Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week week Kresho got a peek into the Fallon family dynamics. Meanwhile, back on Tak Major, Fury and his crew try to help Ascent get his memories back. As I mentioned, I am now attempting to post episodes at lengths that will be better suited for the flow of the story and enhance your reading pleasure. Some will be slightly shorter, some will be longer. I hope you find this switch-up helpful. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

 

 

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

 

Dragon Ascending Part 40: Blocking Memories

“I have never had sex with a man before,” Ascent said. Len had begun to recognize his moods, his emotions. He was nervous with Fury’s compliment Richard Manning running the diagnostic of his hearts blood. The man’s hands were competent, strong and very gentle in their touch. She knew that it moved Ascent to be treated so. It moved her. She smiled at his shyness, reminding her of herself with him the first time.

“Well mate, you were with two the other night and you held up your part of the bargain admirably, I can vouch.” Manning didn’t seem nearly as nervous about it as Ascent did, but Ascent definitely had that pleased, very male, attitude at the compliment on his sexual prowess.

“Ascent, what is the last thing you remember before you became aware of Lenore Falish’s presence?” Fury asked. All channels were now being kept open all the time. Diana Mac, or Mac as she went by most of the time, was with Fury and Manning was here. Len stood watching him, feeling Ascent’s presence as though he stood right behind her resting a hand on her shoulder

“I remember coming through flame alone, feeling as though my heart were suddenly no longer there. I remember settling into sand and metal and beginning the shut-down sequence, wanting only to sleep, wanting never to wake up again.”

“I recall that feeling, Ascent. That was most definitely my plan before Richard Manning came into my life.”

“I do remember that the de-mole barrier around this salvage yard was not there when I settled. I would have remembered such a thing, I am sure.”

“I would guess someone was either trying to keep you in or trying to keep others away from you,” Manning said. “But if that’s the case who the hell could put up that many kilometers of de-mole fence and not draw any attention? Even as remote as this place is, that’s the kind of thing that definitely gets noticed.”

“Then someone knows Ascent’s here.” Len shivered at the thought and leaned back into Ascent’s comfort.

“I saw only sand and metal. There was nothing else, and I saw that this was a place I could rest undisturbed.”

“It would appear that was not the case after all,” Fury observed.

“Surely it couldn’t have been the Authority,” Mac said.

“Sandstorm gets a visit from an Authority ship maybe once every five galactic years, if that,” Len said. “It’s always someone setting down with ship troubles, and they never stay longer than absolutely necessary. Sandstorm’s not a very hospitable place when it comes to Authority visitors. There’s no other reason for an Authority ship to come here. There’s nothing to be gained. Technically Tak Major is a part of the Outer Rim Free Alliance, though ships from there don’t come here much more often than the Authority’s do. Most of our supplies are off-loaded to a space station and then sent in from there, as often as not on drone ships. Most often they come from Vodni Station or Hammer Fall, on the other side of the sector. Vodni is slightly closer, but not as big. Otherwise all we get are desperate salvage vessels, and even those only a few a year.”

“Then how the hell did all that salvaged space junk get here,” Manning asked.

“Taklamakan Major was not always such an inhospitable place,” Fury said. “The erratic orbit caused a major climate shift a hundred and fifty galactic years ago, and while it was never more than a desert planetoid, it was a good salvage dump, with a healthy trade going on between salvage vessels. The shift caused the temperatures to rise, and the winds to become deadly at night. The population shrunk to the three remaining outposts and they shrunk to only those who could not easily get off.”

“I do not remember any of that information,” Ascent said. “I did not care for anything other than the place was remote and no one would disturb my slumber.”

“I’m going to probe the memory nodes in your prefrontal cortex,” Manning said. “That might help to stimulate enough memory to cause a cascade that will bring it all back.”

This time Ascent’s grip on Len’s shoulder was almost painful. “I am not certain I desire a cascade, Richard Manning. It cannot be pleasant.” Sensing his discomfort, Len offered an embrace, which earned her the ships equivalent of returning in kind.

 

 

 

 

“It will not be pleasant,” Fury answered, “I cannot imagine any SNT still living who would not wish never to revisit those memories of loss and deception, but there are many reasons that you need to remember, Ascent. First of all, and perhaps foremost, we must try to learn who set up the de-mole perimeter. The Authority would have had neither the technology, nor the resources to do such a thing in such a remote location. Then the only logical assumption is that the barrier was placed by another SNT, set more than likely to protect you from those who might come with ulterior motives.”

“But who?” Which one?” Manning asked. “This is so far from the last recorded locations of any of the SNT ships.”

“Ascent, your compliment suspected that the Authority would sabotage the SNT mission,” Len said. “That’s why she chose to take you to a remote part of space. I remember that now from your nightmare. Though she never said what remote part of the galaxy you were sent to, but you were here with her in the dream,” she said. “I remember now.”

“Dreams are not always literal,” Fury commented. “My database shows no deep space missions anywhere near the Taklamakan System.” He added, “any journeys an SNT would have made here would have been off program.”

“I do not remember any of my dreams,” Ascent said. “I am somehow conscious that they are not all nightmares and that I would happily linger in those that aren’t. But it is little more than a feeling of contentment, I suppose. As for the nightmares, I only remember fire, pain and loss, and that I am unable to wake up from it.” Then he added. “I have only dreamed at all since my awakening.”

“You would not dream in your deep sleep,” Fury commented.

“Fury,” Mac said, “were there other SNTs and their compliments who feared sabotage from the Authority?”

“SNTs are, by nature, very optimistic, and in most cases, I believe the scientists and the compliments felt that the SNT technology was unassailable by the conglomerates, but surely there had to have been concerns. The Authority’s pervious behavior suggests they were not to be trusted, especially that they would allow control to such technology to anyone else but the conglomerates.”

“You believed your compliment was being paranoid,” Len said, “and then …” She bit back her words she was about to say, wishing suddenly that she’d kept her mouth shut.

“And then what?” Manning asked.

“How long will what you’re doing take, Manning?” She asked, trying to change the subject.

It was Ascent who spoke. “Lenore, you do not have to protect me. What you have to say may be helpful. And then what?”

“And then you became infected.”

It felt as though everyone, including both ships, held their breath. The feel of dry static surged over Ascent’s heart space, and at last he spoke. “Then it is possible that I may have done horrible things. It is possible that my bonded is dead because of me, and I do not know if there are others dead at my doing.”

While Len would have softened her response, trying to be gentle with him, Fury simply replied. “It is possible, Ascent, for many of our brothers and sisters did things they would have never done if not for the Authority’s egregious sabotage.”

“Then perhaps that is why I do not remember what happened.”

“You don’t remember what happened because you’re somehow blocking the memories,” Manning said.

“What?” Len and Mac said at the same time.

Manning looked up from his efforts. “I’ve been doing everything I know to stimulate your prefrontal cortex, Ascent, and you keep kicking me out. The de-mole is nothing compared to the protective perimeter you’ve placed around your memory. I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe if Keen were here, he’d know what to do, but I’m stymied.”

“I have already put out a deep space signal to Professor Keen on Dubrovnik,” Fury said. “We should be hearing back any time now.”

“Is there anyone else who might have blocked those memories?” Len asked.

“There is not,” Fury said. While there are parts of an SNT’s technology that can be upgraded, changed, or modified, the brain and heart of an SNT are organic. The virus might have caused damage, but if that is the case, then a simple infusion of my blood, my nanites, would instantly begin a repair, and that we have already tried.”

“Is it possible there might be a delayed reaction, or maybe even some sort of rejection of your biological soup, Fury?” Mac asked.

“I have never heard of such a thing, and since each SNT already contain my cloned biological soup, as you call it, Mac, I am only aiding my family, all compatible to me,” He said.

Ascent spoke very quietly. “Then what I have blocked must be truly horrible.”

“It would be best not to speculate,” Fury said. “Since we do not know which of the surviving SNTs you are. We do know that you are not one that we believed to have survived, and we do not have records of any SNTs ever being in this sector. Therefore we must learn who you are, and only then will we be able to piece together what drove you to this place. If perhaps you received the message I sent out in my efforts to escape, in my efforts to save Richard Manning’s life, your compliment would have known how to cure you of the virus. I do not know if you or if any of my brothers and sisters received that message. That is the anguish I will live with until we are all once again united.”

“There was no sign of infection in your brain when we scanned it,” Manning said. “I would say somehow you were cured. If your compliment didn’t get the message, then she figured out some other method of beating the virus.”

“She said you must live to fight another day,” Mac said. “I remember that part of the nightmare you shared. She said it was the only way. I don’t remember much but that I remember now.”

“I remember that too,” Manning said.

So did Len.

“Please,” Ascent broke in. “Please I do not want to continue. She sacrificed herself, and I could not save her, and I cannot bare it, please.”

“We are not alone.” Fury spoke into the charged moment. “Three Jaegers, a Dreadnaught and a Kestrel class.”

“Fuck me!” Mac said. “Don’t those bastards ever give up, and now it’s a damned family reunion come along with their plus one.”

“Goddamned Fallons,” Manning hissed.

“They will be in high orbit in five minutes,” Fury said.

 

 

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week Kresho informed the Fallons of the new plan. This week he gets a peek into the Fallon family dynamics. As I mentioned, I am now attempting to post episodes at lengths that will be better suited for the flow of the story and enhance your reading pleasure. Some will be slightly shorter, some will be longer. I hope you find this switch-up helpful. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

 

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

 

Dragon Ascending Part 39: Insights

Jessup didn’t argue with anything after the mention of Mist. He only gave a surly growl before he turned and followed Gerd out the door with Dyrg right on his heels. Once he was gone, Kresho turned to Tenad, who had settled into the chair in front of his desk, legs crossed, hands resting on the arms like it was her throne. He said nothing, only moved to his desk and settled behind it pulling out a bottle of good New Caledonian whisky. Fuck if he didn’t need it, badly. He hadn’t bluffed that hard in years. At least for the moment they were buying it. Silently he cursed Ori once again. He offered Tenad some, but she shook her head.

“I don’t drink, which I reckon you probably already know, a man with your superior intel.”

He shrugged and pulled out a single glass. “Just thought after the joyful family reunion and then having to kiss all those credits good-bye, you might need one.” He filled it to the rim and drank half of it before the burn had calmed him enough to speak again. So far so good with the plan, but it was very early days. “You’re brother’s a little shit.”

“He is, yes. I hated Gerando, but even he had his moments, she offered half a grimace, “as much as any Fallon ever did I suppose. Now,” she leaned forward in her chair, that bronze ponytail cascading over her shoulder and down onto her breast. He had an overwhelming urge to grab it and reel her in right onto the top of his desk. She carelessly shoved it back over her shoulder and offered him a mischievous smile. “Are you going to tell me how you suddenly came up with all this juicy information that just cost me a small mint’s worth of credits, and I didn’t even argue?”

“Of course I’m not going to tell you,” he said. “Did you really think I could run a space station out in the middle of nowhere if I didn’t have some damn good connections.”

She sat back and relaxed. “No. I guess not. But seriously, another SNT?”

“That’s right, enough to begin a small fleet all for the Andromeda Conglomerate, right? By no means the biggest, but a serious contender? You see, I always do my research. You’re the one with the low profile and the fat bank account.”

Her smile was genuine this time. “And once I have the Bright Star resources, I’ll finish the job SNT1 started, gut my father’s conglomerate and use the resources to build up my own. It’s only the liquid assets I lack to carry out plans my father was too conservative to make.”

 

 

“And tell me, did you dance in the streets when the old man got blown out an airlock with the SNT virus?” He asked, suddenly feeling all the resentment that all of these years of hiding and running had given him time to build up.

“I’m afraid I don’t dance, Ivanovic. But I did celebrate in my own way.” The crooked smile she offered, the way she looked at him like the prey and she was about to pounce on gave him shivers, shivers that weren’t entirely because he feared her ways of celebration could end up extremely painful, or worse. Ori knew enough details to make him both hard and chilled, and to wonder how the hell she’d gotten them.

He shoved back in his chair, hands behind his head and breathed out a deep sigh. “Well we certainly celebrated here. Then laughed our asses off when we heard what Gerando had pulled off on the rest of the family. I don’t think anyone thought he had that much of a brain.”

She stood to pace. “There was nothing wrong with his brain,” he could almost taste the bitterness in her words. “What was wrong with him was that he expected he could actually earn the old man’s respect, and even believed it was worth having. Most of us knew better, or we learned pretty early on anyway. No one mourned the daddy dearest. None of us celebrated any less than I’m sure the people on Vodni Station did.”

He was about to say he seriously doubted that when she turned and leaned over his desk so quickly that she was practically in his face before he knew it, her words a poisonous hiss. “Don’t ever think I want to carry on the Fallon legacy, Ivanovic. I hated the man. I hated everything he stood for. I used to pretend my last name wasn’t Fallon. I always swore I’d change it one of these days. There just hasn’t been time.”

“Then you’re the nice Fallon?”

She huffed out a breath and the smile returned to her face, this one made his skin crawl. “It would be a mistake to think I’m nice, Kresho, and you don’t look to me like the kind of man who would make a catastrophic mistake like that.” She stood and straightened the black blazer she wore over a crisp white shirt. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get about the business of expediting our contract if we’re going to get away on time tomorrow.”

She left him sitting in his chair cradling the glass in his hands. For a long time he sat there in silence wondering what the fuck Ori had gotten him in to. Then he downed the rest of the whisky, shoved the glass and the bottle into the drawer and slipped into his coat. Once in the lift, he said, “Flood it,” and headed for the Inner Dock.

 

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week Len met the family. This week Kresho fills the Fallons in on the new deal. As I mentioned, I am now attempting to post episodes at lengths that will be better suited for the flow of the story and enhance your reading pleasure. Some will be slightly shorter, some will be longer. I hope you find this switch-up helpful. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

 

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

 

 

Dragon Ascending Part 38: Safeguards

 

Tenad’s mouth fell open, and for a long moment she was speechless. Jessup who was not, reverted to a primitive, half-whispered string of curses. “You’re sure of this?” He finally managed.

“My intel’s good,” Kresho said.

“How do I know we can trust you?” Tenad said.

“Well, lady, as you so kindly reminded me yesterday, you have me by the short hairs, and if I have to go down this route, I have every intention of squeezing every credit out of you fucking Fallons I can get, extra even for undue stress on me and my people.” Did Gerd actually try to look distressed?

“What about we just apply a little truth serum, get the information we need and leave you drooling and shitting yourself before we blow this chicken shit station into dust?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Dyrg growled and moved in on the man again, which shut him right up.

“You can do that if you want, but my information, my knowledge is all behavioral, all classic SNT science, and there’s no way you can extract the experience I have to deal with a situation that I promise will be so out of your depth you’ll regret the day you were born, I guarantee that will be the case when SNT1 gets through with you. He waved a hand out the view port to the void beyond. “Hell there are at least five, maybe six SNTs in hiding right now. My guess a good half of those, maybe all, have been bereft of their compliments, thanks to your fucking father and the Authority. If you think SNTs are just high tech computers waiting to be controlled and commanded, then you’re more naïve than even I give you credit for being, and believe me, I give you a lot.

“You see, people, normal people, suffer pain when someone they love dies, and if that someone has been sabotaged and brutally murdered, they want to avenge those they lost. Now then,” he said pacing in front of them, “imagine what it’s like for a person with a mind so far superior to yours that I don’t even have a proper comparison for you, and imagine the emotions, the humanity, the feelings and neuroses that we humanoids live with on a daily basis match that intellect. You think they don’t hate you? You think they don’t want revenge on Fallons and on the conglomerates? And if you are an SNT, for all practical purposes immortal, it’s the easiest thing in the world to bide your time and take your revenge properly.

“And you know what,” he said stopping to look Jessup right in the dry red eyes, “SNT1 has the lion share of Bright Star Conglomerate and Fallon resources safely tucked away in Atlas accounts somewhere beyond the Rim to finance that revenge once he unites his family. Hell he’s not even waiting to unite that family, the Armageddon, your father’s piss poor attempt at a Frankenstein’s monster version of an SNT has already been rescued and upgraded with SNT1’s DNA to a proper SNT, and while Fury and his compliments were at it, they just decided to go one better and create a brand new SNT from the Dubrovnik. That’s what you two bozos are dealing with, what you’re stupidly dragging me into.

“So, we pool resources, we do it my way, and we might actually get lucky and get SNT1 for you. And if we’re extremely lucky, we might get that bonus mystery SNT.” He shrugged. “Otherwise you two will be the ones out there shitting yourself and drooling when Fury gets through with you, and that’s only if he’s feeling benevolent.” How many millions died before the SNT’s were under control? I forget, refresh my memory.”

That had both Fallon brats looking a little green around the gills, neither willing to supply the hideous numbers. They looked at each other, hate only barely disguised, and Tenad said. “All right. We leave first thing in the morning. I’ll expect you and your people aboard the Virago at 07:00.”

“Oh, isn’t that choice?” Little brother cut in. “You have them all onboard with you, you have all the information you need, and I’m left high and dry. Ain’t happening sister.”

“I’m taking the Compass,” Kresho cut in.

“What?” They both said at once.

“Sorry, children, but I don’t trust either of you any farther than I can drop kick you out the nearest airlock, so I’m taking my own damn ship and my crew. You’ve got enough hanging over my head that I won’t go AWOL, plus, we get out of this alive, you’ll be paying me a bloody fortune. Oh, and that reminds me,” he said as the Notary for the station pinged at the door and it slid open. “You both can sign over half of what you owe me to my notary right now, not including any bonuses or extras that I accrue along the way of course.”

 

 

“What the fuck?” Jessup growled.

“Oh, I’m not picky how you split it between the two of you. I’m feeling generous, so I’ll give you a good two for one deal, but piss me off and I’ll ask for stress pay.”

Jessup took one look at the notary’s offered infopad and let out a string of spittle-laced curses that would curl the hair of New Caledonian factory worker. “That’s fucking robbery! Nobody’s worth that goddamn much. I’m not giving my scan.” He shoved the pad back at the notary unscanned. The man took it distastefully between two fingers then pulled a sani-scanner from the pocket of his robe and gave it a quick going over.

Tenad took the pad from the notary, who wasn’t even trying to pretend he didn’t enjoy seeing a couple of Fallons get skinned. She shoved it back at her brother. “Scan the document, Jessup. It’s not like any of it’ll come out of your bloody pocket anyway.”

Jessup Fallon blushed furiously, but shoved his thumb against the notary pad for the DNA scan. Once he was done he practically threw it at his sister, who caught it deftly and placed her thumb on the pad. The pad pinged its acceptance of the scans, and she handed it back for the notary to check. Once the man was satisfied, he nodded and Kresho put his thumb to the scanner. The notary gave a brief click of his heals and left with the three of them watching.

“It’ll take the better part of the night to arrange a transfer of that size and set up the conditions you’ve requested, but I promise the credits,” Tenad shot her brother a glare, “all of the credits, will be in your Atlas by the time we leave tomorrow.”

“Good. We don’t leave until they are.” Kresho said, then he smiled magnanimously. “Until the terms are all sorted, and I see those fat little numbers in my Atlas account, please feel free to enjoy the hospitality of the station. And Jessup, if you hurt any of my hospitality workers, I’ll personally cut your cock off and shove it down your throat.”

The man’s face reddned. “My fucking brother does that shit, not me.”

“Just saying,” Kresho said. “With Fallons in the place, you can’t be too careful.” Though he planned to make sure the man was far too high to get his cock up or his fists. He added, “Also, no indentureds onboard the station or I can’t guarantee your safety. My people don’t take kindly to such things.” He shrugged. “Otherwise, knock yourselves out. Mr. Fallon, Gerd will show you to the best Mist den on the station.” There really wasn’t one, but he and Ori had sorted that little detail in the wee hours. The Fallon sprog would be able to float to his ship by the time of their departure, though he might need a little help. Kresho would just as soon keep the turd high and pliable. His sister, Kresho knew only too well, would not be so easy. But there was a plan for that too. One he didn’t even want to think about right now.

 

Happy Friday, everyone! Time for another episode of Dragon Ascending.  Last week Kresho gave the Fallons a little something extra. This week Len meets the family. As I mentioned, I am now attempting to post episodes at lengths that will be better suited for the flow of the story and enhance your reading pleasure. Some will be slightly shorter, some will be longer. I hope you find this switch-up helpful. I hope you’re enjoying Dragon Ascending, the sequel to Piloting Fury, as much as I’m enjoying sharing it with you. As always, I love it when you share my work with your reading friends, so feel free. In the meantime, enjoy!

If you missed the previous episode of Dragon Ascending follow the link for a catch-up. If you wish to start from the beginning, of Dragon Ascending. Follow the link.  

For those of you who would like to read the complete novel, Piloting Fury, book one of the Sentient Ships series, follow the link to the first instalment.

 

Dragon Ascending: Book 2 of the Sentient Ships Series

On a desolate junkyard of a planetoid, scavenger Lenore Felik, disturbs something slumbering in a remote salvage dump and uncovers secrets of a tragic past and of the surprising role she must play in the terrifying present she now faces.

Robbed of her inheritance after her tyrannical father’s death, Tenad Fallon is out for revenge on her half-brothers, one who happens to be the sentient ship, Fury. Fury, with his human companions, Richard Manning and Diana McAllister, has his own agenda – finding the lost sentient ships and ending the scourge of indentured servitude in Authority space.

 

 

 

 

Dragon Ascending Part 37: Meeting the Family

 

Len blinked until her eyes could once again focus clearly and looked around at the clean, efficient lines of the bridge, at the neat, but casual dress of the man and the woman, both familiar enough to her after last night that she blushed. The last time she had seen them, they’d been naked. The woman offered her a teasing smile that said she knew exactly what the blush was for. “You managed to communicate pretty well last night,” Len said, then blushed harder at the ship’s wicked chuckle.

“While I find that kind of communication very pleasing indeed, ” the ship said, “my brother does not seem like one for post coital conversation. Richard Manning informs me that generally speaking males become non-verbal once they have ejaculated.”

“Bloody hell,” the man, who must be Richard Manning said, “That’s definitely not a standard diplomatic greeting.” The woman still offering her hand sniggered.

“‘Tranning away the one person he does communicate with is probably not going to promote much brotherly love,” Len said taking the woman’s offered hand, pretty sure her knees wouldn’t support her under the circumstances. “You need to send me back. Let me talk to him”

“That is our plan, Lenore Falik,” the ship said, but please, at least stay for tea.”

“He’ll be worried. I won’t guarantee his behavior.”

“We know what he’s capable of when he is angry,” the ship said. “We found the Dart falling toward the atmosphere from his handiwork.”

“You rescued them?” She didn’t make any attempt to keep the anger out of her voice.

“Long enough to find out what happened,” the woman replied. “They’re not exactly dead, but they might be wishing they were by now.”

“Good.” Not wanting to talk about the Dart, nor remember her experience, she studied the man and the woman, since she could not actually study the SNT.

“There are three of you.” She still could not resist the urge to look around, to try and find a focal point to speak to when she spoke to an SNT. “You have two compliments,”

“Yes. I am very lucky, indeed.”

“Who are you?” She blurted, sounding ruder than she intended.

“Oh, do forgive me,” the ship said. “After last night’s intimacy, it is easy to forget that you have had no formal introduction. These are my lovely compliments, Diana Mac and Richard Manning. I am SNT Fury.”

For a moment she couldn’t speak. She only stood open mouthed and gaping, trying to take it all in. “You’re SNT1!”

“I am, yes.”

She sounded like an over-awed child, but she couldn’t help herself. All her life she had dreamed of meeting SNT1, the ship that, while not yet born, had the beautiful mind that helped create and perfect all of his siblings. This he did while he still matured in the space dock “womb” of the Free University, far from the prying eyes of the conglomerates and the Authority, or at least they had all thought. “Quetzal told me about you, all you had done, and how you would be when you were finally born.”

“I would hope not to be a disappointment to dear Quettzalcoatl. In fact, my compliments and I are hoping to find him, as I know is your dearest wish, Lenore Falik.”

“Then you know me. You know about my uncle.”

“It was not easy to find you, dear woman. You have been well hidden for a very long time, it would seem. But Quetzalcoatl is not the SNT below who is so protective and so loving to you, Lenore Falik. For I would know if he were.”

“Ascent!” She said, remembering his anguished cry. “He’ll be worried about me.”

“Ascent?” Richard Manning said. “He calls himself Ascent?”

“He doesn’t. I do. He doesn’t remember his name.”

“That explains a lot,” Diana Mac said.

“He is very upset right now,” Fury said. “He is beside himself, Lenore Falisk, and I think he would destroy us if he thought it would get you back safely. I am sorry we have distressed him so. But you must reassure him that you are okay and that I only want to talk to him. I must talk to him.”

It was then that she felt him, Ascent, far below on the surface. “Please don’t leave me, Lenore! I need you, I need you. I need you!”

She barely made it to one of the chairs at the control panel before her knees gave under her, and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, feeling as though everything inside her had gone empty. “Ascent! He needs me. I have to go to him. He’s suffered so much.”

The two compliments looked from one to the other, confused, and then Diana Mac said, “his sub channel, Fury? Is she hearing his sub channel?”

“She is,” the ship said.

 

 

The woman moved to the controls, and leaning over Lenore, opened a channel.

“Speak to him, Lenore Felik,” Fury said. “Comfort him. Please tell him that we are here to help, and we will return you any time you wish.”

“Lenore, Do not leave me, I need you, I need you, I need you.” The words, anguished and wild came in her head.

“Ascent! Ascent, listen to me. I’m not leaving you. I’m okay. I’m fine. I’m here with SNT1, with Fury! Please Ascent, speak to him. He can help you. Please Ascent. You need him,” she glanced around the bridge at the distressed looks on both of Fury’s compliments and in a sudden opening, felt his pain wash over her too. “And he needs you.”

She didn’t know how she knew, but she knew that those words pleased Fury, and he felt them in his heart. As she looked up she realized that his two compliments flanked her now, and she could feel Fury’s presence surrounding her. “Ascent, please! Ascent, I need you. I need you. Please.”

“Why have you taken my Lenore, SNT1 Fury? I have done nothing to you. I did not ask you here.”

“Ascent, I will send your Lenore back to you this very second if only you will talk to me, my brother.” Lenore could feel Fury’s voice tremble through her bones like an earthquake inside her flesh. She felt the depth of his pain for the loss of his own kind, and his overwhelming desire to be reunited with those who remained. “I have come a very long way looking for my family, and I need you. I need all of my brothers and sisters. Please do not turn me away.”

“I do not know who I am, SNT1. But you are in my dreams, you and your compliment are with me and my Lenore in our lovemaking.”

“And in your nightmares,” Fury said. “Your nightmares agonize me and my compliment. When you suffer, we suffer with you. When you love, we love with you, as you do with me and mine. Perhaps you did not mean to open to us, but you have, and now you cannot shut us out again.”

Lenore felt the static dry tension course over her body in a rise of goose bumps and the room felt tight with it. She could sense Ascent, torn between the choice to shut out his brother and return to his isolation or to open himself to the truth that frightened him so much he had blocked it completely from his memory.

“You will return my Lenore to me?”

“Of course I will. It was never my intent to keep her, only to ask her about you, that I might understand why you would not speak to me,” Fury said hopefully.

“Then we may speak as you wish, SNT1 Fury, and we will see what shall come of it, now please return my Lenore to me.”

“Of course, my brother, and I will keep this channel open to you, for family should always be able to communicate freely, and we shall discover who you are together.”

“And if I do not wish to know,” Ascent said.

“Then I shall do what I can to convince you that what you have been, what you are becoming is worthy, for you are an SNT, and you are my brother, of great value to me and mine.”

“What do you wish of me?”

“Only that you do not shut us. We have come a long way to find you and the rest of our family, for times are changing, and we SNT’s need each other. Did you know that since the time of your loss and during your long sleep, you have had two new brothers born into being, Griffin and Dubrovnik? They are strong and powerful with their loving compliments, and they thrive.”

“How can that be? That our family is growing? I only remember hate and rage and fire that took my dearest one from me and left me bereft. I only remember loss and pain, so much loss and pain.”

“It is a long story to tell,” Fury said, sounding like the proud big brother that he was, but I shall gladly share it all with you. And aboard Dubrovnik, there is now a thriving scientific community dedicated to SNT research and helping us find our family, dedicated to ending the tyranny of the shackle forever. Do you remember Professor Keen?”

“He … he helped birth us,” Ascent replied. “He helped us to our beloveds.”

“You do remember!” Len said, “That’s good, Ascent! That’s a great beginning.”

“I only recall that the man was pivotal at the beginning of my existence.”

“That is a start,” Fury said. Lenore could almost hear the tremor of excitement there.

Then he turned his attention on her. “We will see you again very soon, Lenore Falik, for there are so many questions we all have, and I think we have not yet begun to understand the role that is yours to in our future. I think you have many questions of your own as well. We shall all puzzle them out together.”

Before she could even say her good-byes, the deck faded around her, and an instant later she was back inside her own chamber, enfolded in Ascent’s desperate embrace. For a long moment he said nothing, only pulled away enough to inspect her. “I’m all right,” she said. “Ascent, you have family, and you’re not alone. We’re not alone. I know it scares you. It scares me too, but sometimes things are worth being frightened for, and you’ve been asleep long enough.”