Chapter 6

My eyes fluttered open once I reached my mind. I tried to sit up, a bad decision. As I slammed back on what I was lying on, Rommie appeared.

“Why did you do that?” Rommie said with what sounded a bit like anger in her voice.

“I told you,” I said in almost a whisper. “You are my greatest creation. I will not lose you. I...” For the strangest moment I had an idea run through my mind. “I need to touch you so badly.”

Rommie’s eyes went huge, then she was actually holding my hand. “I ... I how? I have no data to support this.”

I held onto her hand as if I let go, I’d never see her again. “I never want you or me to be denied each other again, I want you...,” I felt like cursing myself that I didn’t finish my eyes closing.

I awoke hours later alone. I just sat there and cried, too afraid to call out to Rommie. Afraid that if I did, she’d not appear. So, I didn’t notice when she appeared, as a holo-gram, then became solid, reaching to touch my cheek.

The touch almost scared the hell out of me as I grabbed what had touched me. When I realized it was a real hand, I looked up, then again grasped it as if my life depended on it. I then started to kiss the entire hand, the wrist, the arm, only to have her stop me.

“I don’t know how yet, but I can be the computer and me still connected. I didn’t think that your last thought would allow this,” a confused Rommie said.

“My last thought?” I asked, a little confused myself.

“Yes, you said you would not lose me, that you needed to touch me. You said that you never want us to be denied each other again. Right before you lapsed into unconsciousness, you said you wanted me. May I ask? What were you going to say?” Rommie asked.

I shook my head a moment, something felt off, different. “I had wanted you to be solid, more human, than you were. I was angry that I didn’t get to complete that thought, though perhaps I don’t need to? Tell me, how do you feel?” I asked.

Rommie looked at me with all seriousness, then a look of surprise and shock came to her face. “I ... I,” I could see that she was having an extremely hard time, putting into words what she wanted to say. I thought this was a paradox, computers had no such difficulty, though, as I thought, was she still a computer?

I heard her gasp a moment as I turned toward her. Apparently, I had a look on my face that was worrying her. “John?” She asked with what seemed a bit of fear in her voice. “You, you don’t regret making me as I am, do you?” The last two words in a very low whisper I wasn’t sure she’d actually said.

I was shocked when I looked up, seeing the look of concern on her face. “Regret? No, what I regret is that I allowed the pain you had to suffer through.”

“I told you I am just a m...” Rommie started.

“NO!” I interrupted her, “you are far more than a machine. I think that by now, you’d realized that you are more, much more.”

Rommie could only stand there with her mouth agape. She was about to say more when several alarms went off. “Captain, it appears that several Klingon battle cruisers have followed us. I believe that they are tracking the Enterprise.”

I tried to stand, falling to the floor again. I thought shit! I had to work on recovering a lot faster. “Are we hidden?” I asked.

“Stealth systems are at a hundred percent, all systems are ready, orders?” Rommie asked.

“Let them pass, then disable the last ship. I want then to think that they are far out gunned here,” I said as I watched what appeared to be a small fleet pass by. “Hell, disable the last two, Rommie.”

I had counted at least twenty, then watched twin beans strike one, then the other of the last two ships. I also watched as they shuddered, then started to drift.

“Open a channel, Rommie,” I said.

“Channel open,” Rommie replied. I had also noticed that Rommie was once again a holo-gram.

“pagh batlh.” (Zero honor.)

“EH? ‘Iv?” (who)

“Hegh!” (Death)

“Ah! This must be the P’takh from before. Speak your language, your Klingon is terrible,” the voice said.

I laughed, “I suggest that you consider going back to Klingon space. I took out five of you before, then you could see me. Now you won’t.”

“I think not, I have you outnumbered. So,” the voice started.

“Target his ship and the surrounding four, fire,” I said. I listened as all four ships’ crews were yelling when they went dark. Immediately, several beams sliced through where we had been. Rommie, of course, had moved us even as she was firing. “So, will you leave or shall I break more of your ships?”

A moment of silence, then many conversations, then the five immobile ships were tractored way. “This isn’t over,” the voice said.

“Oh I think it is,” I said, then Rommie opened a portal. We appeared, then we were gone. Just before the portal closed, I heard a great many shouts about the Klingon Devil. There were also a few comments about the ultimate Klingon hell.

We were in trans-warp for a few minutes, then we emerged not far from a planet that resembled earth.

“I have traced the Captain and his ship,” Rommie said. “At the moment they appear to be on some kind of rescue mission. Shall I attempt to contact them?”

I thought about it a moment, then had an idea. I just hoped that I had rested enough to do this. I pictured what I wanted, then concentrated on it.

“I need a report on the system I am making, Rommie,” I said.

“Now scanning for said new system, may I ask what it is?” Rommie asked.

“SHHH!,” I said as I concentrated harder. I was a little upset when it didn’t appear as quickly as I wanted. Damnit, I thought, I needed answers to this problem.

I realized a moment before the pain hit what I had asked. No matter what I was trying to formulate in my mind, it was lost as an enormous amount of information flooded my mind. This, of course, had me crumpling to the deck, screaming in pain.

“JOHN!” Rommie was yelling as I started to lose consciousness.

Shit! I tried to stop the pain or at least make it bearable. Of course, no dice as the world went black. My last thought, or I thought it was, I damn sure hope I didn’t fry my brain.

I groaned a few hours later as I tried to open my eyes. They weighed a ton. I tried to move, no such thing happening right now.

“John?” I heard a soft voice say nearby. “I know you can’t move nor open your eyes. It seems you had used what I read as a massive surge of psychic energy. Though for some reason it slowed to half before you lost consciousness. I won’t ask questions for now, we are safe and hidden, the ship we were following is still here. I have intercepted several messages that they will be leaving soon.”

I again tried to open my eyes, managing to get one partly. The light felt like knives in my brain.

“I want you to keep a lock on the Captain. I hope I will be up before they leave. If I am not, I want him here, before they leave.

I was sure I would be up faster than I thought. Again, no dice. Less than an hour later, a beam of light appeared.

A single male pulled an energy weapon, not too unlike the one I had sitting on a counter not far away.

I recognized him as the same Kirk that had been in my place. “You do realize that this could be interpreted as an act of war,” he said.

I had managed to get to a seat, though not much more. “You know as well as I do that, nothing in your universe can detect me. Oh, yeah your weapon?” I just shook my head no.

Kirk smirked then put his weapon away. “I hadn’t really expected to see you again. So why are you here,” he asked.

“I thought when I sent the five of you back to your times and universes, that would be it. I found out later I was very wrong, here,” I said as I handed him the energy weapon that I had brought.

“Your sure this is mine?” He asked.

“Oh, very sure. Let’s just say when I removed it from my universe, the danger fell ten percent. Then ten more when I gave it back to you. Oh, I’m not sure if they actually left? I disabled a few Klingon ships. I think the number was nine or ten. I believe one was a major battleship,” I told a slightly startled Kirk.

Kirk nodded, “I remember how easily you took out those in your universe. I also wished to thank you for your help with the plague planet. It appears they made a full recovery.”

Rommie appeared staying in holograhic form, “Captain, it appears that his ship is going to full battle alert.”

An answer came to me a moment later, as I was silent a moment. Concentrating, Rommie looked at me, “the new system you started before seems to be complete.”

I nodded, then had her open it. “You may speak directly to your ship,” I said.

Kirk started to say something, then nodded. “This is your Captain stand down. I will be back abroad in a moment.” He then turned to shake my hand, “good luck with your mission.”

“You as well,” I said, then turned as he winked out. “Take us out of stealth, Rommie.”

“Be well, Captain,” I said as a shape appeared on their view screen. Immediately, a portal opened which we moved into, then vanished.

“Sir,” Kirk’s first officer said, “is there reason to expect trouble from that one?”

Kirk turned to him with a small smirk, “us? No, I don’t think so, though from what I was told, the Klingons are not great fans.”

Again, we were only in the trans-warp conduit for a few minutes. When we emerged, we were hit by more than a few energy weapons. I was thankful I had strengthened the shields while we were chasing Kirk and his ship.

“Stealth,” I shouted to Rommie.

“Unavailable, stealth only fifty percent,” Rommie said.

“Use all we have,” I said as I thought about the problem. Concentrating, I managed to repair half, getting us to seventy-five percent. “Open a channel,” I growled. “I told you I would destroy you, now? It’s too late.”