an alien,” Rock Hunter said “Ms Tippalan can we beam up to your ship?”
Tippalan flicked her ears back at Rock “You’re playing fast and loose, Mister, Hunter.”
Zobba felt a bugs under his skin feeling, as he, the Antelope and Rock Hunter sparkled away.
In the control room, bombs carefully set to detonate at the detection of transporter energy detonated filling the control room with multi-colored smoke, confetti and a particularly aggressive electronic cover of the Zobbian national anthem.
-*-
USS Omoikane briefing room
Hailey 3
The older Zob in an all-black suit glared at me “We demand that you return Zobba and Zob now.”
I said “Sir, I am under orders to get Rock Hunter to Dayen for a court date. I am unable to turn him over to you. I am considering whether to offer Zobba asylum in the Federation. What is your argument against that?”
“They are both Zobs. Our people. My People. Zob is for Zobs. Our culture and our way of life are carefully tuned for the benefit of Zobs and to protect us from the chaos people like you bring.”
“It seems like you’re not dealing well with individuals who want to deviate from Zobness.”
“Not being a Zob, you’re in no position to judge. That’s the point. Zob is for Zobs. Not you. Our whole point is that we’re not like you and we need to keep you out.”
“Yet, you have a Shard space station and starship in your system.”
“They promised to help us keep people like you out.”
“I apologize for the intrusion. I am very glad there was no bomb after all,” I said.
“It was a mistake to ask you for assistance.”
Karsa Morda, the Shard Commander watching this exchange said “My job is to protect this world as a functioning province of the Shard Empire. Given that a Gamma Pulse bomb would have exterminated the city and ruined a large portion of your world, I felt it worthwhile to take advantage of this Federation starship and her capabilities to prevent further damage.”
“We need you to help reinforce our borders, here,” the Elder Zob said.
“Two individuals are not worth the problem. Exile them. In fact, This Zob Zobba 28765432,” He read the name off a tablet “Is exiled from the Shard. If found anywhere within the Shard, including planet Zob, he faces arrest, prosecution, and time in a labor colony. The one called Rock Hunter is as of now, is wanted for questioning in regards to piracy and other criminal activities. He will be thoroughly questioned by Shard Security if found within the Shard Empire, including on Planet Zob.”
He looked at the Elder Zob and me, “I hope that simplifies our problems here.”
It did but in the wrong way.
“I was hoping we could arrange a more orderly relationship, or at least set up future meetings to set our relationship on a better tone,” I said.
“So you can take more of my people away?” The Elder Zob snarled.
“Maybe if they could come and go, they could see why Zob is a better place for Zobs.”
The Elder Zob said “I reject you and your Federation. In the name of the Founder, and the planet Zob. Go away and do not bother us again.” He turned and walked out of the conference room.
Karsa Morda said “All outside contact should come through the Empire. Zob belongs to us now. Your diplomacy is with us, not local leaders.”
I nodded “Okay, noted. Thank you.”
“If I had my way, I’d export all of Zobs mental cases and malcontents to your Federation. But they’re a little weird about it,” Commander Morsa turned and followed the Elder Zob.
I sighed. You win some and you lose some.
-*-
Rock Hunter and Zobba stared out the window as planet Zob shrank away.
Both had pangs of homesickness as well as excitement.
“What’s your name going to be, now that you’re no longer a Zob?” Rock Hunter asked.
“I hadn’t actually thought about it,” The former Zobba said.
-*-
Zob and Zobbie stood next to each other on the steps of the Law Enforcement Bureau Headquarters.
Zobbie said “I want to go home. Shower in my shower, dress in my clothes, and not talk to you for at least two weeks.”
Zob nodded “Okay. I’ll see you when you get back.” In his gear, was the hologram projector they used. It had been altered. Now it had the accumulated cultural knowledge of the Federation. They called it the Public Access Database. Zob knew just the right person to get it to. The data would be hidden away and parcelled out slowly to people with the right classification and skills to learn more about the Federation.
Zobbie briskly walked north, towards the statue of the founder, the Original Zob.
Zob turned the other way and headed south.