Chapter 1

Captain Hormelz of the Casslis Royal Guards sweated in his armour even though the temperature and humidity readings were normal. He watched the display projected into his mind and onto is optic nerves. He saw that the shield around the ship was oscillating in strength and letting in radiation far more than it should.

The stern shield had failed completely when the last missile hit. The computer was a mess and would take a full shipyard to repair. The hull had been breached in nine areas. The hull was strong but not up to this much punishment. Luck had the most to do with their present state of living. It was amazing that so many had survived so far even though many more would die even if they managed to escape.

King Rontem was now dead, along with half of his cabinet. The living had to carry on. If some of the necessary repairs were not made now then there would be no survivors.

The Fonduush's auxiliary computers were simple and not able to house an artificial intelligence let alone a natural one. The standard year was broken up into a thousand time units. For fifty nine of those time units, they played a game of seek with the Wikki antagonists. Sometimes they had to actually slip within the stream of plasma that was drawn from a smaller star to its much larger companion to avoid detection. Other times required that they leave the stream to orbit the smaller star for the same purpose.

The Fonduush had left Casslis with 967 crew, officers and passengers. Nearly half of that number comprised the servants and the vast majority of those had died. They had no armour and they unluckily happened to be where most of the damage had occurred.

The majority of Captain Hormelz' servants had died too but one was now helping him remove his armour.

"That feels good to get that off."

"I should think so sir. Would you like me to lay out your clothes after you use the cleanser?"

"Do it, and bring me something to eat. I don't want concentrates."

"Yes, sir. At once, sir." The servant used the tractor to grasp the armour and it was put into an enclosure to be cleaned and serviced. The servant then quickly bowed and left to find some food.

Food was a problem. There was lots of concentrates still. Two of the five vats had been hit and the contents lost. The three remaining vats would have to do. The aristocracy got fed first then the soldiers. Following that were the techs, scientists and the few remaining crew. The servants would have to go hungry or live on concentrates.

The time finally came when probes were sent out and found no sign of any of the Wikki. Among the attacking ships were two Aristis ships with the transponder codes of the ships of the Corlos clan.

Captain Hormelz was not in charge any more. The bureaucrats and the aristocracy gave orders and the good captain carried them out. The ship left the binary pair under minimum thrust of its Nanney Drive. The ultrawave and the hyperwave were monitored constantly and much of the interference left as they got further from the stars' influence.

Most of the traffic they heard was encrypted and it was lucky that the former king of Casslis had his own personal computer with the keys to break many of the codes. If the computer had not been left on then this information too would have been locked away. It was now safely transferred to other machines.

The planet Casslis had fallen with few casualties. Captain Hormelz was angry at this. A client was supposed to live and die beside his patron. When one of the ruling families fell to combat, very few asked for succour. They usually plotted to kill the enemies of their former patron by stealth and guile.

The Ultrawave was good for a hundred and thirty five lights with a strong transmitter. News of the fall of Casslis to the Corlos clan was seen for what it was. The Wikki took over and were now using the clan as their puppet. The other Aristis worlds saw this as an affront to their supremacy. They would not let this continue. Probably, within five years or so, a fleet would be assembled to drive out the Wikki and probably put all of the Corlos family to death. The purges now going on would mean that there would be very few survivors to hold the planet. Later, one of the liberating Aristis families would claim Casslis for their own.

The damaged Nanney Drive was only able to drive the Fonduush up to 28% of the speed of light but no more. There was simply too much damage to go to supra light speeds. The Kennsik Drive was extensively damaged and it had to be fine tuned before it could be used.

The Ultrawave brought news of a different sort. Many of the Aristis worlds were now looking to see what they could get that had been the possessions of Casslis and King Rontem. If the Fonduush showed up at any former ally then the ship would be seized and probably everyone onboard put to death. The ship was valuable still and would look like a sweet piece of fruit ready to pick.

The surviving aristocracy had a short meeting and decided that they had to find a new world to set down roots. The charts were examined and a small course change instituted. Preparations were made to build four large stasis chambers and allow most of the personnel to go into suspended animation until times were more favourable.

In the coming years, the techs would rotate in and out of stasis but a security guard always guarded the main computer. The techs had done as much as they could do. The main computer was severely damaged and there were simply no spare parts to do more extensive repairs it. Small crystals could be manufactured but the major ones required a powerful computer or a gifted tech of at least the seventh order. The crystal used to hold the king's ego and memories had survived but the transference was far from complete when the missile struck and killed the king.

The class three techs and above could work readily in the computer environment but there were only two of these onboard. Both were dying of radiation poisoning and there was nothing the medical section could do about it. They were both put to stasis until they found a suitable environment that could cure them if that was possible.

The ship cut power after two-hundred and seven time units and coasted. The remaining power was sent to the accumulators for use to power the much smaller living area and the stasis chambers.

The ship had slowly gained speed as more crystals were put in place. It now drifted at nearly half of the speed of light for sixty-nine standard years. Eventually a small prospecting ship found the drifting hull and after a vigorous scanning the ship left as quickly as it arrived.

The auxiliary computer in charge of security awoke Captain Hormelz and the Royal Guards. The captain was a loyal soldier. Part of the reason for this was the breeding that went into each of the Aristis castes. More of the cause was in the wetware that was in every Aristis body. The wetware could be removed and replaced but it was the genetic manipulation that held the most power.

The Aristis were masters of genetic engineering. Almost the first life to be altered was their own. The Aristis were a single group of people at one time. Some had decided to change to suit new conditions. They left their people and found a new planet and turned themselves very warlike and competitive. After just a few alterations more alterations were made.

Internal strife had brought the Aristis almost to the brink of extinction. After many more centuries, they regained the technology to get to space. Other factions attacked and destroyed what took a long time to build. Eventually some did make their way to space once more and they took their aggression with them.

They had long since formed a caste system. The aristocracy was at the top then came the bureaucracy then soldiers. Techs, scientists, tradesmen, merchants, labourers and finally servants added to the castes. Machines took over the actual dirty work and the servants were just a way of the rich to show how rich they were.

The caste system had been reinforced by genetic manipulation. Soldiers were strong, intelligent, quick and especially loyal. The scientists and techs were allowed to get very intelligent. The others below the soldiers were also bred to be more docile. This was necessary because there was a lot of friction that necessitated ways of ensuring loyalty.

All Aristis had to have their loyalty examined. Loyalty now meant allegiance to one patron and not necessarily the king. Wetware was a group of biological enhancements that would go into an Aristis body. Usually this was an additional enhancement to improve thought, store information or to interface with a computer better. In all cases, loyalty programs were installed with these devices.

Computers were very good. A copy of a person's mind could be imprinted on a crystal. This ego could be used to control a large computer. This cloned entity could be immortal for all intents and purposes. Living in the computer was not harsh. There was no distraction from glands, old age or tiredness. These computers had many safeguards installed to force the intelligence to work and not seek to slay their masters. This had happened enough in the Aristis history to make this compulsory on all high tech machines.

The aristocracy saw this method as a last ditch way to live a much longer life. They did not follow this course because they would then be forced to be loyal to the owner of the computer. Many of these intelligences were simply scrubbed by later owners with no penalty.

The force that guided the Aristis was not law. It was actually the respect given to the major families for each other when they did something that was of benefit to the race. To do something crass or unlawful and be caught was something to be greatly feared.

The Aristis and the king in particular were brutal when they had a war but even more so when at peace with their own people. Loyalty to an old leader was hard to remove in a captured population. Many times the older population was simply put to death.

Captain Hormelz dutifully awoke his masters and one of the many scenarios was put into place.

Seven time units after the small ship had disappeared off of the passive scanners, five more appeared. They approached to within two light minutes then three small ships approached with their scanners covering the 874 metre length of the Fonduush.

Very low power Ultrawave communications were passed through Captain Hormelz processor. The first problem was the language. It was transmitted in the clear but the sounds were unintelligible. The computer worked on it until ordered to desist.

Three small ships approached and eventually tied up to the hull. Fourteen beings left the ships and inspected the hull that they had found. All of them were heavily armed. Much more information was sent to the other ships and in thirty centiunits, the remaining ships approached. Their cargo holds opened but weapons ports were also uncovered. A few centiunits later two hundred and forty seven invaders landed on the Fonduush. Now was the time to act.

Captain Hormelz studied the display. His heart beat faster until he got it under control. He said, "Capture teams go." On the display in his mind were seventeen coloured lights leaving for the five larger ships. This left seventy nine combatants to protect the Fonduush.

With the absence of any response, it looked like our suits were better than the strangers' ability to detect them. There were only two pods out looking for threats. The capture teams made it to their goals in about three milliunits. Here is where they could be spotted. It was the forth unit that could not get into its objective. Their cargo doors had not opened.

"Blue team move into position for number two galley. Red team is reserve." Confirmation came in from both groups

"Green team, take the main hold. Orange is your reserve." Again confirmation came in.

"White team take out the stragglers. I am taking yellow team to the control room.

The teams moved into positions or were doing so when energy discharges were detected inside the invading ships. Now it was our turn to fight. "Teams, attack at will."

The Aristis suits and weapons were far better than what the opposition used. In a centiunit most of those on the Fonduush were dead or wounded. Snares in all military ships caught more as they were activate.

Two of the ships and both small ships had left quickly. Low power missiles shot out and impacted with all those that fled. The two smallest were destroyed. It took one more missile to stop the only ship with an operational Nanney Drive.

Many light years away, beings quite similar to the Aristis were engaging in wars of their own. Heavy iron or bronze cannon belched flame and metal to kill poorly trained and equipped men. They bred quickly and died just as fast.

Hundreds of years later and on the same planet, a young male human was part of another battle.

A fist shot toward Wallace Kiefer's head. The boy was not fast but was able to move his arm up to deflect the punch. Wallace was efficient enough to move closer and hit his much larger opponent on the sternum. The blow was not strong because the larger boy had been stepping back. The boy moved in when Wallace threw himself off balanced and connected with Wallace's cheek.

Wallace was thrown further off balance and fell to the ground. Seconds after he landed, the other boy was kicking his younger and smaller opponent in the abdomen. After five kicks Wallace stayed still. The victor yelled for all to hear, "You give me the money you owe me or you will get more." Wallace didn't answer because he was unconscious.

Wallace woke up to pain all over his body. The sight of the walls and the smell told him that he was in the hospital once more. A nurse at the end of the bed was filling in a chart when she looked up and saw Wallace looking at her. The groan the boy made had alerted her.

"How are you doing, Honey? It looks like you had a big fight."

Through the pain, he tried to formulate a reply but when he tried to talk it came out garbled. A hand came up to cradle his jaw and he felt the sore muscles on his side. "Ohhh! It hurts."

"I know, Honey but we had to wait until you woke up before you got anything for the pain."

The nurse left and came back in a minute with some pills and a little water. The nurse cradled Wallace's head as he swallowed. The nurse saw that he was a good looking boy with dark brown hair. What set him apart was his size. He was quite small for his age listed on the chart and very thin. It looked like a good wind would blow him away.

When she put Wallace's head back on the pillow she said, "Is there anything you want to say about the fight?"

Wallace looked at her then closed his eyes. After a while, tears formed. The nurse came close and took a paper tissue and wiped his eyes. With a few sniffles, Wallace closed his eyes again and in a moment was asleep.

Wallace woke up at hearing his mother. "He did this again. So help me I am going to tan his hide. He is always getting into fights." Wallace looked around as if to find a place to hide and only saw the curtains pulled around a bed to his right.

Wally's mother pushed open the door and stalked in. She was forty-two and looked far from maternal. Her hair was dark brown. He face carried a perpetual sneer as if she was always sucking on lemons. When Carla saw her son looking at her she blurted out, "What did you do this time?"

With fear in his heart he mumbled, "He wanted my money."

"Why didn't you tell your teachers?"

Wallace did not answer and the father, Jim, said, "If he talks then he is beat up more. Didn't you tell him last time to be a man?"

Carla turned quickly but Jim did not back off. She said, "The school will protect him. If not then the police will."

"He did what was best Carla. He fought the bully. If he rats on them then it will be much worse."

Carla berated her son for a few more minutes then turned and left. Jim walked close to his son and patted his son's hand and said, "I think you did the right thing. We just have to find the money to send you to karate school or something."

Wally had another tear in his eye when he mumbled, "Thanks dad. I would like that."

The meal came around and Wally found he only had liquids and soft food to eat. The curtains were pulled back that had hid the next bed. Part way through the meal, the boy of about fourteen said, "I'd hate to be in your family."

Wally just turned to the boy and ignored him as he did most of his antagonists.

When the trays were taken away the other boy said, "My name is Charley. What's yours?"

"Wally."

"Somebody lay a beating on you?"

"I guess."

"That happened to me a lot too until I started exercising. I think you got it licked anyway. It sounded like you were standing up to him. Was there only one?"

"This time," Wally mumbled.

"Sorry about the crack about your family. My father is no prize either. He at least got me into weights and made sure I stuck to them."

"I do that already but I guess it is not enough."

"Find somebody to practice with. That's what I did."

Wally was still morose about the condition of his life. His mother had no compassion and neither did his sisters or brothers. One of each was at least old enough to escape the house and form their own families.

The conversation had petered out. Wally's jaw was painful to use. A few minutes later there was some whispering in the hall. Wally opened his eyes to see Sam then Jerry and then Chuck hurry into the room. They sped quickly to Wally. Chuck Jimson said, "Hi Wally. How are you doing?"

Wally tried to sit up better and mumbled, "Better with you guys here."

Jerry Fraise said, "We heard that you punched that faggot Morton."

"Not hard enough."

"Did you tell the cops?"

"They have not been around yet but they will come today or tomorrow."

Sam Lockhart, the last of the boys said, "You should tell them. He beats up a lot of guys that are smaller than him."

"I may get Morton off my back for a while but then he and the rest will get me when there is nobody around. He did it before to Pete before he moved away."

The situation was discussed for a minute or two then Wally remembered Charley and introduced him to his friends. Charley said, "I took up boxing too. You just have to get in there quick and do as much damage as you can. The bullies will leave you alone for easier pickings.

Chuck was the oldest of the group and said, "Morton is three years older than us. He is big as my brother and he's eighteen."

"That's tough. I was fighting somebody at least close to my size. Why does he pick on you?"

"We are all short and thin. Wally was pushed down a ravine and broke his kneecap. He cannot run very fast. Morton cannot run either. Wally is just easy to catch. He catches us too when he can."

"Why don't all of you take him on? If you are going to be beat up individually then you could be beat him up if you all work together. At least you get a chance to take on this Morton."

All four boys hung their heads. Fear was a very definite factor. They discussed their common problem when Wally looked toward the wall and then turned to Charley. "I think your mother is coming."

"My mother is in Orillia."

Just then a good looking women entered the room accompanied by a younger man. Both were dressed in expensive clothing.

"Mom!"

"Hi Charley. How are you doing. Your father said that you are over the difficult part."

"I feel better after the last treatment."

The young man walked past the women and stood beside the bed and looked down to Charley with a smile and put his hand on Charley's arm. "I am glad to hear you are getting better. We got a job for you in Orillia this summer for you if you want it."

"Ahh... thanks Derek. But I don't know if I am going to be able. I missed enough school that I may have to make up some classes with summer school."

"Your mother and I had a look at your marks. You are doing very well considering."

Wally looked at his new friend and saw the face show a lot of anger. Derek countered quickly by saying, "We only want the best for you. If you need help we would see if we can get it for you. We cannot work by guessing."

When Derek and Charley's mother had left, Charley was still angry. Nobody was doing any talking until Charley said, "How did you know it was my mother coming? I do not live with her and her... husband."

It was Sam that answered first. "Wally has a knack for that kind of thing. It kept me out of trouble a few times."

Charley looked at Wally and said, "How do you do it?"

"It comes and goes. It's just a hint I get once in a while. Sometimes it's very specific. Like me knowing it was your mother. I didn't know about your father coming too."

"He's not my father!" He said this hotly and his face grew red."

"I'm sorry Charley."

Two days later and after a visit from the police, a trip to get x-rays and two visits from the doctor, I was released. Outside the door to the hospital and while sitting in the compulsory wheelchair, I felt a bite on his neck. His hand came up to swat the area but there was no sign of the mosquito. In a moment Dad did the same thing. "The bugs must be hungry today."

After the ride home, I was greeted with contempt by Cathy and Mona my two older sisters that were still at home. Mom was no different than usual. Dad though was the same as always, at least he was still kind. When Nick the only remaining brother returned, I was just ignored.

There was some homework but when in grade seven, there was not much. Some of this was welcome in the hospital to keep me occupied. Here it was a good idea because it would allow me to hide in my room.

Dad walked behind me as I climbed the stairs and at the top I turned around and said in a whisper, "Thanks Dad for being nice."

"You're my son and I am nice to all of you."

"I know that Dad but thanks for being nice to me too."

"You're welcome Wally. That's what dads are for."

The inside the room was warm and I opened the window and looked appreciatively at the television and the bed but instead I went to the small rack near the dresser and picked up the weights instead. I had one of my strange feelings that I would need to do this or fail something or other. The chance to hammer Morton was another good reason.

That night, as Wally slept, a dozen small devices slipped through the grating in the screen and moved toward Wally's sleeping form. They moved as a unit and took the shape of a hollow hemisphere. They settled as close to Wally's skull as possible.

Far to the north, a sentient device started its investigations. It took only a centiunit to get a good interface and for the rest of the night information was extracted as quickly as possible without causing death or undue pain and discomfort.

I woke up the next morning sick as a dog. My head hurt as it never did before. Mona yelled at me to get ready for school and I weakly called out, "I can't go today."

In a moment Mom was in the room. She had 'the scowl' and put her hand to my forehead. Instead of asking how I felt she said, "You can stay home today. Don't make a habit of it. There is nobody going to be here with you so you will have to look out for yourself."

"Ok Mom."

Mona had brought up some aspirins and water and looked like I had asked her for something important. The headache never left though it did get less severe. Later I went down and made a sandwich and drank some water. Moving around seemed to help so I went back to my room and sat on the bed and lifted the weights.

By the time Dad got home I was feeling much better. That night though the headache came back. Mom was angry at me and said, "You are going to the doctor's and I will probably have to take time off to do it."

"I can take the bus."

"Hmp!"

We were lucky and got an appointment after Mom normally came home. The doctor did a lot of tests but must have thought my headaches were related to the beating I got.

Two days later, I was back in the hospital with a lot of devices hooked up to me. After the first day I had specialists coming to see me and ask all sorts of questions. They talked among themselves a lot in front of me. My brain seemed to be acting oddly. I knew because I heard a voice sometimes but I didn't dare tell anybody about it.

The headaches came eight times then the ninth day there was no pain and in fact, I felt good. I was kept in the hospital for a few more days then went home.

When I was leaving the hospital, I had an odd vision. I saw one of the boys on my floor playing with his dick. The look on his face was like he was concentrating hard. I didn't dare ask the nurse to stop though. She had seen nothing because I could feel that the boy was on the other side of the wall. I had just seen through it.

Dad helped me into the car for the drive home. He said, "How do you feel today?"

"Pretty good actually. I can probably go to school now."

"You will have to wait until Monday. Let's stop at Harvey's and get a burger and a Coke. That way we won't bother your mother."

I looked at him and my smile must have told him the answer. Instead of going to the take out window we went inside and sat. We talked as I ate the burger but another vision came of a fat woman sitting on a toilet. My 'eyes' had to change focus and then I could see the stuff falling into the toilet. The woman seemed to be happy then and sat and picked her nose.

"What are you thinking about Wally?"

"Just how they do things in the kitchen."

"Do you want to cook? You did that when you were younger."

"Cooking is ok. I just want to eat without Mom telling me how hard she has to work."

"She does work hard Wally."

"So do other mothers but they are not so mean."

"That is just the way your mother is."

I tried to see the woman again but I could not seem to do it. In a moment though the woman on my special vision was actually coming out of the bathroom. She then took a seat with a fat man. I had to smile and then my father looked at me but didn't ask anything.

Chuck and the guys came over when I got home. We went out on the porch to sit and talk. I had my weights with me and I was lifting them as I talked or listened.

Sam said, "Why are you doing this now?"

"I need to exercise and so do you guys. We can lift weights and talk or even lift weights and watch television. I am going to look like the Governor of California."

Sam was smart but it was Chuck that said, "I'll be back," in a deep menacing voice.

Jerry said, "He's old."

"Everybody's old to us. Would you want to fight him?"

He smiled and said, "In a year or two of exercising I will whump his sorry butt." We all laughed because of the impossibility."

We talked about sports for a while and when things were quiet I said, "I saw a guy in the hospital wacking his tack."

Chuck said, "Really! Who was he?"

"I don't know. I heard about it. We talk about it but this was the first time I saw it."

"How did you see him?"

I could not really tell the truth so I said, "He was in the bathroom and the door was not closed all the way."

"Did you ever see a girl doing it?"

We have talked about this many times. We had heard our sisters doing it a few times. They could have been playing with their twats but we were never sure. "Not yet but maybe soon."

"Really?"

I lied again and said, "They are acting horny sometimes. You never know."

The topic of sex went on for a few minutes and would go on much longer but Betty Huggins came out of her house next door and saw us. Instead of coming up on the veranda, she stayed on the grass. "Hi guys. How are you doing Wally?"

I had to smile at her. She was a nice girl and a next door neighbour. She was a friend if you could call a girl a friend but I knew from books that this would change. "Hi Betts. They had me in the hospital doing ultra secret tests. Aliens are using my brain for a way to communicate with us lowly humans. The doctors can prove this by the amount of static they got to see."

Betts looked concerned and said in a low voice, "Are you better now Wally?"

"Actually I feel just great. My imagination was never hurt and it looks like it is making up for lost time."

"I have to go and see Wendy at the library now but why don't you sneak over when your mother is not listening?"

"Do you think I can sweet-talk your mother out of some cookies?"

I got a big smile and she said, "She likes you." She then looked at my friends and said, "Her standards are low enough that she even likes your friends." This was said with a smile at the guys and they tried to rib her back but she just waved and walked down the street.

When Betts was far enough away, Sam said, "I would like to go over to see Wendy Pallo too."

Chuck added, "Your only girlfriend is your hand."

Chapter 2 »