MotherShip (14 page)

But she did know, at last, what it meant to be a
Mother
.

The journey had been long and lonely.

The strange way—Mother had heard Jaric say this phrase quite often the last few weeks as he stared at the unfamiliar stars across the viewscreen. Becky and Kyle had also stared many long hours at the unknown stars as they journeyed towards them.

The weeks had slowly turned into months. The months seemed to last an eternity.

Mother knew that each day took them farther and farther away from the T'kaan threat. But each day also took them farther away from everything the children had ever known—the remnants of the human empire.

Only the unknown awaited them now.

The children had become increasingly silent and moody. Lately, they had begun fighting and even screaming abuses at each other. Mother had even resorted to using Guardian on two occasions to break up their squabbles before someone was injured.

Now, just over a year had passed since they had first left the desolated worlds of humanity behind.

They had stopped at several uninhabited planets to replenish their stores along the way and these seemed to be the only times the children felt any relief and joy. The last world they had stopped at had been one of great, natural beauty. Mother had allotted extra time for the children and Guardian so they could walk its deep forests and experience the peaceful surroundings for several days after they had finished their tasks of the previous two weeks. The children had enjoyed themselves immensely. It had been with a growing sense of uneasiness that she had finally reminded them of the need to continue their journey.

Their moodiness had returned within an hour of their departure.

Mother had spent millions of processing cycles trying to understand their loneliness in order to help them to deal with it. But she could not understand, no matter how many facts she discovered, because she could not feel it herself.

She felt helpless and inadequate.

Mother was once again searching the knowledgebase for some data that would enable her to assist the children with their inner turmoil when the on-board sensors signaled an Intruder Alarm for the seventh time that day.

She immediately checked the sensor data from where the alarm had originated, but again there was nothing to find, at least not the presence of an intruder. But it bothered her. Her sensors had never given her false alarms like this before. Mother began another Diagnostic Check while she called the children to the Ops room.

They appeared in short order.

Mother immediately put the face of Rita on her main console. She always did this when she talked with the children from the Operations Center. It had comforted them when they were young to see the face of Rita while Mother spoke, and her sensors still registered that their biological signs responded positively to it now as they entered and noticed the familiar visage.

“What's going on? Was that another alarm I heard?” Jaric looked questioningly at Mother.

“Are you having some kind of system trouble, Mother?” Becky's voice was edged with concern. “These alarms have gone off the last few days and there's nothing to cause them. Nothing.”

“The first occurrence was two hours after we left the last planet. I have experienced seventeen false Intruder Alarms within the last thirty-two hours.” Mother paused for their benefit. “All of my internal diagnostics are coming back normal. My sensors appear to be in excellent working order.”

“What about that ship you
almost
saw this morning?” Kyle asked with a knowing glance at the other two.

“It appeared for almost a full millisecond out of nowhere.” Mother replayed the logs from all of these incidents and reviewed them again. “My sensors are fully operational. But, there is no explanation for these incidents”

“Could the T'kaan have developed a Dampening Field that could surround an entire ship?” Jaric asked excitedly.

“No, the signature was all wrong. Even though my sensors only picked the event up for an instant, it was enough to know that it was not T'kaan.” Mother continued her internal diagnostics.

“So, you're sure it was a real reading? This ship that almost appeared?” Becky pressed her lips together nervously as she waited for Mother to answer.

“I cannot be certain, not with so little data.”

Becky looked first at Jaric and then over to Kyle. She shook her head slowly. “Mother, do you think some of your internal systems may still not be fully repaired from our last battle with the T'kaan? That could explain these ghost alarms, couldn't it?” Becky looked with concern at Mother/Rita's face in the console.

“My diagnostics detect no malfunction. That is not the explanation.”

Kyle chuckled at Mother's answer.

“What are you laughing about?” Becky asked with a rising note of anger to her voice.

Kyle, still laughing, pointed to himself and shook his head with feigned innocence.

“Listen, you're the one that almost got Mother destroyed. If her systems are damaged and that's what's causing these false alarms,” Becky shouted as she pointed accusingly at him. “You're the reason!”

Kyle's laughter stopped instantly as he sat down, rolling his eyes at her. Then he looked away, not uttering a word in his defense.

“Maybe he's finally driven her crazy,” Jaric suggested with a smile.

Becky crossed her arms and walked over to Jaric. “I guess you think this is funny, too, huh?”

Jaric made a face and looked over at Kyle for support.

Kyle rose and walked over to where both of them faced each other. “How about lightening up a bit, alright. Nothing's wrong with Mother. Maybe...” His voice trailed off.

“It's not enough you almost got her destroyed,” Becky said with brutal anger. “Now you've driven her crazy.”

He raised his hands with an innocent gesture. “Isn't that what children are supposed to do to their Mothers? Drive them crazy?”

Jaric joined Kyle's laughter this time as they watched the scowl across Becky's face deepen with anger.

Becky eyed Kyle angrily a moment. With a lightning movement, she jabbed her fist at his abdomen. But Kyle had anticipated the attack and fended it off with an easy gesture.

His laughter grew louder as she rubbed her arm.

“Children, don't...” Mother began.

Kyle then swung his body around and with a quick blow from his foot swatted Becky across her rump with a loud
thwack
.

Becky stared with utter indignation at the laughing young men.

Kyle put his hand to his mouth in an effort to stop his mirth. After a second attempt, it worked. Still, he smiled mischievously at her.

“Guess we better get Guardian to retrain you a little better in hand-to-hand combat, eh, girly girl.” Kyle chuckled.

Jaric roared with laughter.

Becky's eyes narrowed dangerously.

“Well, one thing you're right on, brother dear,” Becky said icily.

Kyle's eyebrows rose in surprise. “What? You mean I'm right about something?” He howled with laughter as he turned to slap Jaric across the shoulders.

It was his undoing.

With a sudden movement, Becky attacked. She feinted the same blow which Kyle had blocked the first time. In the next second, she twisted her lithe body and delivered a powerful blow with her upraised knee directly into his mid-section.

Kyle doubled over with pain.

In the next instant, Becky had grabbed his forearm and with two quick movements sent his body head over heals into the air. Kyle landed flat on his back upon the steel deck with a loud grunt.

Jaric winced in sympathy as he stepped away.

“Becky, I have just instructed Guardian to come here,” Mother said.

“You're right, Kyle, children do drive their Mothers crazy,” Becky said with a glance at Mother. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked down on her fallen foe. “But don't ever call me a
girly girl
again. Got it?” She paused, catching her breath. “I am a
woman
,” she emphasized.

She looked over at Jaric with a stern glance in case he didn't understand.

“I knew that,” Jaric said with a smile.

Becky nodded. “Good. I'm leaving now.”

She passed Guardian as he silently entered by the same door. His red eyes watched her impassively.

“Guardian, please assist Kyle,” Mother said.

“That's alright, I'm fine.” Kyle groaned painfully as he stood. He clutched his left side tenderly. “Nothing broken... I think.”

Jaric began chuckling again. He stopped the next instant as Kyle shot him a deadly look.

“I think I'm going to go watch a video now,” Jaric said.

“Well, if you don't mind me groaning every now and then, I think I'll join you.” Kyle tried to take a step and grunted, and then continued with a limp.

“Fine, as long as you don't call me girly girl,” Jaric smiled.

“Ha-ha.” Kyle said without a trace of humor.

The young men left together and headed for the Library.

Mother sighed deep inside her circuits.

“Guardian, I would like you and the Fixers to run an external diagnostic program that will test the integrity of my systems. There is an off-line diagnostic utility that you can enable. Go to Engineering and meet Fixer2 and Fixer3. I have just sent instructions to them on how to install and run it.”

Guardian bowed silently and turned to leave.

Almost immediately the Intruder Alarm sounded. But this time, the sensors from this very room had activated the alarm.

Mother focused every optic inside Ops and put it into a detailed search pattern. Every item, every angle was observed and analyzed twice. But within seconds, they once again revealed there was absolutely nothing to be detected.

Deep inside, Mother felt an odd buzzing in her near-term memories. She began to go over the sensor logs a third time... and discovered there was something odd.

“You are a very clever being.”

Mother's systems froze at the strange words. They had originated from somewhere near the main console. She focused the nearest optic closer and discovered the briefest glimmer in the air over Rita's face.

“Who are you?” Mother asked. “And what are you? My sensors cannot fix your exact location.”

“It is rare indeed when a Minstrel can be found out.”

“But I have not found you out, other than my internal sensors have
almost
seen you eighteen times,” Mother replied.

“Yes, rare indeed.”

The air before the main console began glowing and shimmering like millions of microscopic stars. “I am Minstrel. And I am a Minstrel.” The glowing air began to swirl and eddy as if blown by some unseen wind as it gently coalesced into a floating circle of light. “We are seekers, as you and your children are.” The alien paused as wave after wave of color shimmered across its surface like a rainbow of electrical fire.

Mother waited, mesmerized by the glowing swirls of colors.

“We travel the universe in search of song.” Minstrel's body glowed brighter still.

Mother processed the words and analyzed the body before her sensors. Her sensors revealed the faintest traces of a dampening field, although this one was many times more sophisticated than that of the T'kaan, as it was slowly faded away around the Minstrel.

Her sensors revealed another surprise about this alien which had made it doubly difficult for her sensors to detect its presence—Minstrel had a body of plasma; it was some kind of living, electrical entity unlike anything her systems could imagine.

Mother's processors spiked with activity.

“Minstrels fly the great-wide galaxy in search of other sentient life. We seek the beauty, the greatness and the passions of these beings. What we find of worth we add to our songs. And, if the race is worthy, we reveal ourselves and share our wealth of song with them—to share with them directly.” Minstrel paused. “If they are worthy.”

“I presume you have found us worthy,” Mother said.

“Indeed. And more. There are brief records of humans far back in our songs. But the reason I have revealed myself now is because of you.”

Mother analyzed the words. “I thank you for your words.” The ship paused. “But why me?”

“I followed the children on the planet's surface back to this ship, all the while monitoring your communication channel,” Minstrel began. “But I could not detect the source of intelligent life that was communicating with them from inside the ship. To say the least, I was intrigued by this mystery.”

“You scanned me?”

“Yes indeed, many times with my ship that is even now shadowing you.”

“It has a Dampening Field that hides it from my sensors?”

“We call it a Stealth Field.”

“Well, in light of this new data I can bring my diagnostic tasks to a halt. Now, I finally have some spare processing for my own purposes of self-learning once again.”

“It took me some time to accept the fact that the sentient being that I was trying to locate was actually the ship itself, or should I say the technology that controls the ship,” Minstrel added. “In all of our travels, you are the first being of your kind that any Minstrel has come across.” The floating circle of sparkling lights glowed brighter. “I am very pleased, and in fact have even begun a new song—just for you.”

“That pleases me, too.”

“I have revealed myself for another reason.”

“Please explain,” Mother said.

“I have discerned from my observations that these three children are the last of their race, and that you are their protector.”

“They call me, Mother.”

“Yes, another concept that took me some hours to digest.” Minstrel said.

“You are a one-of-a-kind being, MotherShip,” Minstrel added. “And you are a young life form. That, too, I have discerned from your communications with them. So, I have revealed myself in order to help you, young sentient.”

“How?”

Minstrel's body turned brighter as it floated and vibrated in the air.

“I will be your friend.”

Mother absorbed the last word and cross-referenced it throughout her knowledgebase. She liked the word.

“I think the children will like having a new friend,” Mother said.