Tiva Boon: Royal Guardian (37 page)

“Stop!” Tiva said, pain searing through her. Every limb tingled and throbbed. She reached up again, trying to grab her attacker.

There are predators out in this universe, Tiva Boon. I have lived many years and have seen the horrible effects of mind control first hand. You will need to strengthen both your abilities if you wish to live among the various races of the Union. If you do not wish my help, so be it.

The pain stopped. Tiva glanced up at the woman. Her sapphire eyes were full of compassion and understanding despite the pain she inflicted. Locks of golden hair bounced around her face as she walked to the door.

“Please…wait,” Tiva said.

Caedm paused. “At first I didn’t sense you at all. But once you lowered your barriers, I was able to gain access. You are emotionally guarded for a reason, but I will not pressure you for answers as we all have secrets. However, I have been among the Union for quite some time now and I assure you they can be trusted. You can sense I am telling the truth, correct?” she said and Tiva simply nodded. “All right, I can guide you with your telepathy and help you strengthen your shield. What you use to contain yourself is perfect for your people, and I have a suspicion you were one of the stronger empaths on your planet. But that will not work well here among the masses. I can teach you how to protect yourself from almost any species if you are willing to learn.”

“If it will keep me from danger, I will learn.”

“Direct and to the point, huh? Well, we’ll work on your people skills too…Gigs!”
Caedm smiled and the AI popped into the room.

“Hiya.”

“Can you send all the information you have on telepathic and empathic abilities to Ms. Boon’s personal computer? Have any of the alien text translated to general…” She glanced over. “Or do you prefer your language?”

“I do not believe your computers have access to mine.”

“You didn’t program it into the Union’s database?”

“I was not on the base long, nor was I told it was required.”

“It’s not required, just easier for most people to read in their own language,” Gigs said.

“I learned Uucorian and general while I was there. I have a book written in Abennelpian if you wish to enter it into your database,” she said.

“Sure, why not. I’m always interested in learning new things. Let me take a crack at it alone first and see if I can translate. If not, you’ll have to enter your lettering into my system.” Gigs smiled at Caedm. “Are you mentoring the new girl?”

“Somewhat, there is much to learn for someone new to space travel. I’ll help where I can.”

“I appreciate that, thank you.” Tiva nodded.

“I wanna help too,” Gigs said.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be a help eventually. Let her settle in first. I just wanted to make sure she was safe from harm.”

“Fine, okay…” Gigs huffed. “The files are in your room, Boon.”

“Thank you. If you will excuse me, I must eat and rest now.”

After finishing her meal and reviewing the text on her abilities, Tiva changed into the sleep clothing and attempted to rest. A few hours passed and she was still awake despite the soft hum of the ship engines and the gentle sway of space travel. Trying to relax her body and spirit, Tiva rubbed her markings and meditated. Caedm and Emerala seemed like people she could rely on. The AI was an interesting piece of technology, and the other senior crew—the men—all seemed to have their own strange outlook.

So far, she felt safe. Though she’d eventually disclose her situation with the bounty hunters to the captain as a precaution, she wanted to ease into her duty first.

She’d done more reading in the last few months than she had during most of her life. She learned about all the various elements found in space. Nebulas, black holes, dwarf stars to name but a few. Astronomy at home was nothing like the information she found among the database records.

Still, her focus was security. Spending the night in her new office proved helpful. Now, she was fully aware of her daily duty as the chief. She only wished she had a team or at least an assistant to help during critical times, which from her research,
were many. Aware sleep would not take her again, Tiva changed back into uniform and roamed the halls of the
Tolox
.

She felt cheated. The technology of this ship, the power in weaponry it held, might have saved her family…and the king. Aimlessly she wandered the corridors thinking of everything that had gone wrong. From the beginning when Defor and Jarn died during her tour in Cenii, through all the battles, and ending with the decision to leave Abennelp in the first place.

Would their fate have been different if they stayed? Would she be among the dead instead of the sole survivor?

The spirits had no answers for her, despite her constant praying. She was alone with no guidance from her family, Vicars, or Mystics. No sage advice from friends, there was nothing. She only had this group of people on the
Tolox
now.

When her thoughts faded, she realized she was on the bottom level of the ship. Finding the nearest lift, she rode back up to level two. The doors opened, Hill appeared smiling.

“Greetings, Ms. Boon. Heading to the command center early this morning?”

“Is it morning?”

“Yes.” He laughed, entering the lift and tapping for the floor. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“I do not sleep much, sir,” she said as the doors closed. “Habit from childhood.”

“I see. Well, Ms. Boon, you’ll learn to sleep on the
Tolox
eventually, we’ll run you ragged. Shift starts in an hour, if you want to get familiar with the reports and such I can unlock the console for you.”

“I spent the evening in the security office
, sir, and already changed the codes for my computer.”

“Efficient, I like that.” He grinned and stepped into the command center.

Tiva exited the lift. The captain and B’abot were already in their chairs, Gigs sat on the science console, in small form looking out the main observation displayer. Tiva had been expecting a window, like the one in the transport she had been in before. The technology of this ship amazed her. She nodded to Maar and B’abot then moved to the back of the command center and unlocked the station with her new code. Immediately it lit up and whirled with noises. Several reports from around the ship inundated the screen.

Shuffling through and prioritizing them would be her first task for the day, but not before she programmed the computer to begin an internal sweep of the ship. Her fingers danced, the station beeped and blinked like a musical instrument, and before long Tiva was comfortable enough to multi-task.

“How was your first night on board?” Captain Maar asked, appearing next to her.

“Fine, sir. Thank you for asking.”

“Hill says you didn’t sleep much.” He grinned then lowered his voice. “If you are having trouble sleeping, we have a virtual recreation room that you might enjoy. It’s not as sophisticated as the VR chambers on the outpost, but you can program it to create almost any environment, and it looks very real.”

“I could take ya fer a walk on the beaches of Silantrio Prime, they have crystal pink water an’ black sand, exotic don’t even describe it good enough,” B’abot said, turning his head to smile at them both. “Sorry, didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but even the Cap’n’s whispering can be heard ‘round the whole ship.”

“Man your post and leave Ms. Boon alone, B’abot,” Hill spat.

Gigs laughed and then floated across the command center. Her small form changed to her normal size one, and she held up an information recorder at Tiva.

“I tried all night, I can’t figure out your language,” she said with a frown. “Though, captain…it might be a great idea to keep it out of the Union database and use it for secret codes and operations in the future.”

Captain Maar chuckled and shook his head. “We’ve never needed codes before.”

“Never say never, captain.”

Caedm
stepped off the lift with Emerala. The two greeted everyone before taking their seats. Gigs vanished from sight, and Maar settled into his chair.

Raife Nassut arrived last and climbed up to the navigation hub in the middle of the room. The captain emitted satisfaction and turned to his crew commander an unspoken order given.

“All sectors report!” Hill barked.

“We are one hour and twenty minutes from the Arillo galaxy at current speed, sir.” Nassut said.

“Science is running continual sweeps of the area, sir, nothing out of the ordinary,” Caedm said.

Emerala typed on her console without looking up. “All ship power output normal
, sir, nothing on communications.”

“Weapons are primed and ready, Mr. Hill.” Jimmi grinned.

“First internal sweep initiated and all security codes have been changed and sent to your station, sir. Incoming reports from all sectors clear.” Tiva filed through the reports as they came in from around the ship. She looked up for a moment to see Hill and Maar exchange another look. They both seemed pleased. She was as well. The crew obviously worked well together, she only hoped that she would fit in as time went by.

“Good, good.” Hill rose from his seat and moved toward Emerala. “Gigs, I need you to contact my negotiating team and have them meet in the briefing room in fifteen minutes.”

Her voice said, “Yes, sir. Fifteen minutes.”

“Emerala, send all the information about Lecokrot V to me, culture, religion, greetings, basically anything you find that will be helpful with negotiations.”

“No problem,” she said cheerfully as Hill entered the lift.

“Chief,” Maar began, turning to her, “I hope you are ready for your first job.”

“I will do whatever is needed of me, captain.” Tiva straightened up.

“I have no doubts. Caedm, Nassut, you, and I will be delivering the supplies to the Speego Colony while Hill and his team begin negotiations.”

“Understood,” she said.

“Run another internal sweep and then lock down all essential sections, we’ll have minimal crew on board for a few hours.”

“Yes, sir.”

Maar exited through the opposite side, after ordering
Caedm to take command. Tiva did as told and ran the internal sweep on the ship once again, and secured all unmanned areas. She glanced over at Emerala for a moment, but before she spoke Gigs appeared in Hill’s seat.

“You know, being an AI really sucks sometimes. I never get off the ship.”

“Maybe if you looked at it in a positive light, you’d see the good of being a hologram,” Emerala said.

“Like what?”

“Well for one, ya can’t get hurt.” Jimmi turned.

“And you’re smarter then everyone on the ship…”
Caedm said with a wink, “…even me.”

“Don’t forget you’re the only one who can change form.” Raife snickered from above.

Tiva listened to the banter, but remained silent. She found it curious that the crew tried to boost the AI’s confidence. Did Gigs actually have emotions? Tiva didn’t sense anything from the being, but she had not expected to.

“Have any wise words for me, Tiva?” Gigs appeared next to her in a flash.

“I do not.”

The others laughed. Tiva felt her markings pink, and she heard some of the crew gasp. She lowered her head to hide her forehead and sighed inwardly.

“Wow, how did you do that?” Gigs invaded her space and looked up at Tiva despite her attempts to get away from the attention.

“Do what?” she grumbled.

“Gigs leave her alone!” Emerala raised her voice.

“But her moon things changed color and I want to know why.”

“Curiosity can sometimes kill more than the cat, Gigabyte,” Aliri said.

“Fine, fine, fine.” The hologram stomped away and sat back down at Hill’s chair. “You people need to go anyway, we’re almost there.”

“She’s right,” Raife said. “We’ll be in Arillo in a few minutes.”

“Come on, Tiva, I’ll show you to the flight deck.”
Caedm glanced over and smiled.

Tiva’s marking had returned to normal by the time she met Caedm’s eyes, but trying to filter through all that had happened in the short span of time was still picking at her mind. How much did she have to divulge for these aliens to understand her? Even if she did such a thing, there was no guarantee they’d comprehend.

She secured her station and followed Caedm to the lift. When the doors closed, she heard Jimmi explain her markings to the others. She leaned back against the lift and gripped the railing trying to keep calm, though the darkening of her moons betrayed her attempts. She was going to have to try harder to keep in control. Every little thing seemed to set her off without warning.

“He really shouldn’t be blabbing your business to the others and I’ll make sure to talk to Hill about it, but honestly he’s just trying to help.”

“Perhaps.”

“Listen, Tiva. I can only imagine what’s happened to you. If I can be upfront with you…I can sense your pain and anguish. You’ve lost a large part of yourself recently and you are very angry. So angry in fact you’re bound to give me a headache during our training.”