Chapter 49

Ten years later...

Time: December 26, year 204,893 4:30 AM London Local Time

Nineteen year-old Brianna walked out of Kyle's kennel and joined Isabelle who was waiting for her in a car. Isabelle, though mentally much older, also had a nineteen year- old body, and was wearing brand-new epaulettes showing her rank as a Level-2 Commander. Brianna's graduation from the College of London was one month away. She had one last step remaining in her doctoral program, the completion of her dissertation. And for the first time in several thousand years, it was a thesis in experimental physics.

The two girls aged out of their primary school and their period of intense observation when they reached sixteen years old. Judged uncommon but safe and potentially very useful, the ten e-techs had recommended that the study be terminated and the girls be given normal adult green-IDs when they passed their last critical control gate. Brianna took Kyle and left for college in London. Isabelle went to the world capitol of Ulsan, Korea for commander training at the principal government academy.

They were half a world apart from several perspectives, and the outward appearance was that there was little contact between them. Appearances can be deceiving...

"How did it go?" Isabelle asked quietly as she drove.

"He agreed. He'll join me on the slip-ship to NBHX35. That's the big thing! He loves me... And I love him. That's the big thing too!"

Isabelle nodded. "It is indeed."

"And he's not just my pet-mate anymore! I love him as my sex-mate! When I walked in on him, he was asleep, dreaming of me. He had an erection, his penis showing his stiff desire for me. I masturbated him to orgasm, just as he awoke. I was so horny, I felt like mounting him. I was so horny, I almost did."

Isabelle blushed but said nothing.

Brianna was quiet for a while. "I also feel like excrement, deceiving him like this..."

Isabelle was silent for several minutes. "It was your call to make. Want to change your mind?"

Brianna sighed. "No. Kyle still suffers a bit from low self-esteem. After all they did to him, he still feels a call to be obedient to the WFM. They trained him too well as a puppy. It's better that he not know he has to be smuggled onto the slip ship in secret. I'll ask him to forgive me once we're orbiting the black hole's event horizon. We'll work on building his self-esteem once we're free... on the other side of NBHX35..."

Isabelle nodded. "Nasty Black Hole X35..." she muttered.

"Isabelle! Last call! Want to join us?"

"I... I can't Brianna. It's not possible."

Brianna sighed heavily. "Once we reverse polarity and pop the slip bubble, we won't be able to come back for you. Ever!"

"I know. You and Kyle will carry my love out with you. I can't go myself."

"Are you part of the Equalist team that's smuggling Kyle into the slip-ship?"

"Uh... I can't say..."

"Ah... Sorry..."

"Hey! That's okay." Isabelle smiled.

"I feel so loved Isabelle! You have contacts with a secret Equalist society I had no idea even existed. I feel so loved, that all these unknown people would risk their lives for me like this."

"It is our joy and our purpose Brianna. Our species deserves a better fate than the WFM. Your hopes are our hopes too."

Brianna nodded and sighed. "Are you sure you won't need any help with Kyle?"

Isabelle smiled. "Just leave everything to us."

"Okay Isabelle..." Brianna looked at her dear friend's uniform and smiled. "Or should I call you deputy Isabelle?"

Isabelle laughed. "I'm still not used to it, though my graduation was more than a month ago! Did you know I'm the superior of everybody in the military?! Everybody! That's the hardest part, having everybody in the army salute me, even the generals!"

"How many deputy commanders are there?"

"It's not public knowledge..." Isabelle paused for a moment and then said quietly, "Right now there are 11,664 Level-2 commanders worldwide."

"I'm glad for you Isabelle. I really am. And you look quite dashing in your uniform!"

Isabelle laughed. "Yeah..."

Six days later...

Time: January 1, year 204,894 8:46 PM London Local Time

Time: January 1, year 204,894 9:46 AM Honolulu Local Time

(2,251 years until Earth-loop reset, 14 minutes until launch of The Daughter of the Stars)

"Candidate Brianna, all telemetry reads normal. We are at minus fourteen minutes and counting."

"Acknowledged launch control, I copy and concur. All systems go for launch."

Outwardly Brianna appeared calm, inwardly her heart was breaking. She had run a thorough inspection of the slip-ship less than an hour ago, cargo holds, medical bay, living quarters, the numerous small science labs, everywhere aboard the modest ship. Kyle was nowhere to be found.

Not that finding Kyle would have been welcome. Until ten seconds before launch, she had just learned that the slip-ship internal sensors were piped directly into launch control. The presence of a stowaway would be seen immediately.

The slip-ship's flight plan would never be under her control, not even after launch. Launch control was expecting direct control of the ship even at NBHX35. They would never have agreed to the solo flight otherwise. And it would be under their control, sort of. Until, at least, the secret physics of Kyle's and Brianna's doctoral work came into play...

"Candidate Brianna, we are at five minutes from launch and counting."

"I copy," replied Brianna from her command chair, "five minutes and counting." Inwardly she was wondering if she would ever get another chance at this. She knew that the answer was no. "Oh Isabelle," she thought. "I'm so glad you're not here with me. There's no sense in both of us dying..."

Time: January 1, year 204,894 8:56 PM London Local Time (four minutes to launch)

Time: January 1, year 204,894 9:56 AM Honolulu Local Time

Time: January 2, year 204,894 4:56 AM Ulsan Korea Local Time

I was waiting in the open countryside at our rendezvous point, about twenty-two kilometers from a ward-town of London-cluster where Kyle was being kenneled. Kyle was sleeping peacefully and deeply on his mats. In fact he was drugged. It had been a very easy thing to do. Five minutes ago I formed a special chemical in the saliva of my mouth, and teleported it directly into Kyle's mouth.