Chapter 3

After escorting another shipment of hovers to the Brillian mining community, Hummingbird was hailed by an unknown craft. Her sensors indicated they were of unknown origin. There weren’t very many of those left. The construction of the craft was of known elements, but they made up mostly yet unseen alloy compositions, with a couple of notable exceptions.

When sensors indicated the probability of the use of cast iron plated with mirror polished titanium in certain points on the spacecraft, Helen insured the others were warned.

“Carl, as you know, based on what I’ve collected, it is probable that is a warship from a society not as advanced as ours. Ladies, we need to raise shields now, and consider the possibility that they are not friendly. Remember, while armor is one technology, armament is quite another, and we won’t know for sure what they are capable of until after ... Let’s just say if they are hostile, we don’t know yet what they will be hostile with.”

“Valid point, doll. Battle stations, ladies. Don’t take any other action yet, but we need to listen to Helen’s thoughts on this.”

Carl answered the hail.

“This is the private yacht Hummingbird. May I inquire as to with whom we have the pleasure of communicating?” If the vessel was equipped with any of the modern technology of the galaxy they were traversing, it would have been translated into their native language.

The reply was unsettling. In a qualified grunt, with some questioning tone, they heard, “Hummbird? Quire? Peasure? Bos gue dostos! Kiros!” Between the time their plasma cannons fired, and Carl unleashed two volleys from the nitroxolite emitters, Helen deciphered that they were unfamiliar with our language. ‘Bos gue dostos’ probably meant ‘I don’t understand’, and ‘kiros’ almost certainly meant ‘fire’.

Further investigation of their craft, or what was left of it, by drones, showed nothing much known to Helen’s databases, nor those of any known intelligence. They were a reptilian race, yet humanoid in structure and stature. They seemed a bit thinner and a bit taller than the average human, however. The command and control equipment of the vessel appeared to be pre-space travel technology, yet here they were, travelling in space.

Helen made an assumption based on their location, their technology, and the evident capabilities of their ship from two standpoints. “It appears the ship was equipped with FAL, fast as light, drives most probably not capable of Hyper Light Speed, and had a form of technology unknown to us, or at least unidentifiable, but possibly the transition equipment desired and, in the research and development departments of every space and tech contractor in the known universe. There is really no other explanation. The star systems within cruiser refueling range have been mapped, and these folks aren’t from around here.”

Jackie caught the fact of the missing information and asked about it. “Helen, what transition equipment is that?”

“Dimensional transition. Spatial translation, in some circles. Travel beyond distance into time and other dimensions,” she explained. “The possibility of parallel existence is one aspect under scrutiny.”

“Oh. OH!” They could easily tell Jackie was startled by that explanation.

Maliope smiled, looked at Helen, then Jackie, then said to Carl, “I hope I’m not out of line, but I think we need to clean that thing up, call a freighter, and take it home. Don’t get me wrong, but the Federation, the United States, and the Angelenes, all need to know that this threat exists. We also need to decipher their language in case this happens again, and their friends come to visit.”

Carl stopped her. “Honey, you are never out of line if we are having discussions about our lives, our missions, or most any other subject. Continue, please.”

“OK. Thank you, Carl. There have to be manuals, books, computers, something on that ship with their language on it. We need to know more than ‘kiros’. It’s too late, then, for most every space going vessel. We also need to take a couple of the bodies. Hopefully one or two of each gender. This, to us, is a new, or at least unknown, civilization. An unfriendly one, by any measure.”

Carl thought about that for a minute, then sent an encrypted message to his mother. Angelene was the closest of the three civilizations that could assist and mattered most to them. Shortly after he explained the situation, and made his request, the response was received.

“Assistance enroute. Salvage freighter will provide transport for you. Allow one earth day, please. Recommend you return with anything and everything you can. Fondly, Mom.”

They sat for hours, watching the hulk and letting the drones determine that every being on board was in fact lifeless. Several of the bodies were still aboard, though most of them were spaced when the propulsion and command structures were hit by the emitters. The drones were able to pull a few of the bodies to the ship and place them back on the ship through the holes created when the nitroxolite particle beam burned portions of the hull away.

Carl mentioned to no one in particular, “Mom said to bring back anything and everything. Helen? Can you and Jackie work with the drones and scour the area for bits and pieces of anything meaningful, which would probably be about everything out there. If any of the mechanisms were shattered, we’ll need as many pieces as possible. The scanners should be able to look at any area around here for quite a distance.”

They did that and watched as the drones got direction directly from the scanner output, sending them in a pattern of sorts all over the area they were viewing. Some pieces were pretty good sized, like a dinner plate or so, and some were small. Thimbles, coins, and straight pins came to mind as the drones bagged or boxed what they collected and returned it to the vessel.

Another message from Grasche was received. “Salvage freighter hours away. Will quarantine ship and bodies until analyzed. Be careful. Fondly, Mom.”

And so it went. The freighter scooped the ship, complete with bodies and little bags and boxes of parts, into the cargo bay, then Helen and Jackie flew the drones in to land next to it. They had been in contact with the ship and the bodies, so ... Jackie got nervous about not having the drones but was quickly soothed by Helen’s informing her there were three more available. One was a large one that was armed.

“OK, there are six weapons on board,” Carl said. “I forgot about the drone.”

Helen laughed for a bit. She looked at Carl, then broke out laughing again. “I did, too. I was thinking of you and the ship, and ... I didn’t process the drone with the little emitter, either. Jackie, Maliope, kittens, I’m so sorry.” The giggling continued until they all hugged her out of it.

“Worse infractions have occurred without apologies, Lady Helen. I’m sure you will be forgiven before the sun sets on William Matthews’ home on Sol Earth tonight. That will be in about four hours, I think.” Welsche was sometimes able to insert a serious line into an otherwise funny situation and cause the laughter to begin again. This was one of those time.

After a special crew of medical and hazardous payload personnel checked the entire vessel, parts, bodies, and drones, for chemical instability, biological threats, or unknown infestations, scientists from the Angelene military were allowed to access the bodies. They were ecstatic. They were so happy, in fact, they didn’t realize that Carl, Helen, Jackie, and Maliope weren’t letting them look around on the spacecraft. Tippi, Tappi, and Welsche showed them out after they had placed the last of the corpses on a large hover set up for emergency response with many stretchers on it. There were fourteen bodies. Ten appeared to be male, and four appeared to be female. The female bodies were chained by the neck to beds in a bunk type area. Only one conclusion could be reached from that discovery, and it wasn’t pretty.

After the scientists left, Carl and Maliope started at the back of the ship and worked forward, gathering anything that looked like it had language of any sort. Jackie and Helen were in the command bridge area doing the same, Helen trying to run their computers and Jackie looking for anything resembling numbers. All four hit pay dirt and just in time, the kittens and Welsche were on hand to help gather and sort things with them. Books, with a substance very similar to paper, metal foil, and some type of synthetic stone slate as pages, tablets with LCD and LED screens, as well as small electronic devices resembling pagers were all located, sorted, and scanned.

“Carl, it might help if we had a cryptographer or language specialist. Do you know anyone?”

“No, Jackie, I don’t, but I know who might, and she can pick someone she trusts. We can clear it through the White House back home. He did say, if we needed anything to let him know. I distinctly remember that. I hope he does.” Carl chuckled at that.

Welsche, delivering another gem, said, “If not, Prince Carl, I’ll assist him in remembering. No problems.” Her mischievous grin was cute, and the subsequent smile was infectious.

Carl sent Stephanie a message asking for help and got a starship in the back yard for his troubles. Above the back yard, actually. It didn’t land as much as it hovered while they talked in the garden behind the family home in Anschene.

“I have already asked for permission, Carl, and it was granted. I will leave you with First Lieutenant Deborah Conner, Debbie here, on temporary assignment. She is a cryptographer by profession. She has done this once before and was promoted immediately afterwards because of her skill. She’s really a smart cookie.”

Carl took stock of the gorgeous brown-haired girl that the general was offering up for the task of translating the alien language. She was striking. If she were pink, she’d fit right in on Angelene. “Thank you, Stephanie. Can you stay for dinner, please?”

“Sure. Let me get that thing back into orbit and I’ll call for a shuttle later.” General Carlson took care of her ship, then walked with Debbie and the rest of us into the house. Once inside, they all sat in the study with a drink of one sort or another while Stephanie introduced Debbie to each of the ladies, then to Carl, specifically.

“Him, I’d like to call my boyfriend, but I don’t know if we see each other often enough for that. Jackie, Maliope, what do you think?” She giggled, causing Debbie to get a really funny look on her face. “Oh, sorry. No one on my crew has seen me around anyone I think this way about, so they’ve never seen that side of me. Sorry, Debbie. They are more than friends, in my eyes.”

“In our eyes, too, Stephanie. You are welcome here, in our home, our lives, and our hearts.” Maliope has such a way with words. They were generally deep, thoughtful, and heartfelt, especially when speaking of relationships. “Always, and with the most fondness.” Stephanie stood and approached Maliope. Jackie joined them in a three-way embrace.

“I concur, Stephanie. Completely. Debbie, close your eyes,” Jackie joked, then each of the wives kissed Stephanie and called Carl to them to make sure she understood it was mutual, and involved all seven of their family.

“Thank you,” Stephanie said to all three of them. “I’ve been thinking of this, hoping for this, since our last meeting. Thank you.”

Making sure Debbie knew all was in fun, Jackie told her, “OK, Deb, you can look now.” Laughter met one of the kitchen staff who was sent to fetch them all for dinner. At the table, waiting for them, were Manowil and Grasche.

“Son, have you no manners? Are you going to introduce us to these two beautiful specimens of human existence?”

“Of course, Mother, give me a chance. Mom, Grasche Matthews, other Mom, Queen Manowil of Angelene, these are Major General Stephanie Carlson, skipper of the Stiletto, and First Lieutenant Deborah Conner, the cryptologist and we just found out, linguist, that Stephanie is loaning us to figure out who the jerks on the ship were and where they came from.”

Grasche got a wicked smile on her face. “Stephanie, do we need to talk?”

“Probably, ma’am, but let me get past Jackie and the Crown Princess first, then I’ll come clean. They have assured me that your son’s advances toward me are not negative in nature, and if returned, mine will be welcomed. Other than that, I don’t know what to say.”

“That was plenty. Do you know how your ship got its name, General?”

“I would imagine it cuts like a knife, hence the handle on the nameplate.”

“Au contraire, my dear. Miss Conner, could you please accompany my daughters outside the room for a second, please? The study will do nicely, Jackie. I’ll call you all back in just a few moments.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Come on, girls. Let’s clear out for a bit,” Jackie called them and led them out.

Carl, Manowil, Grasche, and Stephanie were the only ones left in the room.

“Stephanie, our son has a thing for nice shoes. High heels, more specifically. I happen to know that you would do well to wear them in his presence, but that would be between you two. He designed the Stiletto and invented most of the technology that protects it. He was instrumental in obtaining rights to the fuels that propel it. He alone named the ship, after his mother’s favorite high heeled shoes, my stiletto heels. That fact was only known to two souls until thirty seconds ago. Let’s see how secret we can keep it now that the number has doubled.” When Carl’s mother started laughing, the queen did, then Carl, and finally, Stephanie.

“I’ll be damned. I would never have guessed. That is so cool, though. Carl, boyfriend I hope, I have shoes you’ll love. Have your wives take me out on a date, and you’ll see them. I also have some clothes that aren’t so blue, so loose, and don’t look so much like overalls.” Again, all of them laughed. Carl hugged her, then she was called over to the women for a hug as Carl was told to get his girls back in for dinner.

Debbie Conner took it all in stride but was amazed at the revelations that her commander was a human being, and a fun person to be around. She thanked the general for the opportunity to help with the find and promised to do her best.

The goodbye that evening took several minutes. Tippi and Tappi kissed and hugged the general, for all intents and purposes their new girlfriend, thanking her for being there for their loved ones, their new family. Welsche kissed and hugged her, also thanking her for helping with stopping the coup and with the current project. Helen welcomed her into their lives and asked her to please come back soon to visit. She told Stephanie that her Carl, and his Jackie and Maliope, were all very fond of her and wanted to get to know her much better. Jackie and Maliope, together, each held one of her hands and made sure she knew she was wanted and admired. Carl just kissed her and asked her to please come back soon. His girls all liked her.

“What about you, sailor?”

Jackie and Maliope both nodded to him and smiled. Stephanie and Carl could both plainly see it.

“I think I may be falling in love with you. I’d like to talk about it with these two, if it is at all possible.” She nodded, as did his wives. “Then with you. Up close and personal.”

“I’d like that, too, Carl. Very much.” They all kissed again and Jackie and Maliope walked her to the garden, then down the path where her shuttle was waiting. “Be careful with Debbie, ladies. She’s very smart, but she’s ... I’m very fond of her, Maliope, Jackie, in both of your versions and senses of the word. She’s special to me, although she doesn’t realize how much yet. Also, girls, she’s going to fall in love with you all. I’m sure of it. I did. I think she will, too. Be good to her, please.”

“We will,” was replied back to her in stereo.

Quick kisses were shared and off to the shuttle, then the stars, she went. Stephanie hoped the small tears and quick getaway weren’t noticed. No such luck. Jackie and Maliope watched the shuttle leave, then looked at each other, smiling. They nodded knowingly to each other and held hands as they walked back into the estate.

Debbie spent the evening with Helen and pictures of the ship’s contents. They were up quite late, having everyone else go on to bed. They said they’d be up later. Helen said she would show Debbie to her room, the one next to Maliope’s, where they all stayed.

That was the beginning of Debbie falling in love with the Matthews clan. It started with Helen, easily the smartest woman ... No, easily the smartest person Debbie had ever met, and she’d met some geniuses in her short time as a genius. She was quite young and quite intelligent herself.

Weeks went by with Carl and his crew, with the assistance of Grasche as well, scouring the ship and analyzing everything they could. Debbie had the language of the aliens about a fourth documented, she thought, since being able to break into the communicators opened so much of their day to day language and mannerisms. She noted that it was similar to a couple of the Eastern Sol Earth languages, namely Thai and Indian, and seemed structured similar to one of the ancient Angelene languages.

Jackie and Grasche thought they had found the navigation system, and since numbers are numbers, were able to assist Debbie in charting and documenting their numeric system as well. The handiest thing they found, they felt, was a ruler, about 20 inches long marked off in 16 segments. Verifying that against other inputs, they verified that the aliens used a hexadecimal numbering system, just as the old computer systems of Sol Earth did, with a bit of a difference. They actually had sixteen numbers before they went into what would be teens and such. The discovery complicated matters in one sense but solved several puzzles at the same time.

With that breakthrough, Debbie’s analysis, Helen’s computing capability, and Maliope’s math skills, with Grasche’s help, the language, the navigation system, their mapping, and therefore their technology, including the ship, its propulsion systems, and the suspected transition or translation mechanism were cracked and documented. That was the big deal here. Discovering a faster than light drive was a little like discovering sausage after discovering prime beef cuts. It may have its uses, but it was by no means state of the art in the current scheme of things. That’s probably a bad analogy. Some sausage is really good ... Back to Carl and the girls...

The transition, or translation, system described by Helen was the big deal. It took several months after that discovery to realize, but they did, that the ship was not where the aliens thought it was when it appeared. The terminology was different, but they traveled from one plane of existence to another, instead of from one location in their existence to another. Their translation device was designed to move the vessel instantaneously from one point to another point. Analyzing the technology was a watershed, but they did, and found it flawed. The flaw was the invention everyone else was looking for.

When reverse engineered, redesigned, and tested, another year later, Carl was able to make it do both. It was a scary proposition, to say the least, and he used remote control vehicles for all of the operational tests, but he found the ‘other plane’ as well as being able after a couple of minutes preparing, to move within just a split second anywhere in the galaxy, several light years at a time. In other words, really far, really fast.

On the test vehicle’s return, scans showed several life forms on different planets in different systems. Roodgedet was the closest to where the test vehicle appeared and was the origin of the scaly vermin that Carl and the girls were confronted by almost two years earlier. In an effort to test their knowledge of the aliens and the accuracy of the work Debbie had done, the second test flight included the transmission of a message to Roogedet using their communications systems, parameters, and language.

“Hail. Your vessel Drovish strayed into our world and attacked us. Your crew is dead. We would like to communicate but know you are hostile without provocation. Your crew attacked without notice. Your crew kept their women as slaves, chained. This is not acceptable in the modern existence. Please reply earliest. Communication will be open for reception for one cycle.”

The message was meant to get a response, of some kind. Leaving them a day to figure out what to say, if anything, but not enough time to find the test vehicle, seemed like the right answer at the time.

When the vehicle returned the next day, it had recorded a reply as well as the results of scans it made while transitioning through their galaxy.

“You will die. You have killed ours so you will die. Females are possessions, not unlike slaves. We are the most advanced society in all of space. We will find you, kill you, and take your females as our own. Ship Leader Bosif is son of Prime Leader of Roogedet. If he is harmed, your life is worthless.”

It was absolutely possible that they were the most advanced society in their realm of existence, but that needed to change. They were horrible people.

Manowil made an observation that while accurate, was hard to take. “Carl, that is their universe, not ours. For us to intervene may not be in the best interest of the other beings in that dimension, plane, whatever you call it. I will discuss this with the High Priestess, but please, wait further action until we talk, OK?”

“As you wish, my queen.” Carl hugged her. She was right, but ... It just seemed wrong to let heathens run rampant, killing everything they saw, and chaining their women up to their beds by the neck. Nope, it just didn’t seem right.

The High Priestess thought like Queen Manowil did, but brought back word, from the Goddess of the Gathering, that if Carl thought he could get them to stop killing everything and chaining their women, he had the blessings of the divinities. They were in our dimension and attacked indiscriminately. Their leaders, evidently, as indicated by their reply, condone and appreciate those actions as well as keeping the females of their society in chains. All unacceptable actions.

The good news, Carl thought, and shared with his crew of lovers, was that it was obviously an accident, a fluke, that the aliens showed up in their, the Matthews’, existence. That meant it probably wouldn’t happen again. The bad news was that they could transition or translate from one point to another very quickly. Maliope thought that a sensor indicating a translation preparation was in progress would help. It took a minute or two for the crew of the ship to prepare to complete one.

That idea spawned their defense against the threat. Their scanners were capable of the distance it would take to pick up a translation in preparation. The magnitude of the magnetic charges building up were well within sensor range. Carl thought, “My wife is a genius. So is my other one. And my girlfriend!” His smile let the others know what he was thinking, so after a round of laughter and general cutting up, the sensors were programmed to pick up anything even close to that signature in any direction.

In an effort to keep his own family safe, and not spread too much violence across the planes, Carl had Jackie and Maliope, well, actually Welsche and the kittens, help mount a nitroxolite emitter on the remote vehicle, as well as equipping it with a drone that had one on board. With the scanner set up to pick up the translation preparation and the emitter’s aiming mechanism dialed in to it, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Once the vehicle entered the other plane of existence, another message was relayed. “Our Goddess has asked us to relay the following: Bosif is no more. His crew is no more. The fearship Drovish is no more. Stop killing for no reason. Stop chaining up your females and treating them as animals and slaves. Above all else, be nice.”

The drone was launched and took up a position, based on the direction of the signature picked up by the sensors, ahead and to the left of the vehicle, both having their shields on full power. They waited. A ship much like the Drovish appeared, just under two minutes after the sensors picked up the signature of its translation drive starting its charging cycle.

“You die now,” was transmitted in their language from the vessel. As it was aiming, the drone was doing the same, and as soon as the order ‘Kiros’ was given, the drone fired a volley of nitroxolite particlulate into the command structure. The plasma cannons on the alien craft fired but missed the remote vehicle, being jostled a bit by the drone’s weapon making a direct hit, just as it was set to do. The emitters were fired electronically upon hearing the order to fire being given, with no comms necessary. The slight delay in the order from the ship’s captain being given to the gunnery officer and processed into a movement to cause the weapons to be fired made all the difference. Not to mention the nitroxolite emitters were quicker to discharge than plasma cannons. One of the pluses noticed by their inventor, one Carl Matthews. The shields on the vehicle would have held up, but this was so much cleaner.

The drone joined back up with the remote vehicle which translated back with video and audio recordings of the interaction. Grasche recommended doing the same thing in a different location until their luck changed. The bad guys didn’t seem all that advanced and she felt they might fall for the same trap at least a couple more times.

Jackie sold several more hovers to the miners they had done business with before. In an effort to take care of that delivery, the family packed up and escorted a transport to the Brillian mining community. The miners were able to complete so much more work and gather so much more raw materials with the help of the vehicles, they were paying for themselves many times over.

Jackie was just happy to be useful doing something other than keeping Maliope and Helen company while they worked with Carl on the inventions and such. She and the kittens became even closer, if that were possible, and worked on reaching out to some of Carl’s customers, mostly non-military, providing follow up support and additional items they may need.

Once, when a farming operation on Tallook needed grain carriers, Carl was wrapped up pretty tightly with the skirmish between Roogedet and them, so they had a family meeting.

“Helen,” Carl asked her, “Would it be possible for you to take Jackie, Tippi, and Tappi to Tallook to deliver some grain carriers? It would only be a few days, but Maliope, Mom, Debbie, and I are about to make another raid into Roogedet. If it would be a problem, say no more, we’ll postpone the operation, and all go to Tallook together.”

“No, Carl, that is a pretty standard run. We can do that while you are working here, then return. At some point, our family must spread its wings and do things that are not all inclusive, although tears will be shed, I’m afraid. Probably mine, as I’ll miss you, but the kittens will take care of us, I’m sure.” She smiled at him.

“Jackie, does that sound acceptable?”

“Sure, Carl. We spent a lot of time apart before we were joined with Maliope and Welsche. We’ll be fine. Helen will keep us safe and probably teach us quite a bit, just like your mother wanted her to. It’s been two years now, and I for one am so comfortable with our love and relationship, our fondness, if you will, that a couple nights apart while we escort the equipment to Tallook is a non-problem.”

Carl looked around the room. “Anyone have any problems with this?” Headshakes all around. “OK, then. Let me know when the load is set up and you’re ready to go. I love you all. I truly do.”

“I do have a question, Carl,” Debbie interjected.

“Yes, dear?”

She blushed. “How long is my assignment here? I’ve been here for a year and a half, and there has been no mention of it from Stephanie, excuse me, General Carlson, or anyone else for that matter. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to leave. This is a dream assignment, I love being with you all, and it’s not at all hurting my career, I’m just curious.”

“Well, Captain, I don’t really know. We need you here because of the mission but want you here because of you. Stephanie comes to visit and has taken care of your performance reviews. You got another promotion, but until we know all there is to know about Roogedet and the translation machine, I ... We need you here.

“This family, and you and Stephanie, are the only ones that know of this capability. Stephanie doesn’t know what we should do with it. I don’t know what we should do with it. I’m afraid to ask anyone else. I do know that it needs to be running and perfect, both distance and dimension, on our Hummingbird before I sell it to anyone else, and even then, if the US gets it, the Angelenes will have it, and I’ll let them decide if the Federation gets it. There are only a couple of societies capable of reproducing and using it anyway.

“To answer your question?” Debbie nodded. “It’s temporarily a permanent assignment, for now, kind of.”

“Goody. Just wondering.” Everyone thought that was funny. Carl thought back on what he said. He put his head in his hand and realized all he said was that he didn’t want her to leave. The rest of it made little sense.