Chapter 16

Day 8

Sam had moved one of the chairs from the kitchenette into John’s bedroom, and was sitting close to Kirkuria. She didn’t need the chair. She didn’t need to sit. But she now believed John, in that she was alive. She wanted to start acting as though she had a physical form. If things worked out, she just might achieve that.

The enhancer had been turned off for quite some time before Commander Zan began to stir. Sam went to the replicator in the kitchenette, and got a couple of drinks. As she set them on the nightstand, Kirkuria’s eyes came open, and immediately began searching the room until they fell upon Sam. She relaxed visibly. Sam gave her a sip from one of the cups using a flexible straw. The liquid was designed to ease the dryness in the throat, and it soothed as well.

Sam set that aside and lifted the other. It was a protein drink designed to help Kirkuria regain her strength, and nourish her body. Since Kirkuria was in the process of trying to build new muscle mass, and bone density, Sam had spiced it up a bit. With one arm she tried to hold Commander Zan in a sitting position, while with the other give her sips. She found it clumsy to do it this way.

After setting the cup aside, she raised Kirkuria into a sitting position and slid her leg behind her. After sitting herself on the bed she allowed Kirkuria to lean back against her. She handed the cup to Kirkuria, and wrapped one of her arms protectively around her. Commander Zan sighed as she did this.

When the cup was emptied, Sam decided t was time to talk with Kirkuria.

“Commander Zan...”

“Kirkuria,” Kirkuria interjected, “Better yet, what few friends I made in the academy called me Kiri (she pronounced it: Keerie). I think I would like it very much if you would call me that.”

“Kiri,” Sam started hesitantly, “do you remember much about last evening, when I brought you here?”

Kirkuria turned her body slightly so she could look over her shoulder at Sam.

“You mean when I kissed you, and told you I loved you?”

Sam reddened, but nodded her head.

Kirkuria turned back to her original position and settled in again.

“Did you mean it?” Sam practically blurted out.

Though Sam couldn’t see it, Kirkuria smiled. Then she reached out and tenderly stroked Sam’s right leg.

“Of course I meant it, or I wouldn’t have said it.”

Sam sighed, this meant she had to finish what she had on her mind and hope the Kiri still felt the same when she was finished.

“Kiri, there is something you need to know about me.”

Kirkuria grabbed Sam’s free hand and pulled it around her as well.

“You mean beyond the facts the you are intelligent, beautiful, graceful and if I weren’t so exhausted that I would be trying to ravage your body right about now.”

Sam’s face reddened considerably, but she managed to say.

“Uh, yes. You see I am an AI. And holding you is a holographic interface, using energy fields to give it substance.”

Kirkuria was quiet for a time, and for Sam each nano-second seemed to drag on for an eternity.

Kiri finally said, “Good!”

“Good?” demanded Sam, “what do you mean good? How can you be okay with this?”

Kirkuria chuckled before saying, “You should check my records and get my file. It would explain that the reason I was assigned to a long-range scout ship was my battle to earn AIs certain rights. Oh it was explained by the counsel that my actions had nothing to do with it, that someone of my caliber was needed on this specific flight; but after I became a Commander, I looked over my file. It was clearly stated that I was a disruptive influence, that they thought should be kept as far away from the planet as possible.

Sam smiled and wrapped her arms more closely around Kirkuria.

“Sam? I’ve noticed that I learned things while I was asleep. If John was using one then there shouldn’t have been any available. Could you explain why I was able to learn?”

“Kiri, John has eight units installed above his bed. One was easily available for your use.”

“Eight!” Kirkuria said stunned by the revelation. “He has so many women? If he does, where are they? He was sleeping alone last night.”

Sam laughed tolerantly, she now understood how John felt when this happened.

“Calm down, Kiri. John has eight, because his mind works differently than most human minds. Instead of having one focus, John can use several parts of his brain simultaneously, and collate the information he gains, later. On an average night he uses six units constantly, on occasion seven, but I made sure there was at least one extra. As for women there are three others he loves beside you. Two he considers too young to join him in his bed as yet.”

“How young are they?” Kirkuria asked worried that John might like his women too young, and she might be too old for John to want her, even though Sam insisted he did.

“Well, Mora is fourteen ... almost fifteen. Penny is about to turn sixteen.”

“And he sees this as too young?” she asked astounded.

“You have to understand, Kiri, that on his planet, eighteen is considered the age of majority.”

Well, it sort of made sense to Kiri, and she relaxed, glad that John wasn’t attracted to prepubescent girls. Then a thought occurred to her.

“Sam who is the other?”

Sam reddened and although Kirkuria couldn’t see her she felt a change in Sam’s posture.

“It’s you isn’t it. I thought I saw something between the two of you, but when you didn’t join us in bed I thought I was mistaken.”

Sam laughed lightly, “Well it would be a bit difficult for me to join you in bed, but...”

Kirkuria was quiet for a while, and Sam began to wonder if she had drifted of to sleep and shifted so she could see.

“Please don’t move Sam, the feeling of having you so close to me is delicious, even if my mind tells me what you are my heart says something else. You know Sam, I was on a team working on advancing cybernetics before they sent me off-planet. Well, when the counsel wasn’t sticking their noses in, telling us what we could and couldn’t do, I was thinking...”

The two women continued to talk and get to know one another. Sam did do another scan of Kiri, and discovered something unique. She pointed it out to Commander Zan, who was also familiar with her own cranial scan. When she felt Kiri tense, Sam spoke to her soothingly. She carefully explained that John had a similar area in his brain, as did about one percent of everyone on the base. She further explained that what Kiri had developed, was about an eighth of the size of the area in John’s brain. She further stated that it was a new area of research. It was unknown if size had any correlation with ability.

It was quite some time later before Commander Zan fell asleep.

John didn’t find the girls in the dining area, so he used his implant to contact Penny. He was surprised when both Penny and Mora answered. It seems Adam had cleared them for active flight status on the Wraiths, and they were out giving themselves a shakedown run. John smiled wistfully and wished he were with them.

“You are love,” Penny sent to him, “you are with us no matter where we are, and we are with you. We will never be more than a thought away.”

“So when can we start calling you husband?” Mora asked mischievously.

The giggling he heard in his mind at his sputtering trying to form and answer told him that they were only half serious. It was the other half that had him worried. Soon he would have to sit down with Paul, Martha, and Helen, to discuss this.

“The sooner the better,” Penny said firmly in his head.

John sighed, but he was approached by a group of men, led by Ray. So he used his implant and contacted Adam. After explaining that he was going to need an office away from home, Adam related that he already had one. And gave John the location after explaining that the one in his home had only been a temporary one anyway.

John told the men to follow, and he led them to his new office. A domestic drone was leaving, just folding away the last of its arms into its compartments. His brow was wrinkled as he approached the door and it slid open. He was pleasantly surprised to see that a veritable banquet had been set out. He and the men quickly began filling plates and ate heartily. Over coffee their meeting commenced.

Their first request didn’t surprise John, but the size of it did. So he called Adam, who simply appeared in the room. There were six gasps, and Ray was chuckling as Adam apologized to the eleven men who were in various defensive positions. To John though, Adam didn’t look all that sorry, and John had to stifle his laughter. Adam had just given these men their first taste of true surprise.

The men seemed truly impressed with the huge cavernous training facility that Adam was projecting holographically. John reminded Adam that it would have to be shielded, so that they could train with live energy weapons yet their weapon’s signatures would not be detectable above ground. John approved a separate entrance/exit for the area and made certain it was large enough for a Chimera to pass through.

The former Seals were impressed with the battle suits. John put his foot down and explained that all above ground activities would be on the far side of the moon with no live fire ... Well, they lost just a small bit of their excitement. John contacted Martha to arrange for temporary housing. The former Seals explained that after the facility was finished, they would be staying there, until they had their ‘edge’ back. John gave Adam permission to give them all the knowledge he had on Rhylertian military training. Since the Rhylertians didn’t have a Special Forces, it was the best John could do.

That evening was interesting and was a learning time for the new recruits. Sam was monitoring Kiri, as she now called her, and was busy programming Radkenian. She seemed really anxious to get him up and running since his mainframe had also been rebuilt. She had shared what had gone on between her and Kirkuria. John suspected that there was more to the conversation than what she related, but he let it go.

He, Mora, and Penny were enjoying surf and turf (lobster and steak). John caught movement out of the corner of his eyes and noticed that both girls immediately stiffened.

One of the new Seals approached, and unfortunately hadn’t let go of his macho mentality.

“Why are you eating with these two waifs when there are beautiful women just waiting for the taking?”

John sighed, but said, “First, if someone attempts anything with a woman against her will on this base, they will be facing ten years hard labor. That’s ‘no time off for good behavior’, it is ten full years. So, if you don’t want to spend ten years busting through solid rock with a pickaxe, shovel, and wheelbarrow; I would leave the women alone. Also, pass that on to your friends. Second, as for my two lovely companions, even if I didn’t love them, they would be sitting here because they are my first, and less lethal line of defense, against assholes.”

The man actually got one laugh out. Mora, moving like a blur, executed a very effective leg sweep. She straddled the Seal’s chest, and was positioning her hand for a death blow when...

“Mora!” John shouted, to bring her back to herself.

She looked at John, then to the man whose chest she was straddling; and then to her hand, which was still poised to strike. Realizing what she was about to do, she jumped from the man, looking around like a caged animal. Penny pulled Mora into her arms to comfort her.

John stood and offered the man his hand. Stunned though he was, he took it. John pulled so hard the man came up off of the floor, and stopped only when he ran into John very solid chest. John held him there and turned his entire focus on the man.

“I just saved you from being nothing more than tomorrow’s recycled organic material. If it wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t want Mora living with the guilt, I wouldn’t have stopped her. But know this, few things around here are what they seem to be. Should you step out of line again, no one but God himself will be able to act fast enough to save your miserable life.”

John’s words were softly spoken, but carried the weight of law with them. Several other former Seals decided that they didn’t like this treatment of one of their own. Ray was standing in the background shaking his head from side to side with a rueful smile on his face. John took all of this in before he released his grip on the man next to him and went airborne. A moment later five ex-Seals were lying on the floor unconscious. The rest were backing away, apologizing profusely. John did note the two had stayed behind with Ray. John smiled and winked, then went back to finish his dinner.

Mora had frightened herself when she realized how close she had been to killing, and finished her meal in John’s lap. Before the girls took off, he went to Paul and made an appointment to speak with him, Martha, and Helen the next day. He was sure that he had never seen the girls in better spirits when he left them that evening.

John found himself sitting at his desk, contemplating the day’s events. He pushed the record button, now that he had everything organized in his mind. So it was, that he laid out the day that he had experienced from his point of view. When he was finished, he said ‘stop log’, and went into his bedroom. Kiri (which is what she insisted he call her) was waiting for him. They shared some kisses and cuddling, but never allowed it to get out of hand. Kirkuria was still recovering. After awhile she rolled onto her side and John spooned up behind her. Sleep soon swept both of them away.

Log Entry 2

John woke up to the unusual sensation of being kissed. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, because just the opposite was true. However, the few times he had spent the night with someone, they were definitely not morning persons. John had left shortly after having awakened. This was so different from anything he had known, that the only way he knew how to respond, was by kissing back.

Finally, they broke the kiss, both of them breathing more heavily.

“I take it you are feeling better?” John said with a wry smile.

“Yes, yes I am. Do you think that Sam would let me out of bed today? I feel like I have been here for ages and would love to stretch a bit.”

“I honestly can’t answer that, Kiri. But we will ask her when she shows up this morning. By the way I love your new and improved English.”

She smiled at him and replied, “And I just love the way you say my name, it makes me want to melt.”

“Don’t do that,” John said feigning concern, “I have grown quite fond of your shape, just the way it is.”

As he said this, he showed his appreciation by caressing every inch of her he could reach. She moaned her appreciation, of his appreciation.

Someone clearing their throat, brought the proceedings to a screeching halt. They both looked up and saw Sam framed in the doorway, with her hands on her hips.

“If you two keep that up, you are going to use up the energy she needs to finish healing.”

Sam took note of the identical ‘hand in the cookie jar’ looks on their faces, and burst out laughing.

“Sam,” John started as he slid his legs over the side of the bed, much to the disappointment of Kirkuria. “Kiri, would like to get out of bed, today. What would be the likelihood of that?”

“If her scans show what I believe they will show, she will be allowed supervised outings. Meaning you, I, Penny, or Mora must be with her at all times.”

She looked directly at Kiri before saying, “This is as much to protect you from overdoing, as it is to protect you from others. There are a lot of curious people on the base that want a look at their first ‘extraterrestrial’.”

Kirkuria frowned at this before saying, “But John is the most kind, generous, and understanding person I have ever met; and he is from that planet.”

“Ahhh,” John sighed, “that is the vagary of our humanity on Earth (which is what we call our planet). A person, as an individual, can be kind, generous, understanding, and loving. People as a whole, are stupid, self-centered, panicky, dangerous animals, who tend to respond with violence when they feel they are being questioned, contradicted or threatened. So, for a while, you will always have someone watching out for you; until, or if, you choose to train in self-defense. When you have completed your training, your escort will cease.”

“Well I have studied and mastered the meditative form of Iokavkipæ. I even managed level three of the hand-to-hand, before they assigned me to the scout ship. So I think that I could pretty well defend myself.”

Sam laughed, and Kiri looked at her with a totally confused expression. So she elaborated.

“John, is an Iokavkipæ weapons master,” Sam said tenderly. “That is the reason that I laughed.”

“That can’t be!” Kirkuria said adamantly, “Master Quotondo [kwoh-TON-doh] was the last of the weapons masters, and he lived a thousand years before I was born. It has taken centuries to relearn what little we know about Iokavkipæ, and trust me, that is very little indeed, considering the vast amount of knowledge left by Master Iokee.”

“There appears to be something different about my programmed knowledge of Iokavkipæ. It seems that when I insert it, that person develops the abilities, as though they had known them their entire life.”

This received raised eyebrows from Kirkuria.

Sam sighed before continuing.

“There is a saying on John’s planet that works well, here. It is: ‘Seeing is believing’. I think that you should join us this morning during John’s kata. I think once you actually see John in action, you may change your mind.”

“In fact, if there isn’t a problem,” John said, looking at Sam to let her know she would be the one who determined whether there was a problem or not, “I would like Kiri to sit in on this morning’s updates, also. I realize that she won’t understand everything immediately; but,” with a smile to Sam he continued to Kiri, “since you two will be spending extra time together today, Sam can fill you in on everything that you don’t comprehend. Tomorrow, you will be able to be more active in our meetings.”

Both Sam and Kiri smiled at him. John finished putting on his gi. He had finished tying his belt when the door chime sounded.

“Come!” John said automatically.

Into the living room walked a rather bewildered Penny, followed by an equally contemplative Mora. Seeing John coming out of his bedroom, Penny changed directions. Her path brought her right up to John.

In an accusatory voice she asked, “Were you in our room last night?”

John was more than a little stunned by the question, but recovered enough to shake his head from side to side, to let her know he hadn’t been there.

“Then how do you explain these?” she said with equal accusation, as she thrust forward two objects.

“This one,” she said indicating the one in her right hand, “was lying beside me. This one, was lying beside Mora. The writing on them looks like the scribbles on your dotrezz. How can you explain that?”

“I can’t explain it,” John said truthfully. “May I see them?” he added, indicating the one in her right hand first.

She handed it to him and he looked at the symbols on it. Suddenly, their meanings became clear.

Sensing his understanding, Penny asked, “Can you read what it says?”

“Yes. It says, ‘Before you can be the master of others, you must first master yourself.’”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Penny spat out venomously.

John’s eyebrow shot up at this, he had never heard Penny speak that way. He reached out and stroked her cheek causing her to look up into his eyes, where she found nothing but patience, understanding, and kindness.

“Calm down, little one. Ancient sayings rarely mean what at first they sound like they mean. But let me assure you, they are never accusatory. They are meant to encourage the reader to strive harder to reach a goal. This one means (if I’m translating it right) that you need to understand yourself and your abilities, before you can teach them to others.”

“Oh,” was Penny’s only reply.

John examined the item more closely. It was similar in size and shape to his dotrezz, though he was sure that it was a perfectly tubular, while his dotrezz were ovate. It was clear, by the poor fit, that it was not made for his hands. It probably fit into Penny’s hands perfectly, though. Its surface looked to be the same polished pewter color as his dotrezz, but he didn’t see any sign of a button or a release. Surely, it was more than just a metal rod? Though a rod was an effective weapon, he was somehow certain there was more.

John felt a strange tingling sensation at the base of his skull. Similar to the feelings he’d experienced during weapons practice. For some unexplained reason he extended his right hand, so that the weapon was clear of everyone. His thumb fell on one of the letters.

As he pushed, the ends of the rod instantly telescoped out creating a bo, or staff, depending on your choice of terminology. He stood it on its end next to Penny. It was exactly as tall as she was. This weapon, wherever it came from, had been made specifically for her.

John handed it to Penny fully extended. She in return handed him the other weapon. John showed Penny where the button was. She started to go through some movements with the staff. John stopped her fairly quickly, realizing that there just wasn’t enough room in his apartment for practice, without something getting broken.

Penny grinned at him slyly, but retracted the bo, and placed it on the right thigh of her gi.

“What about mine?” Mora asked now, excited over the prospects. “What do the symbols on it say? What kind of weapon is it?”

John first smiled at Mora, and then furrowed his brow as he studied the ancient runes.

“What is it? What does it say?” Mora asked stepping closer.

“It says: ‘For our future to have a chance, we must remember the past.’”

Mora wrinkled her nose and asked, “What does that mean?”

John was about to shrug his shoulders, when he heard a voice behind him.

“I think I know what that means,” offered Kirkuria.

This brought everyone’s attention to the direction of Kiri’s voice.

Penny saw Kirkuria standing in the doorway of John’s bedroom, wearing nothing, and thought aloud, “You’re beautiful.”

Kirkuria looked down, and realized she was the only one who wasn’t wearing something. She wondered if she had performed some sort of social gaff. Feeling suddenly self-conscious, she offered an apology.

“I’m sorry,” she stated, “I don’t know your customs yet, if I have offended anyone...”

“Not me,” offered John, “I like what you’re wearing ... uhhh, not wearing ... just fine.”

Which earned him a slug in the arm from Mora, who mumbled something that sounded like ‘typical male’.

When she realized that no one was truly bothered by her nudity, only appreciative of it, she continued.

“Master Iokee’s vision of the future was interrupted. My people set his knowledge aside, and decided that they no longer needed such arcane fighting techniques, or a vision that was not of their own making. Master Quotondo was the last to try to continue the vision. He lived his life suffering much ridicule for clinging to a forgotten way of life.”