The Voyages of Neptune 2
by R. L. Copple
“Charlie, you do realize that Valentine’s Day is almost here, don’t you?” Nep had thrown enough pleading into the tone that it reminded Charlie how his former girlfriend, who’s brain-patterns now resided inside the core processor of the ship’s computer, would stare at him with her begging eyes.
Charlie cleared his throat. “Well, it’s hard to keep track of such things in space. I don’t have a computer for a mind like you.”
“Well, it is close. I had hoped we could spend some time together.”
He sighed. “All we can do is talk.” No kisses, hugs, or other such affections. How could he be a boyfriend to her inside a computer core? Twist the bolts inside her processor?
“Talking would be good.”
“But we’re doing that now.”
“Not privately.”
“We’re alone in the control room. The others are busy.” He waved a hand at the stars around them. Video displays covered the walls, giving the impression that they sat on the hull of the ship. “Just you, me, and the stars.”
Charlie thought he heard a sigh.
“It’s not the same.”
“All right. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. On Valentine’s Day, I’ll sit in my quarters, sip some wine, and we can talk all you want.”
“That would be—” She paused. “Captain, I have a reading on an approaching vessel.”
He sat up. “On screen.” The stars that displayed on the walls of the room spun and zoomed toward a sector until a flat, gray ship filled the front panels.
“Any idea who it is?”
“The ship does not match any known configuration.”
Charlie sat in his chair as he accessed his mind-com. Peter, I need you in Control.
Aye, Captain. Be right there.
“Nep, can you read any abilities of the ship? How does it compare with us? Can we outrun it if need be?”
“Readings are not definitive. But the ship’s exhaust would indicate a near-luminal drive.”
“Open a channel.”
“Channel open.”
A door opened in the star-field behind Charlie. Peter entered and took a seat at navigation.
Charlie cleared his throat. “Unidentified vessel, state your intentions.”
A couple seconds passed. Then a crackle came over the speakers, but the sounds were unintelligible.
Charlie frowned. “Nep, aren’t the translators working?”
“They are operating as designed, Captain, but this language is not in our data banks.”
“Great, we can’t even talk to them. Do we wait to see if they shoot first?”
Peter placed his fingers on a set of controls. “Do we raise shields, Captain?”
Charlie waved his hand. “No, not yet. We can take one hit. Let’s see what their intentions are first.”
“Easy for you to say, it is not your hull,” Nep responded.
Peter pointed at the ship. “Captain, look! The ship, it’s changing shape!”
The flat craft morphed until the front opened like a giant mouth while the body thinned until it resembled a snake seeking to swallow its prey.
“It’s a shape-shifting vessel. Nep, are you reading any life forms on it?”
“Only one, Captain.”
Charlie stared hard at the approaching mouth. “The ship is the life form.”
Peter turned to Charlie. “How do you know that?”
“A gut feeling. The facts add up.”
Nep responded, “Your theory holds an eighty-two percent chance of being correct.”
Charlie nodded to Peter. “See, I didn’t need a computer to tell me what’s going on.” He rubbed his chin. “Let’s see if we can outrun it. We don’t know enough to attack it, nor enough to go in. Peter, accelerate to half luminal.”
Peter swept his hand around the navigation controls. “Controls set to half luminal, Captain.”
“Initiate.”
Charlie accessed his internal com. Timothy, watch the engines, we may need to risk going faster.
Acknowledged, Captain. I’ve been following your conversations.
“Nep, have you been recording their communications to us?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Break it down and see if you can figure out some basic words.”
“Analysis currently underway.”
“Captain.” Peter turned to face Charlie.
“Yes?”
“We’ve accelerated to half luminal, but the ship has matched our speed.”
“Maybe it has reached its maximum speed. Let’s risk some time dilation and move to three-fourths luminal.”
Peter’s eyes grew wide. “Not too long, I hope. I don’t want my friends to be older than me when we get back.”
Charlie smiled. “I wouldn’t worry about that, Peter. It won’t be long before we either outrun it or discover we can’t.”
He shook his head. “Set for three-fourths luminal.”
“Initiate.”
The hum of Nep’s engines rose in pitch, pushing and pulling on gravity fields from stars and planets, riding their waves.
“Captain, we’ve reached three-fourths luminal,” Peter reported.
Charlie rubbed his chin. “We’re still not shaking it. I don’t think we can outrun it.”
“It’s actually gaining on us,” Nep said.
Peter nodded. “She’s right. At the current rate, it will catch us in three minutes and fifteen seconds.”
Charlie accessed his inner com. Timothy, how are the engines doing? Can we go faster?
We’re too far away from any major star’s gravity to go much faster. There is a planet on the outer edge of a nearby solar system we could slingshot around. Maybe lose it that way.
How long till we reach it?
Five minutes.
Charlie grunted. Not soon enough, but we’ll shoot for it anyway. Out. “Peter, adjust course to the closest planet.”
“I see it, Captain. Adjusting course.”
Charlie tapped his fingers across his armrest. “Suggestions anyone?”
Peter swung around. “We could fire a low-level ray at it. Maybe scare it away. Scans indicate the ship or creature carries no weapon systems.”
Charlie frowned. “Big risk. We’re not dealing with a known entity here. It might have a natural weapon, and a ray blast may only make it angry.”
Peter threw up a hand. “But Captain, it’s about to eat us!”
Charlie rose from his seat and walked across the bridge. “Nep, does the entity have any shielding up?”
“None that I can detect.”
Charlie watched as the mouth drew nearer. “Okay, Peter. Fire one ray canon at half power. Let’s see what effect it has.”
“Aye, Captain.” Peter pressed the control panel three times. “Target locked in.”
“Fire.”
A blue ray shot through space and landed on the creature. No reaction or response.
Nep reported, “The creature appears to have absorbed the energy.”
“Hum. Peter, let’s try three ray canons at full power.”
His fingers danced across the control panel. “Locked and ready.”
“Fire.”
Three blasts rocketed across space and landed on the creature. Still no response. The creature continued to draw closer.
Peter shifted in his seat. “Thirty seconds till contact.”
Charlie sat down and belted himself in. “Prepare for possible collision.” Jim, prepare for casualties.
I don’t think it will matter, Cap. I don’t have an antidote to being awash in stomach acid.
Charlie cracked a smile. Just be ready for the unexpected.
Sure, easy for you to say. Aye, Cap.
The mouth narrowed as it approached the horizon of the hull. Charlie tightened his grip on the armrest as the lips came together as if to suck them in.
The ship rocked as the creature connected. Giant lips rolled over the control room’s vid panels. Charlie put a hand up reflexively even though they resided in the core of the spherical ship, not on the hull as the vid screens suggested.
Then, with another lurching of the ship, the lips rolled back, leaving a smear of gooey saliva dripping across the hull. The creature dropped to a thousand feet away and maintained its distance.
Timothy, any damage to the ship?
I’m all right, thanks.
Charlie bit his lip. I’m glad you’re fine. But what about Nep?
She’s in good shape, Captain. Engines fully operational. No issues other than a messy hull.
Charlie shook his head. “Did that creature just kiss us?”
Nep’s voice sounded over the speakers. “Kiss us? No, it kissed me. It loves me.”
Charlie laughed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“What’s so ridiculous about that? Are you jealous?”
“Jealous? Why would I be jealous of a giant space amoeba?”
Peter twirled around in his chair. “You sound jealous to me.”
Charlie pointed a finger at him. “You stay out of this.”
Peter started to say something, then shut his mouth and turned back to the controls.
Nep sighed. “You should know I don’t love that creature. We have nothing in common.”
“Of course I know that!” Charlie unbuckled and stood up. “I’m not jealous.”
“You could have fooled me.”
Charlie sucked in a deep breath. This was getting them nowhere. “Did you record anything of interest during that kiss…I mean, encounter.”
“There was a temporary gravity drop in my drives upon contact, but they returned to normal when the creature released us.”
Charlie rubbed his chin. “Tasting it? Maybe it didn’t like the flavor?”
“Maybe, but my hunch is it is attracted to the gravity field.”
Peter nodded. “Based on my calculations, Captain, the creature is riding behind us at the optimum distance to ride our gravity wake.”
Charlie sat down. “Peter, how much longer till we reach the planet?”
“Another minute and a half, Sir.”
“Lay in a course that will take us over one of its poles. When we pass over it, cut the gravity drive and let the planet’s gravity slingshot us back into space. Reduce speed as necessary.”
“Aye, Captain.” His hands moved among the controls with speed and precision. “Course laid in.”
“Initiate.”
Nep broke in. “Captain, the creature is changing again.”
The form morphed into a half-sphere, as if preparing to fit itself onto Nep’s hull.
Nep’s voice betrayed worry. “Captain, based on my analysis of its transmissions, I think I’ve figured out what this creature’s intentions are.”
“Go ahead.”
“It wants to have sex with me.”
Charlie leaped from his chair. “What?”
“I thought that would get a reaction from you.”
“Nep!”
“But it is mating. Apparently it needs a gravity source to produce children. That’s why it’s attracted to me.”
Charlie ran fingers through his hair. “That’s all we need, a bunch of gravity-sucking, space-amoeba babies attached to our hull. Peter, how much longer till we reach the planet?”
“Fifteen seconds. You can see it over the hull’s horizon at three o’clock.”
Charlie swung his head around and saw the red and white planet growing on the screen. He turned to the other side to see the space amoeba drawing near. “And how long till the creature reaches us?”
Peter shook his head. “It’ll be close.”
The Neptune 2 skimmed the atmosphere. Charlie barked, “Cut the gravity engines, now!”
The engine hum died off as they coasted over the pole of the planet. The creature paused a few feet from contacting the hull, then pulled away and dropped toward the planet.
Charlie let out a breath. “No new kiddos for you, Nep.”
“I’m relieved, but also sad.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Sad? Why?”
“It was my first, and probably only, chance to have children since I became a computer.”
Peter raised a hand. “I’m sure I could program some virtual babies for you.”
Nep and Charlie barked together, “No, Peter.”
He shrugged. “Just a suggestion.”
~*~
Charlie relaxed in his lounge chair. Classical music wafted softly through his quarters. He lifted the wine glass from the table and sipped. “So, now we’re alone. Not like you couldn’t speak to me anytime I’m off duty. You’re all over the ship. Probably watch my every move.”
“Pretty much.”
“Good thing I know where all the cameras are.”
She paused. “Do you have anything to say to me for Valentine’s Day?”
Charlie waved his free hand. “Like what? Thanks for all the times you’ve saved my rear?”
She sighed. “No. It’s one word. Starts with an ‘L.’”
Charlie drank another sip and put the glass down. “Love? You want me to say that I love you?”
“That would be a start. You used to tell me that.”
Charlie ran his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, when you were human and we dated.”
“Why not now?”
Charlie sighed. “You know why. I can’t hug you. I can’t kiss you. All I can do is talk to you.”
“Do you recall what you told me once?”
Charlie shrugged. “I’ve told you lots of things before. Refresh my memory.”
“That you loved me more for what you saw on the inside than you did on the outside.”
Charlie sank into his seat and put a hand to his forehead. “Yes, I did say that.”
“Did you mean it?”
“Of course.” What else could he say? But he did mean it.
“This is still me, even if I’m trapped in this processor.”
Charlie nodded. “You’re right. I’m being selfish. We can’t marry, we can’t kiss, but you are still the girl I loved.” He lifted his glass in a toast. “And yes. I do still love you.” He put the glass to his mouth.
“Cross your heart and hope to die?”
Charlie spewed wine over the floor, then laughed. She’d always used that phrase when he told her he loved her. He crossed his heart. “Yes, I do.”
“That’s good. Because I’d hate to kill you.”
Charlie froze. Did she mean that? He thought it best to not test her; he lifted his glass again. “To our continuing relationship.”
She giggled. “I’ll calculate to that.”
© 2010 R. L. Copple
Original fiction debuting at Residential Aliens.
Ed. Note: You’ll also want to read “Life Intruders,” another story from The Voyages of Neptune 2 by R. L. Copple.
Did you enjoy this story? Then own the book!
You can enjoy more of R. L. Copple’s adventures in his new collection of short stories, Ethereal Worlds: An Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories. In this volume you’ll discover 25 space-opera-style science fiction and fantasy stories from the pen of R. L. Copple.
Copple’s unique perspective creates experiences beyond the ordinary and takes the reader on journeys into other worlds. Stories range from epic fantasy to surreal, drama to humor, and space adventures to fairy tales. Whether reading about an angel trying to marry a dragon and a dragon-slayer, a super-hero spoof set in space, or a man driven to bring renegades to justice, one thread runs through them all: a fun read.
Tags: R. L. Copple, short story, space opera
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