Chapter 3

It was the survivors and they said they knew I wanted to be left alone but I needed to get off my butt and do something so this never happened again. They kept repeating it and finally it broke through. I was sitting in Olivia’s hydroponics section tearing leaves apart and finally stopped moving, “Allie?”

There was a silent wait before she answered quietly, “Yes my husband?”

I smiled, “I need a holo board and interface.”

“Of course my husband.”

The board dropped into my hands and I thought for a minute, “Allie, display a common bio of a mixture of Jess, Teri, Julie and Olivia.”

The small holo display filled with a composite of all four girls. I concentrated on what I was doing and tuned everything out, “Change the hair color to a strawberry color and increase the bust slightly to match Olivia.”

It did not really look like Olivia or for that matter any one of the girls, “Darken the skin slightly, a bronze color.”

I smiled at the results and nodded, “That is good. What do you think?”

“She looks very pretty.”

I could almost hear a note of envy in her voice. I nodded to myself and went to work. First I pulled the skeleton out, “I need a composite to replace the bone. Something a little stronger than natural bone, it also needs to be as light or lighter in weight.”

I went through each and every system of the human body, replacing it with lighter and stronger composites. Last was the brain and I had thought about this very carefully. I just used the interface to draw what my mind saw, it was like an AI core but with a triple redundant phase receiver transmitter.

I sat back looking at the girl in my display, “Allie, would you analyze it for me?”

I grinned as she made her throat clearing noise, “Everything looks good but without...”

I held up my hand, “You will notice she has vocal cords.”

“Yes my husband but...”

I kept looking at the display, “Could you remotely access and use it?”

There was a long pronounced pause and finally, “Yes. I ... I could access it but I would need time to learn.”

I smiled and my whole body seemed to relax, “Allie, all humans learn how to use their bodies over time. You are one of us, you call me your husband. Well, if you want I can give you a body.”

There was a longer pause than before. Allie came back quiet and almost timid, “I would like that very much my husband.”

I smiled and stood up, “Lock this into memory, name it Allie and get me a shopping list. You can put my holo board back in the workshop. Let me know if I can find everything here. I am going to get cleaned up and then we are going to Miros.”

“Yes my husband.”

I walked out of hydroponics feeling better than I had in a long time. I took a long shower and changed into clean clothes before heading towards the bridge, “Take us out of stealth Allie.”

I slid into my chair, “How is the shopping list look?”

“Everything you need is here, my husband.”

I started checking the course to Miros, “Unless it belongs to someone, bring it aboard and put it in the workshop.”

It was several minutes before an excited Allie came back, “Everything is waiting for you.”

I nodded and turned the ship onto the course and headed out of the system. Hours later we wormholed out and I stood up, “Keep an eye on the systems Allie.”

I headed aft and went to the workroom. I took a breath and brought the large display alive. I loaded the project listed as Allie and spent several minutes reviewing it. When I was satisfied, I fed it to the matter transmitter. It was a few minutes before the body appeared from the glow on my workbench.

I reached out to touch her, “Allie before you access your body, I want you to listen. This body is like a human body. Once you access it, you have to leave part of yourself in place, if you do not the body dies. You will find yourself in chaos. You will have trouble seeing, speaking, controlling your muscles and especially walking.”

I stepped back, “You will have to eat, drink and use the bathroom to get rid of waste. Until you have control I will have to help you feed and dispose of waste. You have to start with simple muscle movement, crawling and holding onto things to stand. From there you can move on to balancing on your feet and learning to walk or run.”

I took a breath, “Whenever you are ready, access your body.”

The body twitched and the ship speakers whined, “Charles I ... I...”

I put my hand on the twitching body, “Relax Allie, let the chaos go and concentrate on one thing at a time. Use your ship sensors to watch what the body is doing.”

The body’s twitching slowed but its crocking continued. I smiled, “Allie, start with the letters of the alphabet. Try to pronounce each one clearly.”

I put my arms under her and lifted. I carried her light frame through the ship to the galley. I needed to get her to eat, I put her in a chair and she almost fell out. I finally set her on the floor and leaned her back against a wall while I considered. It took me almost a half hour to mash up some food to feed her. I described a diaper to Allie and had her make a few.

I left her briefly to check Olivia’s room for clothes and returned to put a shirt and pair of loose pants on. I carried her to the sick bay where I found a hover chair. I secured her to the chair and things seemed to calm down slightly. For the next five days I was constantly with her. She slept or at least lay beside me while I slept, everywhere I went, she went.

By the time we left the wormhole on the edge of Miros, Allie was walking in minimal gravity and was able to speak. Best for me was the fact that she no longer needed diapers, although I was still feeding her while she learned to eat. Her vision had improved dramatically and even though she had not gotten it down completely she was calmer.

She was seated slightly behind me as I brought the ship to a stop and opened the comm, “Fleet control, this is Night Scream.”

There was a pause as I watched ships scramble to meet us, “Night Scream, this is Fleet control.”

I smiled, “Fleet control, I would like to set course for Miros.”

Again the pause while I saw all but one ship turn away, “Stand by Night Scream.”

A moment later, “Night Scream, this is Grendal.”

I grinned, “How may I assist you Grendal?”

There was only a slight lag, “Admiral Peters requests permission to come aboard.”

I smiled as a shuttle separated from the battleship as it still closed, “Ask the admiral if he would consider having lunch with me.”

A moment later they came back, “The admiral said he would be delighted.”

I locked the controls down and stood to help Allie into her chair, “Kept an eye on things Allie.”

She smiled, “Yes my husband.”

Those had been her first words from her body and I smiled as I heard the slight blur. She followed in her chair as I headed towards the starboard hatch, “Light up the starboard hatch Allie.”

Today she was wearing a stunning ship suit she had designed herself. I liked the way it looked even if she did have a habit of wearing reveling clothes like Julie and Jess. This time when the hatch opened there was only the admiral and another officer, a captain by his uniform. The admiral smiled, “This is Captain Janis, he is the captain of Grendal.”

I nodded and stepped back. The admiral stepped through and looked at Allie, “Who is this young lady?”

I smiled, “My wife Allie.”

He smiled and bowed, “My pleasure to meet you.”

The captain bowed as well and Allie smiled. I gestured and led the way to the galley. While they sat, I selected tea from the synthesizer and set their cups on the table before sitting beside Allie. She was still having trouble with hot or cold foods so I always tested hers before giving them to her. I ignored the two men and checked her tea, it was something she had developed a taste for.

I held it so she could sip and then set her cup down to look at the admiral, “I get the impression this is not a social call.”

He smiled and took a sip of tea before sighing, “No. We have the report of your ... arrest of Marshal Thomas. It shocked and frightened quit a few people.”

I sipped my tea and gave Allie another sip before looking at him. I shrugged, “What can I say, I told you what I would do. I even warned you that this ship and its systems were ... classified.”

The captain chuckled, “That is an understatement. Six battleships, eight Battlecruisers, six heavy and six light cruisers and twelve destroyers, not to mention all the fixed weapons.”

I let Allie have another sip of tea before standing and moving to the synthesizer. I pulled up the holo menu and looked at my two visitors. I selected appetizers and went back to the table to set them down and Allie smiled, “I like those.”

I grinned, “You have not tasted them before, how do you know you like them?”

She only looked at me, “Because they were Julie’s favorite.”

I sighed, she did this sometime, “You know what I told you. You have to taste something before you decide to like it. Just because Julie liked something, does not mean you will.”

Allie only looked at the appetizers, “Please.”

I took one of the small spicy rolls and broke off a piece to feed her. I ignored the men again as they tried the rolls, she chewed slowly and carefully. I could see her expression change and let her sip her tea. She looked at me, “That was spicy?”

I nodded and turned to the admiral, “I was considering helping your fleet against the Talis but since I was born in Grer, I would need his majesty to ... approve my alliance. I will also have to send a formal declaration of war to Talis.”

The admiral and captain looked at each other while I went back to helping Allie with another piece of spicy roll. It was quiet for several minutes until I went back to the synthesizer. I selected a small cold salad and brought them to the table. After the salad was a soup and then a main course of what looked like small steak. After that was small individual loaves of a special flavored bread and cheese. Last was small globes of fruit in a light pastry, I made sure to change the drinks every other course.