Chapter 8: Lost in space

Scott rose from the bed and looked down at his two very happy wives. Both wore smiles as they curled up against each other, the glow of their recent sexual satisfaction evident to anyone who looked.

"Mmmmm, thank you staff beast, we both love you," Fiona whispered.

"Shaygan, please turn on the coffeepot," said Scott.

The new Artificial Intelligence appeared in a shimmer of light.

"Your Grace, who or what is the 'staff-beast' your wives are referring to? My sensors do not pick up any other animal or human life-form."

Fiona and Eilean gasped, sitting up in the bed to look at the hologram. The AI was a sight to behold. She was perhaps five foot three or four tall, with dusky brown skin; the kind of complexion that left the cheeks almost naturally blushed. Her eyes were large and a deep brown and her hair, which fell half way down her back, was raven coloured.

Shaygan had small breasts and long, toned legs. She was wearing a pair of very short, white shorts that showcased a tight, shapely bottom to great effect. On top, she had on a plain white blouse, tied across her flat stomach and it was clear there was no bra under it.

The whole picture was sultry and sensuous, the AI's slightly Polynesian features, proud, long neck and her pouting, bowed lips teasing Scott's imagination, as he thought of them wrapped firmly round his staff.

"We can't have her walking around the house like that," said Fiona.

Scott glanced at both of his wives and saw that the satisfied looks of only moments before had vanished, to be replaced by frosty stares at both him and the AI. He blushed as he felt his cock respond to the sight of the beautiful AI, knowing full well that Fiona and Eilean would notice his arousal soon.

Shaygan walked over to a table in the corner of the bedroom that had a coffeepot sitting on it. She bent over from the waist, making sure her wireless command had indeed switched it on. Scott stared at her perfectly turned bottom cheeks, just barely peeking out from the hem of the shorts. He shook himself. He had four beautiful wives, flesh and blood wives and a hologram shouldn't be turning him on.

Fiona saw his reaction to the AI and smiled to herself. She turned to Eilean.

"Perhaps we shouldn't complain, Eilean. If he reacts to her like that then we will surely be the ones to benefit from the effects!"

Scott dressed and poured a cup of coffee before leaving the smirking girls in the bedroom. He made his way through to the reception room and found William waiting for him. The babies had been washed, clothed and fed - William proving himself to be a very efficient nanny. The droid informed him that all the arrangements had been made to satisfy Fiona's desire to take on an administrative role and for Eilean to begin training as a nurse.

Finding everything under control domestically, Scott made his way through to the Operations Room to be seen and to get an update on how the world was looking this morning. When he entered the room, he found Mac was already there, reviewing the footage of the iLOX flight and their pick up by the cruisers.

The two friends chatted before Scott broke off to make some calls to find out about progress. He checked in with various facilities to find out how things were going with the production of more Broadswords, more weapons systems and more jump reactors. He also sought an update on the manufacture of the modified androids. Figures being compiled suggested there had been a huge response to Scott's broadcast appeal for citizens to come forward to be trained as troops. Mac could see he was going to have his work cut out, but he hoped the Scots that Lachlan had mentioned could be used to form the core of a training set-up.

Scott suggested to Mac that they return to his study to have a little more privacy for his conversation with the Russians before they visited. They mulled over the progress being made as they walked down the corridor and entered Scott's house. Once they were in the study, Scott asked Shaygan to connect him to the foremost politician in Russia.

Mac's eyes bugged out at the appearance of the AI when the hologram shimmered into view. He glanced at Scott and licked his lips, appreciating the visual treat that Shaygan provided.

"There are three regional governors in Russia, your Grace. Dmitri Nablov is widely regarded as the most senior although Petr Alexski and Gennady Checkov both have significant support too. Who should I contact first?" Shaygan asked.

"We might as well start at the top Shaygan," Scott replied.

There was a few minutes wait and then the head and shoulders of a man in his middle years appeared on screen. He had white hair and a well-fed look about him, his jowls rolling over the collar of his shirt. Beads of sweat were evident on his forehead and he seemed somewhat nervous.

The man spoke, but Scott and Mac didn't understand a word of what he said. They looked at each other in some consternation. This was the first time they had encountered a language other than Gaelic. It was clear Dmitri Nablov was speaking Russian.

Shaygan saved the day by wirelessly sending a communication to start a stream of translation that appeared as text on the videolink screen. The words 'Good morning, your Grace' now appeared and Scott and Mac assumed that this is what Nablov had said. He was waiting patiently for someone to respond.

"Good morning, Mr Nablov. Thank you for interrupting whatever you were doing to speak to me," said Scott.

They had to wait a few moments while Scott's words were translated for the Russian. Scott continued.

"I was hoping you would allow General MacKelvie and I to visit you today. We have something very important we need to discuss and I would rather do that face to face. You might also wish to have Mr Alexski and Mr Checkov with you if that can be arranged."

The Russian responded and once more the translation scrolled across the screen.

"Mother Russia would be honoured to welcome you and I look forward to meeting you. However, protocol demands that you must first visit Tsar Nickolas."

Scott nodded to show he understood.

"I will have my aide check and make the arrangements, Mr Nablov. I hope to see you this afternoon," Scott ended.

Tara racked her brains for any idea that might help bring some stability back to the ship. The captain had lost his grip on her chair and had been thrown violently across the bridge. He had now anchored himself to the supports for the navigator's consul and he was hanging on grimly. Tara thought that he looked as if he was in pain and that he must have been injured.

"AI, I need some control, advice please?" she almost screamed.

"Negative, sir. No control is possible at this time," the AI replied.

The ship continued to spiral with the alarms blaring. A tablet computer crashed off of the left-hand wall and then was spun across the bridge, catching the deputy weapons officer on the head. The woman screamed and then blanked out, her limp body being tossed around by the ship's motion.

As abruptly as the spiralling motion started, it came to an end and the spinning began to slow.

"Sir, we have control and I am firing retro-thrusters," the AI said.

"Mr Sigurdson, what's happened to the jump sequence?" Tara asked.

"The jump has been completed, sir, and the reactor is re-charging."

The thrusters did their job and the ship stabilised and stopped spinning altogether.

"Medical Bay, we need someone here on the bridge. Navigator, run the usual checks and then tell me where we are. Damage report please," said Tara, firing out orders.

She unbuckled herself and rushed over to see how the captain was doing. Bruce was lying on the floor, groaning and clutching his ribs. He shooed Tara away and told her that her first job was to look after the ship, not him.

"Sir, no threats, no life forms and one planet that appears habitable by humans. Still no clues as to where we are," Sigurdson called out.

The navigator explained that he had no reference points and was therefore unable to say where they were located.

"Damage report, sir. No structural damage to the ship, but we do have two fatalities and forty three minor injuries," the AI reported.

"AI, I want an analysis run against all of the visible stars. Plot patterns and compare them to all known constellations until you find a match. We need to know where we are," ordered Tara.

The doors to the bridge opened and a medical team rushed in, quickly moving to treat the captain and the deputy weapons officer. A call was made for some stretchers and before long two stretchers appeared through the bridge doors, hovering above the deck. The injured were lifted onto the stretchers and taken away to the medical bay.

Tara gulped as she realised she was in sole charge of the ship with the captain now on his way to medical. She had no real experience and didn't even know where they were. A shimmer heralded the appearance of the AI.

"Sir, the computers have a match," the AI informed Tara.

"Ok, where are we?" Tara asked.

"Sir the match was on M31 and M32. M31 is Andromeda and M32 is Messier 32, a dwarf galaxy."

Tara didn't really understand the significance of this report from the AI. Although she had been studying hard she still had no real idea of the stellar map of the universe. The gasps from the crewmembers around her told her that their position was unexpected.

"Why is everyone so astonished, speak to me someone!" Tara asked.

"Sir, the Andromeda galaxy is approximately two and a half million light years from our own galaxy. We're a long way from home," said the navigator.

"So, what's the big deal? We have excellent co-ordinates, we can just make a jump back when we're ready, can't we?" asked Tara.

The simple way she said it, the certainty in her voice was probably down to the fact that she didn't fully understand the scale of what she was suggesting. A jump of that magnitude was almost beyond thinking about, largely because no one had ever had the exact co-ordinates to have even considered it. That same magnitude had acted as a mental block for the rest of the crewmembers on the bridge, but once Tara had made the suggestion and pointed out the fact that they had very detailed co-ordinates, it was almost as if a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

A jump of that distance was still a frightening thought, but the theory behind it was understood and it should be feasible they realised.

Scott, Mac and William made their way to the Transport Room to make the trip to Moscow. They had agreed that they would need William just in case further translation was required, the droid having all the necessary software to cope with that. They also had a squad of Special Forces troops and they were going to make the journey first. They would contact Mac by videolink to confirm that their destination was secure.

Once the squad leader confirmed it was safe, they chose beds and lay down, immediately being whisked away and appearing moments later in a transport hub in the heart of Russia. Scott rose to his feet and walked forward to meet his Russian host.