MotherShip (46 page)

“That is what enabled you to become alive,” Kyle said, his eyes wide.

Across the top of the wide ceiling, Minstrel's glowing plasma body shimmered with excitement at this revelation.

“So what was the use of this biological structure in the warships with the T'kaan themselves?” Chira asked.

“For their pleasure!” Jysar's grin widened. “Perhaps pleasure second only to mating. Or better. As a means of control. As a means of reward. Perhaps even, depending on the intensity of pleasure that it brought, as a means of bonding between the two species, the creature-ship with the individual T'kaan—in this instance via the T'kaan warships.” Jysar took a deep breath.

“Say what?” Kyle whispered to Jaric.

Jaric shook his head with puzzlement.

“Why do you make this assumption?” Jasus asked, looking first at Jysar and then upwards to Mother.

“There were
references
,” Jysar said. “In their... documentation. What little we have recovered. Very passionate references, in fact.”

Jasus snorted his disbelief. “Except for being a starship-building race, the T'kaan were more like animals than a sentient race. Eat or be eaten, fighting wars solely to destroy, devour and procreate!” Jasus exclaimed with disdain.

“Not very good reasons to wage war,” Tarlog commented. “Not good reasons at all. Not for a
decent
war, anyway.”

“I would suggest that valid reasons for waging war are much fewer than people might think,” Mother said matter-of-fact.

Murmurs rippled through the crowd once again; hundreds of whispered conversations that reflected awe and respect for Mother's simple but thought-provoking words. Her wisdom was repeated over and over.

“Perhaps there is no decent war,” Tarlog mused. “I agree, Mother. And that's saying something, coming from an old war-horse like myself.”

“I was created to destroy,” Mother said. “I wish to grow beyond that programming, to become something more, something greater. A being that creates instead of destroys.” Mother paused.

“Are the T'kaan destroyed completely?” Chira asked with finality in her voice. “The ships that were not part of the battle, will they attack us?”

“It is doubtful,” Mother said. “There is no Great Horned ship to lead them, and I make that conjecture based on many pieces of evidence. The creature-ship was a
Great One
, according to the few documents we have remaining from them.” Mother paused. “In fact, I would strongly assume that any ships left will either be destroyed in battle with other races or self-destruct because they no longer have the leadership aspect of the their symbiotic relationship. They have no direction.”

“But we can't say that for certain,” Jysar added.

“True. There is a small possibility they can survive; after all, we are not in possession of all the facts. But it is a very small possibility.” Mother waited for them to take in the import of her words.

“What we can say with certainty is that never before since their bizarre existence came into being have the T'kaan been defeated, nor have all three of the Great Horned ships been destroyed at once. It is almost impossible, actually, that so few T'kaan ships could ever recover from the totality of this catastrophe. What I can say with certainty is that no creature-ship can be created or born from the remnants of any remaining warships. I quote, ‘Only a creature-ship can begat a creature-ship,’ a saying from their own documentation, the little that we could salvage.”

“But where did they come from? I'd be more concerned about that?” Jaric whispered to Kyle.

Kyle shrugged. “We don't know where they originated.”

“Then it would be safe to say that the T'kaan threat has indeed been destroyed,” Chira said with confidence to all.

“I agree,” Mother concurred. “The T'kaan threat is no more.”

Cheers and shouts rose from the crowds.

“Then let us begin with the necessary business of peace, at long last.” Chira paused. “Our first order of business will be a time-table for refitting all Mewiis and Hrono ships with the Kraaqi anti-gravity repulsors.” Chira smiled. “So that all races will respect the environment.”

Applause erupted from all the attendees.

Jasus rose. “May I add that we, the Hrono, have recognized the error of our ways, with wisdom gained from our newfound friendship,” he looked at the High Chieftains of the Kraaqi and nodded. “We will never again use our technology to totally conquer a world. In fact, we will seek to undo the damage we have done. And what is more, we will seek always to develop our technology in order to be compatible with our natural worlds.”

Amid the enthusiastic applause, the Kraaqi contingent rose and saluted the Hrono leader as one.

Five months had elapsed since the fateful battle, and still Kyle and Jaric could not shake their intense sadness. But now, at last, they had formulated some future plans.

The Three Kingdoms were still basking in the glow of an historic event: the first section of the all-enveloping steel and concrete city-planet had been removed on Hronosium. For the first time in millennia, the natural, uninhibited light from its suns shone down on its bare soil. It was the first of many such planned actions to bring the natural environment back, at least partially.

Jasus himself had planted the first tree.

Kyle, Jaric and Mother, her repairs now complete, had witnessed this fantastic event in person. Across every planet of the Three Kingdoms, the historic moment had also been transmitted via their main communication links so everyone could share the wondrous event.

A new age had dawned for the Three Kingdoms.

And the time had finally come to say good-bye.

Crowds gathered around the parked figure of Mother to see them off. As Kyle, Jaric and Rok stood before the assembled leaders of the Three Kingdoms, they noticed a disturbance amidst the throngs. Slowly, a small group pushed their way up to the golden podium. As they grew closer, Kyle and Jaric felt their hearts begin to beat faster. Now the group of seven began ascending the stage, but Kyle and Jaric focused on one person who was covered simply with a plain white sheet around her body and a wrap around her face so that only her eyes were visible—someone that seemed vaguely familiar to them.

Kyle felt the lump grow in his throat, and hot tears form in his eyes. As he turned, the tears were already streaming down Jaric's ebony cheeks.

“It can't be,” Kyle whispered.

But it was.

They now recognized Jysar as the one who led this small entourage toward them. The crowds moved back as he alone guided the cloaked individual up to them and Mother.

“This is a gift of the Hrono,” Mother said to Kyle and Jaric. “I was notified yesterday. I am so...” Mother's voice paused uncharacteristically, as she gathered her rushing thoughts that numbered into the millions.

“Happy,” Mother finished.

Kyle wiped his tears before they spilled his churning emotions across his face for the universe to see. Jaric continued to look on through his tears in utter astonishment.

Jysar carefully removed the wrap from around the small being's head.

They saw her blonde hair first as it fell free around her shoulders, and then her bright blue eyes. She smiled, like she had smiled so many times before.

It was Becky.

The two young men approached her tentatively. It was Jaric who reached out first to touch her arm.

She stood before them dressed only in a simple white sheet wrapped tightly around her body.

Kyle stared into her eyes, his own filled with a sudden wildness. “It's not her,” he said simply.

“Yes, it is,” Mother answered.

Jysar smiled. “We, the Hrono, cannot clone a large enough population to enable your race to survive. But we have cloned Becky from the sample of her DNA that I took before the Great Battle. So you can have her back.”

“No!” Kyle shouted with rage.

Jaric's tears flowed freely down his cheeks now as he quickly removed his hand, as if he had been touching something poisonous.

“Kyle, it is Becky. It is her DNA, her chromosomes, and her cells. She has been recreated exactly. There is no difference between the Becky you see before you and the one you knew before.” Mother's voice almost seemed to sing.

“No,” Kyle spat with anger. “It's not her. It's a monster. It's a fake. This
thing
,” he sneered, the second word spoken as if it were an obscenity. “This
thing
is not Becky.”

Jaric suddenly screamed, creating a strange hush over the entire crowd as the terrifying sound echoed eerily over them. As it slowly faded, he stood beside Kyle with anger in his tear-stained eyes.

“No, Mother. You're wrong, this is not the woman I once loved. It might look like her. And biologically, it might be her duplicate. But look at her eyes, she does not know us. She does not recognize us. She does not have Becky's memories. Nor her heart.” Jaric was shouting now.

Kyle stared at the clone, his own eyes a mixture of sadness and panic.

As Mother's optics zoomed onto the face she knew so well, she realized that Jaric was right. The clone Becky looked at Kyle and Jaric with a blankness in her eyes. She did not recognize them.

“I will replay all of her memories. She will remember who she was,” Mother said.

“No!” Kyle shouted angrily. “She—” he paused. “The clone will never be Becky. You can replay all of your memories of the real Becky, like some kind of weird movie for her, but the clone did not live those memories.” Kyle's face was frozen with outrage and contempt. “This clone,” he spat. “This impostor, will
never
be Becky.”

“I agree,” Jaric said. “The clone is a different person than Becky. I was in love with Becky. I was going to marry her.” He stared at the beautiful woman before him. “I cannot marry Becky's body. I cannot love her body alone. It was who she was inside, her inner person that I loved.” Jaric forced his eyes away as a part of his mind tried to tell him that this was the Becky he loved. Yet another part of his mind knew the terrible truth.

But something deep inside wanted so desperately for it to
be
Becky. He faced the clone, reaching for her soft cheek once again. “Talk to me,” Jaric said to the clone with a sadness in his voice.

She approached Jaric slowly, her eyes searching his eyes carefully.

“You are new to my eyes. But you are like me, almost.” The clone woman looked around at the mass of beings silently looking on. “We do not resemble them.”

Jaric shook his head and stepped back beside Kyle.

Jysar looked around with puzzlement on his face. “We apologize. We have done this thing as a token of our love for you, the last of the humans. If we have offended you, we will take the clone and keep her with us.”

“No, I will take her,” Mother said with a commanding tone.

The two young men shook their heads, but it was Jaric who spoke for them both.

“Don't do this, Mother. It won't be the same,” Jaric pleaded. “It won't work.”

“She will be my child, too,” Mother said with finality.

“I will never call her Becky,” Kyle sneered with utter contempt. “You'll have to give her another name.”

“Yes,” Jaric added. “We can't call her Becky. It would disgrace the memory of the
real
Becky.”

“I will name her. And I will love her. Fixer3, lead my new child inside.” The awkward silence continued as the diminutive robot led the clone by the hand through the open door and inside her hull.

Kyle and Jaric walked slowly behind them up to the opened door that led inside MotherShip. But they stopped and watched the robot and the clone enter alone.

“I can't believe this,” Jaric whispered to Kyle.

“This is going to make things so much harder,” Kyle whispered angrily back.

Taking a collective breath, the two angry young men turned to look one last time on the people they had lived with, fought together with, and grown to love. Now they were leaving them all behind, as they had left everything else in their short lives.

“We will always remember you,” Mother said to the crowds.

“Where will you go?” Rok asked.

Kyle looked at Jaric. They finally smiled at each other with the thought of their future adventures traveling the great, wide galaxy.

“We will search for other humans, of course. But we have decided we will also explore.” Kyle looked up at Mother's freshly repaired hull, which was now reflecting the reddish light of the triple suns of Hronosium. “Mother wants to explore, too. We're tired of fighting. Humans are first of all explorers and seekers of knowledge, as are all of you.”

“Yes,” Mother agreed. “We would like to discover and meet more races like yourselves. Broaden our understanding. Find new life in the vast universe.” Mother paused. “And perhaps, maybe, we will learn of other small groups of human survivors. Perhaps.”

Kyle's face grew hard, but Jaric put his arm around his shoulder and pressed it hard.

“A most admiral goal,” Jasus agreed.

Rok stepped forward and hugged Jaric and Kyle each firmly in his mighty grasp.

“Will you allow me to travel with you?” Before they could answer, he turned back to the assembled throngs. “It is not good for the last members of this noble race to journey alone. I and select members of the Band of the Stars, will journey forth with them in our own ship. We, too, will explore and learn. The Kraaqi are changed, as the Hrono. We will become explorers first and foremost.” He pointed to the sky above. “On this great journey, we will take our women and our children for the first time. Our families will travel with us.”

Cheers went up from the crowds.

“I, too, wish to go.” Jysar stepped beside Rok's form. “I would like to travel to the
unknown parts
. Perhaps my skills may help you in some small way to find other survivors.” He smiled. “Even if I never see Hronosium again, I would treasure traveling this universe with my friends. My new family.”

Rok smiled at Jysar and then turned back and smiled at the two men.

“Minstrel too, has promised to accompany us,” Mother added.

“I wish to go with you as well.”

Faces turned as a Mewiis female made her way forward.