Chapter 1

The Hummingbird was the second fastest known ship in the Galaxy. Carl knew that, since he designed it, and the fastest one as well. The FSS Stiletto was a Federation ship, though, and belonged to them. The Hummingbird was his. No FSS, no USSCS, no USCS, just ‘the Hummingbird’.

It did have one downfall that the Stiletto did not. It could only travel at 6 times Hyper Light Speed, or 6xHLS, for about 96 hours without running out of gas. Fuel actually. Reactor fuel. Lithium Conphlatranzite Nitroloxene. The Stiletto could do just over 6xHLS for weeks at a time. It was also a little cumbersome, at easily two hundred times the Hummingbird’s size.

The good news? Everything he needed to get to, everywhere he needed to go, could be done with jumps of 48 hours or less. At about twenty-five times the distance light travels in a year, and doing it in about one earth day, that’s a long darn way.

The bad news? The Federation, the United States Space Commission, and the United Space Consortium, all allies, didn’t care for Carl running around the galaxy making money and designing things for other peoples, races, species, whatever you want to call them. They wanted to maintain an edge. Which sounded to Carl like power, control, and ... Oh, security. Carl told them, showed them, and did all he could to convince them that he would always only design something someone needed if it was a little less than he had.

That meant everyone ... thing ... whatever the species considered itself, would always have yesterday’s state of the art technology, if it came from him. And since he was, in fact, a human, somewhat, he’d always try to make sure the human race, and the Angelenes, had the edge. Yes, Carl’s mother was an Angelene, and thus, he was blessed with their DNA. They were almost human, but lived longer, and were a lot prettier. Well, the females were. The males were just ... male Angelenes. It was a matriarchal society, so it didn’t matter much anyway.

Funny thing, when he designed the Stiletto, two confidential parameters stood out in his final design specifications. Only he, and his mother, knew the secrets, and his mother thought it was so funny, she would never let the feline house pet out of the cloth satchel. The first thing was that the scanners on the Stiletto could not find the Hummingbird. Since it could outrun him, he had to have an edge. That was it. They couldn’t find him, unless he wanted them to. Actually, no one could, but the Stiletto had the most advanced scanners in the galaxy, as well. The second was the most Top Secret of all. The ship’s name was not derived from the ancient knife design ... but from his mother’s favorite shoes.

Carl was a bit of a style hound when it came to women he dated or was even seen in public with. He’d always enjoyed seeing women in high heels. Ever since he was young. Yes, Angelene women are almost human in almost every way. But ... they’re pink and they have pink hair, and they are gorgeous. All of them. They wear high heels like most human women do, for the same reasons, and pretty much the same styles, but more conservative, maybe. Pumps, high heeled sandals, and the like. High heeled boots and stockings have also been introduced to the Angelene women by their visits to Sol Earth and other human bastions.

They’ve also been exposed to seeing human women envoys dressed in them on their visits to the three Angelene settled worlds, those being Angelene itself and the two planets in the same orbit, each one hundred and twenty degrees off phase. Angelene, the capital planet, had two small moons. Braschene had one larger one, and Preschene a slightly smaller planet, had three moons. For you astrophysicists out there, they each had pretty much the same mass, with their moons, and like our Sol Earth, had been in that same orbit for millions of their years.

Carl Matthews was an engineering genius. His father, a retired military man and then a statesman, was assigned to the Federation of Similar Societies Embassy on Angelene when Carl was conceived. He was working on a treaty between the two worlds when he met Grasche, Carl’s mother. (Pronounce it Jrayshee if you like. That’s about as close as you’ll get.) Grasche was also a genius. A beautiful one. Yes, they are all beautiful. We’ve established that. Her thing, if you will, was math. You see, no matter what race you are, no matter what rock you reside on, math is the core of everything. The most basic of all languages is math. Ones and zeros. It either is or it isn’t. Binary. It all goes up from there. Trinary, septal, octal, decimal, duodecimal, and hexadecimal, to name a few. Carl inherited his mother’s math mind, and her beauty. There was no shortage of women, of Lord knows how many races and species, that would like to land him as a mate. Either short or long term, as their customs may dictate.

But Carl was just too busy. Too busy running around having fun and making stuff. He did dally. He did go out with the ladies. We should probably at this point say females, at least to the best of his knowledge. There was that one species several systems out past Tallook that the males were gorgeous and had really nice ... upper body features? The males nursed their young. That was a bit of an eye opener for Carl. The females were a little larger, and they actually bore the young. Like 4 or 5 at a time. Yes, he left in a hurry after almost getting in trouble there.

He had billions of standard credits in quite a few different currencies, on several different planets, just in case. While not having a girlfriend in every port, he did have a few. He had always made sure they knew he was not going to settle down with any single one of them anytime soon. He also made sure they knew about each other. Sneaking around was not his style. Plus, he had the means to make sure they were well taken care of, and well dressed. While not an overt Alpha male in his actions and deeds, the one stipulation he had for his girlfriends was that if they wanted another man, so be it. It just meant they didn’t want to wait around for him. No problem. Still friends, right? Right. And yes, it sounds hypocritical, but men don’t share as well as women do. They just don’t. He did have his women friends travel with him once in a while, and his mother had even met a couple of them. His father had, too, but they didn’t see each other as often, so there was less of an impact there.

It seems each star may have a system floating around it. Think earth, and the sun, and all the other planets in our system. Each system may have a planet about as far out from their star that can support life, as we know it. Of course, there are other forms of life that aren’t carbon based, water and whiskey drinking, tree climbing, poop in the woods types, like humans and Angelenes are, or were, but since we don’t have a need to dwell on dealing with the others, we often overlook them.

When mining in a hostile atmosphere, for example on a suitable asteroid or planet, we take the conphlatranzium, and don’t have to worry much about the critters around, if any. But there are the planets that sustain life, and if sentient, depending on their level of evolution and therefore education or thirst for it, Carl can usually find something to sell them, or trade them, to make each of their lives better. It’s what he does. Usually.

Not always though, and he’s gotten into some places that humans, and human like beings, just need to stay away from for a couple hundred thousand years. He marks those on his big wall map (his three-dimensional holographic galactic system display) in red. And tells his AI to try to stay away from them, unless he needs something from there really, really, badly that he can’t get ANYWHERE else. And she does.

Helen does just about anything Carl asks of her. And a lot of things he doesn’t think to ask her but need to be done anyway. Helen is in love with Carl, and always has been. Ever since the day he first powered her up in the Hummingbird. He is her guy. She needs no other. She knows nothing will come of it, since they can’t hug or kiss or anything like that. Not like he does with his girlfriends, but she doesn’t get jealous, very often. She has even liked some of them. But not all. She is sentient but doesn’t have the capability to make herself a body. Such is non-life.

He was on his way to speak to a species that needed hovercraft for a mining operation when Helen told him they needed to stop for gas. She liked to use the old idioms when conversing with Carl. It was almost a language that just the two of them shared. Of course, Helen knew almost everything Carl knew because his notes and drawings were all in her memory and storage devices. Plus, everything they talked about, everything he said, every decision, sale, mapping effort, destination plan, all of it, was recorded and analyzed as it was discussed or relayed. Even the talking daydreams he had about his girlfriends were within Helen’s purview.

All in all, she had it all. Helen charted a course to stop for fuel and regenerate the reactor on a planet friendly to them, one where he could meet with one of his girlfriends as well. Jackie Alden was human, cute, and madly in love with Carl. She was stationed with a manufacturing and supply company on a remote planet where reactors were king. They couldn’t be made in full Sol Earth level gravity due to issues involving the frames and the metals involved. The gravity there was about three fourths what it is on earth and similar planets. Since it was that much lower, the reactors could be built and shuttled up for installation into the intended spacecraft without collapsing under the strain. And, they had plenty of fuel to get them started off.

Helen placed a call to Jackie, let her know Carl would be inbound in a couple hours, and set up a meeting with her at the spaceport.

There was a restaurant there, friendly to humans, where Carl met Jackie, the latter jumping up onto his chest, arms wrapped around his neck and smothering his face with kisses.

“Hiya, sexy! How’s my favorite boyfriend?”

“Better now, Jackie. Much better now. How are you doing, and is there any chance of you keeping a lonely soul company for a few months?”

“I can’t, Carl, but I do want to one of these days. Work is getting really busy with all the traffic around here. Accounts receivable may not sound like much, but when you’re dealing with all these different currencies and such, it’s a treat, lemme tell ya. Hey, sweetie, I need to talk to you. It’s about Doctor Williams.”

“I heard he was looking for me.”

“I know, Carl. He told me he found you and you immediately said ‘Goodbye’ in a rather strange way.” She giggled. She has such a pretty giggle. It reminded Carl of his mother after a couple glasses of wine. “He told me to tell you he doesn’t do that with men, but he needs to talk to you in any case. Carl, he’s always been straight with you and you are the only person he trusts. He hinted at something about a chemical and a process. He mentioned Helen, Carl. He said it might involve Helen.” Carl could see a bit of a sad smile from her.

“Jealous?”

“A bit. She gets you all the time. Someday, when your brain kicks in, you’ll find a way to make her into a big beautiful blonde woman and fall in love with her, leaving me far behind.”

“Don’t bet on it, gorgeous. There will always be room in my heart for a certain little redhead. You also need to keep in mind that Helen likes you.”

“I like her, too. It’s weird, though, Carl. I’ve never ‘liked’ a machine before, but I like Helen. When I talk to her, it’s like talking to a friend, or an auntie or something.”

“She grew on me, too, but she also knows that I’m not monogamous, so however my life winds up when I get tackled, and amorously shackled, possibly by some cute redheaded fairy, she and they are going to have to learn to get along. You already like each other. You already have an advantage.”

“She likes those kittens on Pranar, too. She told me about them. You’ll have to introduce me to them someday, Carl. I’d love to have a kitten ... Or two.” She giggled again.

“Come with me on my next trip through. I’ll have you back in a month, and I’ll introduce you. They’ve seen your picture and think you’re pretty cute, too, for a human girl, anyway,” Carl told her, garnering a smile. He thought she had the prettiest lips. Her smile was well worth coming here more often. Carl knew he loved her. He knew if he could have a few spouses, mates, and settle down, she could easily be one of them. Helen, her, the kittens, and Mali. She needs to meet Mali also. Maliope Schren knew of her and she knew of Maliope. (Think Penelope or calliope when pronouncing it.) Yes, they needed to meet and talk. They each seemed reticent about their knowledge of the other, but Carl knew, he just knew, if he could get them to hear each other’s voices, they’d fall for each other as well. Both were stunningly beautiful women. Both had voices that would be a siren for the other. Beautiful, smooth voices. Both had an eye for other ladies. Jackie had admitted once, when she joked about Carl being her favorite boyfriend that he was her only boyfriend. She had two or three girls in her life, but no other men. Maliope had one. She warned Carl that if she came to him as a mate, which Angelene women did for life, her pet followed, as they were already bonded, by circumstance and fate, for life.

Jackie Alden ate her dinner with Carl watching, pondering his future. His mother wanted him to settle down. Even Angelene women wanted grandchildren. Not children, necessarily, but since that was a done deal, she wanted a baby or babies to spoil. He looked at what may very well be a part of his future across the table. Jackie was beautiful. Red hair, small and cuddly. She wasn’t but about five feet three inches tall. Her freckled face and little nose, gorgeous smile showing magnificently bright white teeth, framed by naturally darkened pink lips. She weighed in at about one twenty or one thirty. She was not skinny, but she was perfect. She knew about Carl’s penchant as a clothes and shoe hound and dressed for him. Always in skirts and shorts, pretty blouses, hose of some type, various tints and some patterns, and heels. Always in high heels for him. She knew what he liked his women to be seen wearing.

He thought about Mali. Maliope Schren. Beautiful, model quality, five feet eight inches tall. Mostly legs. Her pink hair fell to her waist in back. At a hundred and forty pounds, with her height, she was structured perfectly to attract a human male. Her complexion smooth light pink, sky blue eyes, nose straight and slightly equine like, cheeks ever so slightly rounded making her appearance soft and inviting. She had a medium bust, small waist, a bottom made for fondling, and legs long enough ... She had long legs. In her normal four-inch high heels, an Angelene staple due to the shape they added to the women’s legs, she was two inches shorter than Carl. A noblewoman. A socialite. A butterfly, flitting from one gathering to the next, fending off potential consorts like gnats, despising men of all species, races, creeds and colors, especially her own, with one, and only one exception. A half human, half Angelene man, birthed by her godmother, Grasche Schtronff. Now Grasche Matthews. Carl’s mother.

Grasche Schtronff and Manowil Schren, Maliope’s mother, were friends and always had been. Forever. As babies they grew up together. Manowil did not succumb to the charms of any male. She chose one when she was ready, had the male impregnate her with her daughter, then let him go. She didn’t want him, at all, let alone for a lifetime. She just wanted a baby girl. To give to Grasche’s son. Carl knew nothing about this. Not a thing. He was only four at the time, and while babies were cute and all, little boys played with toy rockets and hovers and things.

“Jackie, can you get Williams on your comm.”

Jackie smiled and pushed some buttons. “Dr. Williams, please. (Pause.) Jackie Alden. He’s expecting the call. (Pause.) Thank you. (Long Pause.) Yes, sir. Eating dinner with him as we speak. (Pause.) OK, Uncle Fred, but be nice. I want him to still like me when this conversation is over.” She handed Carl the comm, kissing his thumb as he took it, putting a huge smile on the young man’s face.

“Uncle Fred? Seriously? How...”

“Hush, you, insolent little ragamuffin. I need your help. We need to talk and I need to show you something. Something big. Huge. I will trade you your time to help me with this for ... I think I can bring Helen to you, Carl, but I need your help. Two huge, immense things I’m working on. If you’ll help me, I’ll help you. I’ll help you anyway, because there is no other appropriate test bed, but dammit, Carl, I need your help.”

“What crazy notion is going to put me in the hotseat this time, Doctor?”

“Not on the comm. Come see me. Please. Look across the table. She’ll know, Carl. Don’t say a word. Not to anyone. Just come see me. You and Helen. Please.” Click.

“Eat, Jackie. Not a word. That man scares the ... He frightens me.”

“He’s not my real uncle, Carl. He was a very good friend of my father’s, though. It’s just something I called him when I was little. I thank him for you. If not for him, I wouldn’t have met you. Just passing the message that day, touching your hand, asking you to lunch so you could ... Sorry. Carl. You know I love you, right?”

“I know. Yes, I know. Jackie, when I get done, I need to take you to meet my mother, and Maliope, and her mother. Jackie, I want you in my life, but I’ve told you ... I’ve warned you. I am not and never will be a one-woman man. At present, and I’m going to be very, very honest with you, hoping this is not repeated, but I think I am a two-woman, two-feline man.”

“I’m going to try very, very hard to fit into your life. The pink marvel, the effing gorgeous pink Goddess, and I will talk, I’m sure, but I will not be her slave. I will not bow to another woman in our relationship, Carl. If we’re not equal, Carl, it probably won’t work.”

“Jackie. You can stop worrying now. Right now. Guaranteed. I’ll pick you up when I get back, but I need to find your crazy assed uncle, then sell some hover loaders to some miners so I can pay for the gas to run around this silly galaxy. No money, no girlfriend. I still can’t believe that one girl said that.”

“She wasn’t a girl, Carl, she was a monkey in a miniskirt.”

“True, but damn could she cook.”

“You’re better off with us. I want to meet the kittens, too, if you think it’s time. I don’t want to quit my job, but I can get some time off if you’re serious.”

“I do, and I am, and we’ll talk. Jackie, will you spend the night with me. I’ll make sure you get to work...”

“My place. I’ll know the alarm is set.” They finished dinner and headed back to the space port docking area where Carl could check on his ship.

Upon boarding, Jackie heard the familiar voice. “Hello, Jackie.”

“Hi, Helen. We’ve been talking about you, but you know that, don’t you?”

“I do. I need to, child. I need to know what’s happening, everything, all the time, so I can help him. Please, of all people, or ... Never mind. Jackie, never, ever be jealous of me. Maliope Schren, yes, even though that’s a joke, but not me. I will never cause a rift between you and Carl. Ever. Know that, child. Know that.”

“Can I take him home and love on him a bit tonight, Helen? He seems a little ... Neglected?”

“By all means, child. I’ll pick up the pieces tomorrow and we’ll be off on our way to find the good doctor. Carl, it sounds important. I think I know what he is doing, in abstracts.”

“Pray tell, missy, what you think that might be.”

“Fuel and cloning. Of some type, in each case.”

“And you’ve come to this conclusion how?”

“No other appropriate testbed? He can give you Helen if you help him? Am I the testbed? Our Hummingbird? Fuel and humanoid constructivism. Maybe I’m grasping at hope, but I’m alive enough for that. Hope. Hope springs eternal. Whether you wish it to happen or not, if I get my way, I’m going to kiss your girlfriend, Carl. Then I’m going to kiss you, for a long, long time. Hand on the screen, both of you.” There was a screen on the command console where they stood. As they laid their hands on it, side by side, it changed from a light blue to a light pink and they could feel energy, probably just electrical impulses, similar to nerves and muscles working, being fed to them by a sentient artificial intelligence. As the pink turned darker, it warmed. “Carl, I love you. Jackie, take care of him. He is my ... Everything. Without him, as you know, I am nothing.”

Carl leaned down and kissed the screen. Jackie asked, “May I, Helen? Carl?”

“Please, yes,” came Helen’s voice. Carl nodded.

Jackie kissed the screen, touching her tongue to it gently, then rose, and touched with her fingers where she had kissed, receiving feedback in the form of a warm sensation.

“Take care of him, Jackie. Thank you, by the way. I feel the same, child. I do. Go. I have backups to run.” Lights flickered everywhere into a distractingly interesting show of bright colors throughout the command suite. Jackie laughed. Helen laughed.

Carl grunted. “Women!” Followed by more laughter as Carl grabbed a small satchel and followed Jackie back out the hatch. “Goodnight, Helen,” he said.

As the hatch closed, Carl may or may not have heard, “Goodnight, love.” Jackie did. She smiled.

They spent the night in Jackie’s little apartment, such as it was. A kitchen, a long wide bed, a very comfortable love seat, an entertainment center, and an enclosed lavatory and large shower, all in the space of an eighteen-foot cubicle. Three hundred and twenty-four square feet. A mansion in some areas of the universe. A couple sips of a sweet blue whiskey made from Tallookian cereal grains and the make out session began. They didn’t need the booze. Carl and Jackie really were in love.

The alarm woke them, her head on his chest. He pulled her to him, hugged her close and told her, “Be sure, Jackie. I do want you with me. With us. It will be an us, but I want you there if you want to be with me. I want you there even if you don’t, but I’d never want you unhappy, so make sure ... Very sure you are willing to live like that. You won’t be alone. Ever. It may not be with me, but you’ll never be alone. I ... Jackie, I love you.”

“GASP!”

“Stop. Don’t make fun. I do. Maybe I haven’t said it, but I do. Keep that in mind, but don’t use that to make your decision. This is about what you want. Not what I want. If you’re happy, I’m getting what I want. If that means you’re with me, we both can be. Happy, that is. Is that really the first time I’ve said that to you?”

Jackie nodded.

“It’s not the first time I wanted to. That’s for damned sure. Get ready for work. I’ll make you something to eat before I take off and find your weird mad scientist uncle figure. Wow. Never would have put you two in the same ... Anywhere near each other. We need to talk about your past, honey. I need to process you knowing him. Makes me shiver. Crazy old man!!”

“Stop it. He’s barely old enough to be a grandfather. And yet, he isn’t one, come to think of it. Go see him, Carl. He’s on Filos. Therus City. Read this address to Helen when you get back to her.” She handed Carl a small card with some writing on it. “Have her let me know when you’re onboard and ready to go.” She ate her toast and a scrambled egg with tomato slices. “I worry, Carl, but ... I worry.”

Carl kissed her, held her cheeks in his hands and told her, “It’s natural. I worry about you, too. I want you. I love you,” and walked out.

The little redhead’s eyes watered. She put their dishes in the cleaner and after brushing her teeth and checking her appearance, keeping it as plain as possible, long loose skirt, loose white blouse and ballet flats, since he wouldn’t be there to see her, she went to work. Between an invoice for fifty-three hundred credits for fuel and foodstuffs for a small supply vessel headed who knows where, and a four-hundred and forty-thousand credit invoice for a passenger liner headed for Tallook, she got a call.

“Jackie, thank you for the kiss. I have him now. We are off to find the good doctor. Now you need to take care of Jackie.”

“I will, Helen. Thank you, as well. Thank you for the kiss. It felt ... It was ... It was nice. You take care of Carl. Come back soon and get me.” Click.

Clearing the spaceport, the Hummingbird made for Filos on a slightly indirect route. They didn’t go straight to anywhere anymore. Always watching behind them, zigzagging here and there, looking over their shoulders. Their sensors were the best, yes, and they could hide, he designed them that way, but if the FSS Stiletto was put on them, for whatever reason ... Suffice to say they didn’t want to go through the questioning anymore. Carl made the rules. If they didn’t like it, they could kiss his keister and buy his technology through a third party. That would make them think twice about harassing him!

The one thing Carl was always taught, and his mother pounded it into him, for every fish, there is a bigger one. Someday some punk, with one more synapse in his frontal lobe, was going to stumble upon the hidden hole in the sensors and find the Hummingbird. Carl just wanted to be ready and take precautions.

It took two days for the trip and on the way, Helen and Carl spoke of the future and what was and was not going to happen. Helen was open to lots of things, but Carl made sure she knew that he was not going to be turned into a tie wearing diplomat or businessman. Anything he decided to do would be recreational or at least an interesting activity, if he did anything. Helen agreed and reminded him he could buy any property he wanted, that was for sale, or just find something, some area he could trade for, and he had enough money now to retire. He needn’t work at all if he chose to just step off at the ripe old age of thirty-five or so. It was a fun discussion.

At the Therus City spaceport, the Filoshian authorities let him know, under no uncertain terms that he was welcome, as long as he was not buying or selling. If either path was chosen, he must register as a trader again, supplying the fee, since his permit had lapsed. He acknowledged his visa restrictions with his handprint and off he went. The transit tube took him into Therus City itself, and once downtown, and out of the tunnel of the tube system, Helen told him that Doctor Williams was on the way to the café he was near. He did as he was told by his wonderful AI and sat on a bench inside a fenced in area of a patio bar. Ideally, this reminded him of any of a number of places, tourist traps, where a person could enjoy drink of certain, or of questionable source, and watch people, or ... Watch things go by. Some of the things were definitely not people, and since Therus City was a trading Mecca, if you will, there was certainly no shortage of odd, or at least different, characters to watch.

“Carl, how good to see you,” Doctor Fred Williams said to the young man.

“Doctor Williams. Believe it or not, I’m glad to see you as well. Of the girlfriends I have, two of them are now very excited about us meeting. Care to elaborate?”

“Open mind, Carl? Open mind? Promise me?”

“I promise, Doc, but first, how close to Jackie are you?”

“I’m not a blood relation, just her godparent. Her father and I were friends. My wife, may the Goddess keep her soul, and I shared many years of friendship with her parents. I was lucky. I am here talking to you. Carl. Enough. I need your help. Helen, can you hear me?”

“She said yes, Doc.”

“Carl, help me, please. Look around and tell me if you see anything ... Anyone ... Suspicious. Watching us.”

“No.”

“Helen, I can give you to your boy. I can, I think, give you life. Real, human life. If I do that, will you tell him to help me with a fuel better than LCN? No more hiding from the Federation. He’ll be able to flat outrun them.”

“She said we need to talk. She remembers the Federation Energy Department debacle.”

“Carl, I did not mean for you to get caught up in the LCN scandal. I didn’t. You were made a pawn of the Federation command and I didn’t want that. This time will be different. This time you have it all. I want money from it, yes, but ... I will leave that to you. This will make us both so rich you will give me money to keep me from calling to tell you how nice the weather is, wherever I might be. Trust me. Come, son. Come. We’ll talk.”

Fred Williams and Carl Matthews walked around the block where the pub was located, sipping beers from Sol Earth. The core of humanity, the home of the human race, still to this day. There was better beer to be had, but this joint didn’t have it.

“Caesium Incentrazide Nitroloxene. I found a liquid on the next rock over. Gilt. It’s sub habitable, but it can be explored and mined. It’s cold, but not terrible to the point of unmanageable, and has oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere. Carl, I found a new element that I’ve made into a fuel you can use to stay two steps ahead of Federation command. I call the element Incendate. Conphlatrate was named for conflagration. This stuff is incendiary. Think fireplace. Now think volcano. Hotter than hades when cooked correctly. Help me and I’ll make you fast. Helen, help me, and I’ll make you his.”