Chapter 7

During the two weeks that followed the Roshaa cruised leisurely toward her next destination. Construction work continued throughout the interior and the exterior surface of the cube. One notable thing accomplished was the construction of a large swimming pool in one of the interior compartments. Such a luxury was impossible for a warship such as the Antares and even civilian passenger liners were limited to only a small swimming facility. But on the Roshaa there was no such limitation and so a pool large enough for most of the people who wished to use it at any one time was constructed easily. The water to fill it was simply teleported from a gas giant planet in a solar system they happened to be passing by.

Medron quickly learned to use her new body and the change proved to be quite a success, and her spellcraft powers were completely unaffected by the change. As a robot Medron's only interaction with the world outside her solid robot body was by spellcraft. Because of this the physical senses of her new body were a new and powerful experience for her. Medron also quickly became adept at switching her body from her new living form to her old robot form, and then back again.

Mev, Sheila and Zira also made their first attempts at changing their bodies to the same form as Medron's original robot body. Again this was a risky thing to do as an error in the new form would be permanent. Fortunately the three were able to make the transition safely and soon were as adept at changing between the two forms as Medron was.

As part of the construction work the High Lords continued their work on spellcraft based machinery and computers. For the first time they were able to design and construct some manual controls for some of the more important systems which meant that if it were necessary those could be controlled by a human as well as a High Lord.

There were now a total of 532 individuals onboard the Roshaa, including the High Lords and this is a much larger group than any House Mev had any experience with on Venda. On Venda, a High Lord House containing 15 individuals was a very large one, and most were smaller than that. Those humans which had not associated themselves with a High Lord on a personal level lived in their own separate towns, separately from the much smaller High Lord population. In their own towns the humans mostly governed themselves though the High Lords were their overlords.

After giving the matter some consideration Mev called Dr. Mori to the control tower. Despite having been on board the Roshaa for more than 2 weeks this was Mori's first visit to the control room. The Japanese doctor had been busying himself by examining every one of the humans on board the ship and then calling upon Zira and Shina to heal them if they had any infirmity. Of course Mev was well aware of Mori's self-imposed work but had done nothing to interfere with it until now. But now Mev had something different for Mori to do.

When Mori arrived in the control center he was accompanied by a woman who was also Japanese. Mev remembered seeing her from time to time on the Antares but they hadn't spoken to each other. Mev did know who she was but he waited politely for Mori to introduce her.

"You wanted to see me Captain?" Mori asked as he arrived at Mev's chair in the control center. Mori felt a little strange calling Mev the Captain now but it was completely obvious he was the one in charge on the Roshaa so it was appropriate.

"Yes, I did," Mev replied. "In fact, it is about our organization on their ship that I wish to speak to you."

"I see. Oh, by the way, this is my wife Kyoko. I'm sure you've seen her around back when we were all on the Antares," Mori replied.

"We met each other in passing but never really had any chance to talk back then. Welcome to the Roshaa, Kyoko." Mev said, addressing Kyoko.

"Thank you, Captain. This ship is amazing! I don't understand how you were able to build it with just what you took with you when you left the Antares." Kyoko said.

"We managed to put something together that will allow us to live and travel comfortably for a while. Anyway, Dr. Mori, to return to the reason why I asked you here, in order to be able to handle possible emergencies, as unlikely as they are, as well as keep everyone properly busy and advancing themselves, we need a formal organization for this ship." Mev said, once again addressing Mori.

"What do you have in mind?" Mori asked.

"Just as you have already been saying, I will be the captain of this ship. However, I want you to be the Executive Officer Dr. Mori and especially help0 work with your fellow humans. Most of the time it will be just continuing what you have already been doing," Mev answered.

"Even though I wasn't a line officer I still know what an XO does and that is a lot. I need a lot of help to be able to pull it off," Mori said.

"Whatever help you need I will make sure that you get. Feel free to recruit anyone you need and don't limit yourself to just those who came from the Antares. In fact I want to merge those two groups as soon as possible, though I know it will not happen quickly."

"I will draw up a plan and give it to you tomorrow. It won't be very detailed but then I doubt you will need that," Mori said.

"Good. This will be your full time job, there is no need for you to be a doctor anymore on this ship," Mev finished.

Mori noticed that Kyoko had wandered over toward the edge of the tower, entranced by the view of the universe outside the ship. Since his wife seemed to not be paying attention to where she was going Mori started feeling some concern that she might step- off the edge, since there was no visible railing or wall protecting the edge of the tower top.

"Worry not, it is not possible for her to fall off," Mev said to Mori, sensing his concern for Kyoko. "Even if a person actually wants to jump off, they would be prevented," Mev added.

Mori started slowly walking toward his wife nonetheless and Mev got up to follow him. Mori knew the Roshaa was currently traveling at a speed faster than light, which should make any actual view of the outside impossible. Yet the view above and to every side was as clear and as brilliant as if they were standing in the middle of space, it was far better than the equivalent animation displayed on the screens of the Antares in the equivalent situation.

"The simulated external view you have here is the best I've ever seen," Mori commented as he and Mev walked over to where Kyoko was standing near the edge of the tower.

"It is not a simulated view, what we see is the actual light from the universe at the position where our ship would be at any instant," Mev replied.

"How is that possible? Aren't we in a dimensional bubble that does not allow light to enter?" Mori asked.

"The device which generates the shield also has the power to pull the light from outside across the dimensional barrier. And we can control exactly what radiation is pulled in and allowed to penetrate the shield," Mev answered.

"Well, I don't understand it at this point but I have to admit it works extremely well. Can you magnify the exterior view as well?" Mori asked again.

"Yes, that is possible as well. Behold!" Mev said, sending a mental command to the shield generators.

Suddenly the view of the galaxy before them suddenly expanded and appeared as if it were that from a powerful telescope. Yet somehow the same wide angle of view was still maintained. This new effect was even more impressive and very different from anything the view screens on the Antares were capable of.

Suddenly, Anna and Zira appeared next to the small group looking out into space. Anna had given herself completely to becoming a High Lord and the change and come and passed for her. Now, Anna was just the same as Mev and the others, a High Lord of Venda. It was just as Zesh had foretold and Anna had accomplished the change far faster than any of the other High Lords had believed possible.

"Anna has become as we are, Dr. Mori. It was she who transported herself and Zira here. If you wish to learn the healing power she is an example for you to follow. I would not have believed it possible to make the change so soon, but Anna has done so," Mev observed.

Both Mori and his wife looked over at the small girl in amazement. "You have learned their power, Anna?" Mori asked.

"My body has changed to be like theirs but I still have much to learn, Dr. Mori," Anna answered.

"How were you able to change so fast?" Mori asked again.

"I do not know. I simply let them do whatever they wanted to me, did whatever they asked me to do, and learned whatever they asked me to," Anna replied.

"Somehow it seems she is unable to believe anything we told her was untrue. Anna has tremendous faith," Zira commented.

Feeling the openness of the conversation Mori decided to ask a question which had been on his mind for the entire time since he had learned of Mev's true nature. In appearance Mev looked to be at most 20 years old but it seemed that was unlikely. When Mori had run an age test on Mev's genetic pattern the result had been inconclusive.

"Captain, how old are you actually?" Mori asked.

"I am 52 standard years old, which is quite young for my people," Mev answered.

"How long do the High Lords live, on the average?"

"I do not know. No High Lord has ever died of old age, though a number have died from other causes, even before the Morro came."

"The genetic analysis I ran after the security incident seemed to indicate a deceleration in genetic decay sufficient to extend your lifespan by a factor of at least ten, and probably more," Mori commented.

"One of the effects of working with spellcraft is that it slows the normal process of aging and reproduction, though it does not seem to affect activity level or metabolism," Mev continued.

"That is one of the things that I wish to study here," Mori said.

Wanting to change the subject of the conversation Mev changed the view of the exterior visible to a complete spherical view. With this, the entirety of the outside was now visible from the control room and it looked as if everyone in the room was floating in space. Every human gasped or started when the changed view flicked into place.

The new view made the entire extent of the galactic arm clearly visible and everyone was entranced by this for several minutes. The Interstellar Republic and all of the other known alien races occupied only a small portion of the galaxy, the rest remained unexplored and unknown. Mev knew little more than the rest of those from the Republic of this unexplored space.

The Roshaa continued on her journey to the target solar system for the next two weeks. The various different groups continued the work of construction inside the interior of the cube as best their various skills and knowledge levels would allow. This did have the effect of causing the various areas of the Roshaa to have varied types and levels of technology but that could be corrected in time. The need now was to complete the facilities needed by the present crew members in their daily lives.

The Roshaa slowly approached the star system of the machine civilization, the High Lords had long since located all 13 planets and the various other stations where units of the civilization were located. Five of the planets were gas giants and the rest were smaller rocky worlds. Other than the extensive robotic presence there was no life within the system and it was not certain if the automated intelligences had originated in the system or had come from somewhere else. There was one planet that could have had life at one time, the fourth planet out from the star, but it was lifeless now. Now the entire system was inhabited by intelligent, self replicating machines and organic life no longer existed.

Medron had resumed her original robotic body and was monitoring the entry into the star system from the control tower and for the first time Mev and Zira had also temporarily changed to the same robotic form as Medron had. Just as Medron had been studying the High Lords' bodies the High Lords had been studying Medron's robot body. It was felt that by adopting Medron's robotic body the inhabitants of the system would find it easier to relate to them.

For Mev changing to a robotic body was a strange experience different from anything else he had ever experienced. Medron's robot body had no physical senses at all nor any physical limbs, everything was accomplished using spellcraft. So for Mev after changing to the new body he was blind, deaf, and all other senses were missing, but his spellcraft senses worked even better than they had ever done. It would seem that the physical structure of Medron's original body was especially suited to the manipulation of the spellcraft power and Mev would find his powers increased once he returned to his normal body.