Chapter 4: Shore Leave

The Republic battlecruiser cruised without incident for several weeks. All of the damage from the battle with the Morro was repaired. Many of the officers and crew wondered how 5 Morro battleships could somehow blow themselves to pieces before even being struck by any of the Republic battlecruisers weapons. Since no one could come up for any explanation for it the mystery remained unsolved. Mev for his part said nothing about the mysterious destruction of the Morro battleships. He studiously avoided any discussions which occurred about it in his various interactions with the crew.

Mev spent most of his free time teaching Kathleen the basic knowledge of the High Lords of Venda. The girl learned the basics of augmenting her physical strength with power drawn from the universe, raising external shields, and the history of the Vendan High Lords and how they came to be.

During this time Kathleen noticed her body beginning to change in several subtle ways. Her body became more symmetrical and several small skin blemishes she'd had before disappeared. And the most significant change was one which she had hesitated to ask Mev about for more than a week. Yet finally she was forced to consult him about it since he was the only one on the ship who might be able to explain what was happening.

"Mev, I think I might have a problem," Kathleen told him one day.

"Really? What is wrong?" he replied.

"Ah, I think there might be something wrong with me. Ah, my period, it's more than a week late. I know I can't be pregnant and I've always been very regular before. Do you know what might be going on? Or should I go to medical?" Kathleen asked.

"I understand what you are talking about and you need not worry. It is simply one of the effects of your change, an effect that I haven't spoken to you about until now." Mev replied.

"What do you mean?"

"You see the life span of a High Lord is much longer than that of a human. In fact we are not sure how long it can be since no High Lords perished from old age since we became what we are. However from what we know if the genetic structure seems to indicate a life span in excess of a thousand standard terran years is easily possible and perhaps even longer. Because of this some parts of our life cycle are much slower." Mev explained.

"Parts of the life cycle such as the female menstrual cycle?" she asked.

"Yes. For female High Lords the time between their menstrual periods is approximately one standard terran year. Because of the longer life span some of the biological cycles are similarly extended. The reproductive cycle is much slower which is why even at the end there were only a few of us." Mev told her.

"So there is really nothing to worry about?" Kathleen asked

"Yes, I think it would be safe for you to make that assumption." Mev told her.

Kathleen's body continued to change, becoming slightly slimmer and even more symmetrical. The net result of this was to return her appearance to how she looked at about age 18. She noticed many of the men, and even some of the women in the crew and refugee groups starting to look at her with even more interest than before. The High Lord girl enjoyed the increased attention even though she knew that she was no longer one of them.

Another change was more subtle and it took a while for the girl to notice it happening. Yet when she noticed this change within herself Kathleen found it even more disturbing than the missed period.

Kathleen noticed she was starting to take interest in other women that she hadn't had before. In the communal showers she was finding herself looking at the other women who might be sharing the shower with a more appreciative eye than before. Soon she began to find the women to be as attractive to her as the men still did. Kathleen had never felt any lesbian tendencies before and it was making her feel a bit confused.

She had less hesitation this time about asking Mev what might be happening to her and he explained in detail the aspects of High Lord life cycle which caused what Kathleen was feeling. Again he was able to assure her that what she was experiencing was very normal for what she now was.

In births to the High Lords of Venda the ratio of male to females was on the average one male for every three females. Because of this most High Lord family units consisted of one male and two or more females, with occasionally one or more female humans. High Lord Females were much more strongly bisexual than human females. It was considered normal and natural for the females in a family group to have sex with each other just as much as with the male.

Mev and Kathleen spent a lot of time together working out in the ships gymnasium. Kathleen soon found that even without augmenting her strength with power she was still nearly three times as strong as she was before. Mev had to caution her to keep the weights smaller than they otherwise could be when others where in the gym with them to avoid any unusual notice or questions.

Kathleen became more interested in showing of her body as time went on and on the visits to the gym she tried to wear as little as possible. Mev had informed her High Lord women had worn clothes only for ornament and usually what they did wear was very revealing. Kathleen found herself wanting to follow that same pattern as much as she could within the confines of a military space vessel.

A week later the Republic battlecruiser came into sensor range of a solar system which contained a planet with human compatible life. Captain Mason ordered the course to be changed toward that system and detailed scanning of the system and its planets to be carried out. Further scanning could discover no sign of any Morro presence and there was no intelligent life on the second planet, the one with the oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere.

There were six planets in this solar system. The one closest to the star was too hot for life with pools of molten metal at various places on the surface. The second planet was the one containing life and this one would seem to be suitable for the crew of the Republic battlecruiser to spend some time on shore leave. The other four planets in the system were gas giants of various sizes and those were covered in deep stormy atmospheres.

Three days later the Republic battlecruiser hove into orbit around the second planet and Lt. Casey started making his last scans of the planets for threats which might preclude any landing for shore leave. After several orbits of the planet without finding anything beyond several easily handled animal predators Casey sent a shuttle down to the planet surface.

The first exploratory team sent three days exploring and analyzing the planet from the surface before they declare it suitable for shore leave. After reading their report Captain Mason declared shore leave open and groups start going down in rotation, with each group to spend a week on the surface. Mev applied for a place for him and Kathleen and was granted a place in the first rotation.

At the appointed time Mev and Kathleen trooped to their assigned shuttle and took their places to go to the surface. Of course they could have transported themselves there on their own whenever they wanted to but using the shuttle was more discreet. So they went along with the other crewmembers using the much slower shuttles and debarked on the surface.

The area where they disembarked was a flat grassy plain but there was a line of green forest visible in the distance. Mev and Kathleen were equipped with backpacks containing a tent and other camping gear just like the others though as High Lords they could have been comfortable with nothing at all. But they carried supplies, equipment, and communicators and set off on a hike.

To start out Mev and Kathleen walked at a normal hiking pace until they were well out of sight of the main landing site and encampment. Then the duo began to run, without augmentation at first. Even without augmenting his strength with power from the universe Mev was able to run faster than anyone else aboard the Republic battlecruiser. Kathleen was faster than all of the women and most of the men but she was forced to begin augmenting to keep up with Mev.

After running normally for a few minutes Mev began augmenting as well and picked up his pace. Soon he was running at a speed of more than one hundred kilometers per hour with Kathleen keeping pace with him. The pair sped across the plain at that speed for more than fifteen minutes. Finally Mev slowed and then came to a stop; the two were now well away from the landing area and out of easy observation range.

"Now we have a chance for you to experience something new and wonderful, Kathleen." Mev told the girl, setting down his backpack.

"What is it, Mev?" the girl asked, dropping her pack at the same time.

"Now we shall take to the air, which was not possible while we were aboard the ship." Mev answered.

"Take to the air? Do you mean as in fly?" the girl asked. She was already pretty sure such a thing was possible since she had already done some levitation of other objects; but not of her body until now.

"Yes, you are exactly correct." Mev answered.

"That is so cool!" Kathleen exclaimed happily.

"Yes, it is. However, there is also some danger with levitating yourself in such a way. If you are not careful and monitor how you feel you can get into a condition where your life force is drained to the point where you lose augmentation. That would be most unfortunate to happen at a high altitude. You would fall and be unable to stop yourself. And it would be unlikely you would have enough strength to shield yourself from the impact when you hit the ground." Mev warned.

"I understand. I will be careful." Kathleen assured him.

"Good. I will now demonstrate."

Mev reached for power and lifted himself off the ground and rose about 20 meters above the ground. He paused there for a few seconds and then moved his body so that he was parallel to the ground and began to move forward. He swung around in a wide circle and then swooped low to pass just over Kathleen's head. He went around in another circle and then came back to Kathleen, lowering himself back down to land on his feet next to the girl.