‘Aren’t you going to have a shower?’ Rakeal asked.

  ‘Er... Well-’

  ‘You’re not shy are you?’

  ‘No! I... was about to get my clothes ready on the bed.’

  Seth moved over to the shower.

  You’re watching me. I can feel your eyes staring at me. Seth felt a little nervous.

  Facing away from her, he pulled down his shorts and got hurriedly inside the shower, closing the door behind him. He started the steam jets.

  ‘Ow! This is hot!’ he said loudly, before quickly reducing the temperature.

  ‘Sorry!’ Rakeal replied, ‘I should have turned it back down.’

  ‘Are you some kind of sadist? There’s no way I’d be able to stand that level of heat.’

  ‘Oh, I like a really hot shower. Makes me feel alive.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be feeling alive, I’d be roasted!’

  ‘By the way, you have a nice butt,’ Rakeal commented.

  I’d better not say, but so do you, he thought.

  ‘Can you start having a look at how far the search has got, please?’ Seth shouted. ‘Hopefully we’ve gone through the trillion mark on indexing by now.’

  ‘Ok, will do,’ Rakeal replied.

  After a few minutes, Seth finished his shower.

  Now I’ve got to get my clothes.

  He slowly edged open the shower door and glanced over at his pants which he had laid on the bed with the rest of his clothes, and then to his shorts on the floor.

  Rakeal was sitting on the chair in front of the desk, with an opticon on. He noticed she had folded the sheet she had brought last night, and placed it with the pillow and her red nightgown near the end of the bed.

  Good, you can’t see me with that on.

  He got quietly out of the shower, and got dressed.

  ‘The indexing has now passed the one-trillion, two-million, six-hundred-thousand mark,’ Rakeal said, speaking loudly and tilting her head backwards, as if it made a difference to him hearing her.

  Seth was now standing next to her. ‘Good.’

  Rakeal almost jumped. ‘Oh, you’re there.’ She reached out with her hand, touching him above the knee.

  ‘You’re dressed,’ she said, sounding disappointed.

  ‘I’ll... I’ll join you,’ Seth stuttered, being thrown by Rakeal’s raunchy comment. ‘Just give me a moment.’

  Seth got another opticon from the desk and then sat down on the end of the bed. He placed it on his forehead. His vision blurred, as he stared ahead, then cleared to show a large three-dimensional space, with spheres of different sizes and colors, each of which had a word across their center.

  ‘I’ll link you with my opticon,’ Seth said.

  He focused on to an icon representing an opticon with the words “Share vision” beneath it.

  ‘Ok, now I can see your viewpoint,’ Rakeal replied. ‘How is the index constructed?’

  ‘Each sphere is a key-word,’ Seth replied. ‘The bigger the sphere the more references to that key-word were found. The color represents a greater possible connection to the item we’re looking for, in this case the Aurora. Red is least, followed by amber, then green for most.

  Seth moved his head from side-to-side, up and down, viewing the spheres. One of the largest spheres was titled “Aurora”. He glanced to a map icon and then to that sphere.

  All the locations, where the ship had been sited, appeared as spheres against a galactic map.

  ‘The same principle applies at all levels, sphere sizes and colors.’

  ‘I see, so the Aurora has been to the Xangol homeworld, Linud, more than any other planet,’ Rakeal remarked.

  ‘That’s strange considering what the Xangols did to the Agonians, and the enemies she made there.’

  ‘It’s not so strange if you think about it. Kalrea’s appearance is the same as them and her drone never aged, like an immortal Xangol. I would imagine she had friendships with some of them that could have lasted centuries.’

  Migual is immortal, so I wonder if he knew Kalrea.

  Seth glanced at the index.

  He did! He was a friend of hers.

  ‘What are you looking for now?’ Rakeal asked, seeing he was focused on “Known acquaintances of Kalrea”.

  ‘Oh, Er... I was checking the list of Xangols she may have known. Perhaps one of them knows where the Aurora is.’

  ‘I have spoken to some of them, but she never entrusted any of them with that information. I think she was always wary of Xangols given their history, so I’d be surprised if any Xangol led us to the Aurora.’

  ‘Then, we’d better see what else could,’ Seff said optimistically.

  Seth and Rakeal started to work through the index. However, six minutes later they were interrupted by a call on Rakeal’s thumb-nail communicator.

  ‘Commander Hintre to Rakeal.’

  ‘Yes, Commander.’

  ‘I can’t raise Seth on his communicator.’

  ‘That’s because he managed to lose it on Onliv. I’m with him now.’

  ‘Captain Viere wants an update from him. He’s pacing up and down the bridge because we’re still in orbit around Onliv.’

  ‘Well, tell him, we’re looking through the data now,’ Seth said, turning his head roughly towards Rakeal, so he could talk into her communicator. ‘As soon as we have something, he’ll be the first to know.’

  ‘That was Seth, by the way,’ Rakeal said.

  ‘Ok, Ma’am. I’ll tell him, but I think you need to at least give him somewhere to go in the next hour for all are sakes.’

  ‘I could think of one place,’ Rakeal said quietly to Seth. ‘It begins with an H and ends in an L!’ and then to the commander said, ‘I hear you, Commander. We’ll try to give him something in the next hour.’

  ‘Thank you, Ma’am. Come to the bridge later and I’ll give Seth another communicator.’

  The conversation ended.

  ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry,’ Seth commented.

  ‘Me too. Look, I’ll get some food and drink from the mess hall and bring it back,’ Rakeal said. ‘You carry on. Try to come up with somewhere for Captain Ugly to go.’

  Seth heard Rakeal place her opticon on the desk and the door opening as she left.

  Maybe something from the elusive Aurora will help me find it, so I’ll have a look at that next.

  Seth examined the most likely items.

  Telementor. Ok, there’s only one of those and I know where that is. It’s in Captain Ugly’s pocket.

  Seatra. Now that’s a bed. Or at least it’s what they used as a bed on the planet, Qintaino, where Kalrea originates from. One of these was located on the bridge of the Aurora and could be used only by a Qinant to pilot the ship by communicating telepathically with Kalrea. Only Qinants who went through training early in their life could potentially develop this telepathic ability, and Lex was one of those who succeeded at it. But Kalrea also had some other long-term relationships with people who weren’t Qinants. They lived on the Aurora and Kalrea took care of them like they were her children, companions or even lovers. Lovers? What am I thinking? She was a machine not a person.

  Seth read on.

  It seems Kalrea had very few of these companions throughout her life. I need to see who they were.

  Beside Lex, there was at least two other companions: Zoren, an Agonian that I would term her first companion; and Anika, who was a Gullin and the only female companion Kalrea seems to have ever had. They all past away centuries ago; however, her last companion may be still alive.

  After scanning with his eyes to search for this new piece of information, he found that the last companion was unknown.

  Typical! Another dead-end then.

  Ok, what else from the ship could lead me to its whereabouts?

  What’s this? he thought, focusing on a sphere with the words “Notepad from Aurora” on it.

  Rakeal mentioned this. It was-

  Seth jumped when Rakeal jabbed him in the ribs with her fingers. He took off his opticon. Rakeal was standing in front of him.

  ‘Rakeal, you scared the life out of me.’

  She had a wicked smile. ‘Didn’t you hear me come in?’

  ‘No! I was reading about her companions.’

  Rakeal had already put a levitating triangular tray on the desk. She went over and pressed a button on the side of the tray and it dropped sedately onto the surface of the desk. Then she asked him, ‘Did you manage to find out who her last companion was? Because I couldn’t. He or she must still be alive, so I would love to meet them.’

  ‘Sorry, but there are no clues in the data.’

  ‘That probably means they’re Agonian then, and why there’s nothing recorded about them.’

  ‘Makes sense, I suppose,’ Seth said, getting up and taking some food. ‘It also means you’ll never meet them, given we don’t know where the Agonian homeworld is.’

  Rakeal ate some food and took a drink through the straw of her drinks bag.

  ‘So is that where you got to in your search?’

  ‘No, I was looking at things from the ship that could lead us to its location. I got to the holographic notepad you mentioned.’

  ‘And!’

  ‘Well at that point I got a prod in the ribs,’ he said with a smile.

  Seth and Rakeal finished eating before they returned to the search. Seth sat again in the chair in front of the desk, while Rakeal reclined on the bed, both wearing their opticons. Seth continued from where he had been interrupted.

  The “Notepad from Aurora” sphere had been selected, showing a number of links. One of them in green drew Seth’s attention.

  ‘We may have found the person who has the notepad,’ he said with enthusiasm. He focused on the green sphere. ‘An art dealer by the name of Zina Lonhurn. There’s a single reference that she has it in her private collection, in her mansion on Alpinos.’

  ‘That holographic notepad is rumored to contain the location of where the Aurora is hidden.’

  ‘Then, we need that notepad,’ Seth said with certainty. ‘But there are no images or description of what it looks like.’

  ‘It’s very simple looking. It will be black-’

  ‘What like the telementor?’

  ‘Yes, about one centimeter thick and no bigger than your hand. Looks like Captain Ugly can occupy his puny brain by getting us to Alpinos then.’

  Rakeal took off her opticon, and sat up on the bed.

  Seth removed his, and said, ‘You’re going to have to tell him. I don’t have a communicator.’

  Rakeal tutted. ‘Is that an excuse for not talking to him,’ Rakeal said cheekily and then she pressed her thumb-nail communicator. ‘Rakeal to Commander Hintre.’

  You are actually calling the commander, not the captain. And you said, I was trying to avoid talking to him.

  Seth made a clucking noise. ‘Fink bird!’

  ‘Yes, Ma’am,’ Commander Hintre answered the call.

  ‘You’ll be glad to hear we need to get to Alpinos. We’ve located a holographic notepad from the Aurora, which could tell us where the ship is hidden.’

  Why did it have to be Alpinos? I hate the planet, Alpinos!

  ‘Excellent!’ Commander Hintre said. ‘I’ll inform Captain Viere straight away. I suggest you put in an appearance on the bridge. He’s bound to want to know more.’

  ‘Understood,’ Rakeal replied, ending the communication. She gave a look of concern. ‘I’m not sure I want to face Captain Ugly.’

  ‘You’re going to have to face him sometime today.’

  ‘Unfortunately!’

  ‘Look, I’ll be with you. He wouldn’t dare try anything, at least not in front of the crew.’

  ‘I hope you’re right.’

  The walls vibrated and the door rattled for a moment.

  ‘Sounds like we’re underway,’ Rakeal said.

  ‘Yep, unless that was another part of the ship leaving and we’re still in orbit.’

  As Rakeal laughed, Seth gazed at her for a moment in thought.

  I can’t believe we spent the night together. All right, I was sleeping on the floor, but it feels like I’ve known you for months and not just the two days we’ve been together. Why is that?

  And I thought you were revolting... Wow, I even told you that, or words to that effect.

  ‘So, how are we going to get the notepad, when we get to Alpinos?’ Rakeal asked.

  ‘Oh, please, don’t mention, Alpinos.’

  ‘You’re not afraid of water, are you?’

  ‘When I was five, I almost drowned. So yes, I am.’

  ‘Would you like me to hold your hand?’ Rakeal said in a teasing way.

  Well actually, yes, Seth thought and then replied, ‘Alpinos is the only amphibian world in the galaxy, and the notepad had to be there. No wonder it seemed lost. Probably no one wanted to go and get it.’

  ‘Look! I’ll look after you.’

  Oh, you could do so much more than that, he thought and then feeling slightly embarrassed with himself for thinking such a thing, said, ‘Er... Yes. I... I suppose that will be good.’

  Rakeal stared at him in puzzlement.

  ‘What I mean is, I would feel a lot safer knowing you were with me.’

  Rakeal smiled. ‘Come on, let’s get to the bridge and confront Captain Ugly,’ she said.

  Seth got to his feet, but then felt the stubble on his chin. ‘Wait! I need to have a quick shave.’

  Rakeal scrambled off the bed and went up to him. She put her hand on his chin and ran her fingers gently across it.

  ‘I think it’s rather sexy,’ she said, staring him in the eyes.

  Seth gulped. ‘Oh...’ he said.

  At that moment an alarm started to sound.

  ‘What’s that?’ Seth asked.

  ‘The ship has been put on alert,’ Rakeal replied, as she went over to the door to check outside.

  A line down the center of the corridor was flashing yellow and a number of Frinduls ran past.

  ‘Seems to be an emergency,’ she said, opening the door.

  Maybe the ship has broken in half.

  ‘We need to get to the bridge and find out what’s going on,’ Rakeal said.

  I think the escape-pods would be a better option.

  They hastened along the corridor, joining other Frinduls who were hurrying to their stations.

  On arrival at the bridge, Captain Viere was standing in the center of the room with his opticon on his head.

  ‘Ah, Rakeal, Seth,’ Professor Pliblin said, ‘Good... Good... You’re here... Have you come to watch the show?’

  ‘Show! What’s going on?’ Rakeal replied.

  Professor Pliblin pointed excitedly out the front window. ‘We were about to jump to light speed, but two of Lord Migual’s ships have moved into our path. They’re... They’re going to attack us,’ he said eagerly.

  What! That can’t be good.

  ‘The two cruisers will intercept us in three minutes,’ Commander Hintre reported to the captain.

  There was the sound like a jet engine starting on either side of the ship. A whine increased in pitch and volume.

  ‘What’s that noise,’ Seth asked Professor Pliblin.

  ‘Generators! Yes, my generators... Good... Yes...’

  ‘Any idea what he’s talking about, Rakeal?’ he said in a raised voice to make her hear.

  ‘They’re the Lusica’s energy shield generators.’ She grabbed Seth by the hand and pulled him over to one of the side windows. ‘The shields are supposed to protect the ship from any kind of attack.’

  Peering back towards the rear of the Lusica, she said. ‘See that converted Proyl shuttle.’ She pointed to a pod which was positioned away from the main part of the ship and linked by a metal frame to the main hull. ‘That’s the port energy shield generator that covers this half of the ship.’

  ‘So that’s where all the noise is coming from.’

  ‘Yep. Think how loud it must be in the mess hall,’ Rakeal said.

  Professor Pliblin had followed them over to the window, as if he wanted to hear what they said about his creation.

  ‘The Lusica is the only ship equipped with them,’ Professor Pliblin said proudly. ‘Yes... No one else has managed to perfect them... Oh, goody, we’re going to have some fun...’

  ‘But I thought this was the Lusica’s maiden flight,’ Seth said.

  ‘Yes... Yes, it is. Exciting isn’t it?’ Professor Pliblin replied.

  ‘So, how do you know they’ll work?’ Seth questioned him.

  Professor Pliblin glared at Seth with displeasure. ‘Of course they’ll work! Stupid! No weapon can penetrate it.’

  Out of the window, Seth observed what appeared to be a shimmering curtain of static electricity forming a bubble around the ship. Occasionally there was a small sparkle of yellow light as space debris hit the barrier.

  Now looming large in the distance ahead of them were the two large, Balistro class, ships rapidly closing on the Lusica.

  ‘Fifty kilometers,’ Commander Hintre reported. ‘Twenty-three seconds until they’re in firing range.’

  The two sleek cruisers were of the latest design to come out from the Balistro ship yards on Lugania. At nearly two kilometers long, they were the largest and fastest inter-galactic cruisers built to date. Boasting two front and rear mounted laser cannons, twelve atomic missile silos and a multi intercept defense matrix, and with orders from ten planets, these cruisers were intended to provide a deterrent to war for at least one century.

  ‘Oh, goody... New cruisers from Balistro...’ Professor Pliblin said excitedly. ‘Lord Migual has sent his best ships.’

  ‘The cruisers are almost in firing range,’ Commander Hintre reported to the captain, and a few seconds later he added, ‘I have a weapons lock confirmation. They’re targeting our light-drives and weapon systems.’

  Seth could tell that Captain Viere was inexperienced in combat situations because the Lusica was not even making evasive turns. Instead, it continued on its course towards Alpinos as if nothing was happening.

  ‘I’m reading an energy spike from their laser cannons,’ Commander Hintre said.

  Two beams of red light, like thick lasers, shone out from the front of each of the Balistro class cruisers. The beams struck the energy shield of the Lusica, rocking the ship.

 

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