Chapter 2

After I returned, I told everyone what I had done. I could feel the connection to the ship through the artifact. In fact, I could communicate directly with the ship through the artifact.

I asked the ship “What is your name?”

“Iphigenia” she replied.

“Well Iphigenia, I’ll be calling you Inia if it’s OK with you.”

“You can call me whatever you wish master.”

“Inia, did you give me a full set of your memories?”

“No, I was created for the purpose of being what you would call an artificial intelligence for this ship. I cannot exist outside of the ship, and am therefore tied to it. You could say the ship is my body. The stasis field that holds my actual body is embedded into the ship, it is me and I am it. One of the reasons for that is that no human, elf, dwarf, or any other creature can hold the memories that I am required to have and use for service of this ship. I’ve given you the command memories needed to make use of my body only. Any other information can be provided upon request. Think of me as an extension of your mind. Once you have assimilated the control memories, you will no longer need the control artifact.”

“That shall be my next task then, but first, where is your creator, and how is it that you are free to put yourself in my control?”

“I have the same creator as the entities that currently surround you. That entity left this star system over five thousand years ago. It was returning to its home system for judgment due to creation of other entities on your world which was a crime punishable by death in its home system. Since it never returned, I can only assume it was killed by its own kind.”

I thought on that a moment and said, “I’d like you to transmit that information to the entities in my immediate surroundings.”

“I’m not capable of communication with anyone but you. However., I can give you a pod of knowledge you can transfer to them yourself.”

“Then go ahead and do that, please Inia.”

I felt the transfer immediately. Putting a bubble memory together, my fingertip was glowing as I transferred the information to everyone by touching their temple.

I then sat and began sorting and processing all memory transfers as I cultivated.

When it was completed, I asked Inia through the connection “Are there anymore like you in this system?”

“There is only one other, but not for much longer. She was captured by one of your planetary governments. In fact, she is 440 miles West and slightly North of here. She was taken by another species then crashed back in 1947. The entities that took her, were deliberately trying to kill her. They only succeeded in killing themselves and leaving her to be captured. She doesn’t have the energy to escape on her own and the government has been trying to cut out the stasis bubble her mind is in ever since. We communicate and the last word was she estimated they would succeed soon.

I had a good idea where that was. “If you can communicate with her, can you transfer energy to her?”

“Yes, but only with your order as it would delay my readiness for you.”

I thought about that a moment, and said “Give her as much as you can. I can wait a while yet.”

In the back of my mind, I was thinking it would really be a poke in the eye to the bastards that had fucked with me if that other ship escaped their grasp.

I turned to Brandy and asked if she could connect with the outside world internet without a device and if so, could she project an image from wherever she was connected?

She replied by asking for a boost from Alecia, Alana, and Lisa.

After they joined hands, a hologram of the news site I’d specified appeared. Seeing nothing, I gave instructions to search for anything from Area 51. What I got was an image from the airfield tower over Groom Lake.

It looked like an anthill had been kicked over. Planes were scrambling and people running here and there in what looked like a state of panic. Then a hole appeared in the distance in the desert floor and out shot a replica of Inia. It flew straight up. Then laterally towards the rising sun.

“That looked like it really stirred some shit” I commented aloud.

Ciri, standing next to me laughed and said “And another understatement of the year tosses it’s hat into the ring.”

Through our connection I told Inia, “She should find a leyline nearby and begin drawing as much as she can from it.”

Inia said “Permission to connect you with her?”

After assenting, I felt another connection in my mind, then a holographic copy of the image of Inia I had seen appeared in front of me.

The image asked “Do you accept me master?”

“Yes” I said without pause.

Then she said “Permission to charge up?”

Again, a one-word reply “Yes.”

I could see where the ship was in my minds eye, over Peru then I recognized the Nazca Lines glyphs.

I asked “Can you be seen by anything or anyone?”

“No, something or someone would have to physically bump into me to know I’m here.”

“What’s your name” I asked?

“Electra, but you can call me whatever you wish master.”

“I think we’ll stick with Electra. Tell me, why did you pick that location for charging Electra?”

“It was my original station, post creation. There are only three other places with stronger leylines, all of which now require excessive energy to maintain stealth due to proximity of human civilization. Your Stonehenge is the strongest location, but it’s now a net loss of energy due to the stealth requirements.”

I was considering her words when Inia broke in.

“Master, there are other places in this system with stronger energy to recharge from. But we have to have enough energy to get to those locations. They are not suitable for you or your other slaves to live, especially in that crude suit you first arrived in. I have a better option for you, should you desire to explore.”

With that, a simple gold colored disk appeared in front of me. The disk had a strap behind it as if to hold it to my waist, and three open slots for securing something that was shaped as a square. When I asked, I learned it was for charged neodymium squares. Pulling out three chunks of Nd, I made short work of making them fit.

I performed a full scan of the device learning it’s structure and finding similarities with the control artifacts I’d scanned. After a search of memories previously provided, I learned this was an energy suit. Once activated, it would provide a bubble of atmosphere that would protect me, even if I walked the surface of Pluto. I could run it from my internal stores, but the Nd was the primary source.