Log entry 5 11.20.10—----------------------------------------------
I woke to the sound of Sophia startling awake on the other bed. As I opened my eyes, I could see her casting around until she spotted her mask on a small table. Her weapons were behind a clear panel in the wall that didn't open despite her banging.
And then it hit me, I could see. I mean I could see just fine around the room despite my glasses being on a similar table just a bit away from me.
I turned to put my feet down and found Sophia RIGHT THERE in my face. "What. Did. You. Do?"
She tried to grab me but found little purchase on the jumpsuit I was in. Jumpsuit? It was gold on top, had a sort of belt area and darker legs with some of the gold down the sides to my knees. Either the shoes were integral or it blended in. "Seems like your wound is coming along nicely."
Her shirt –and bra– was still missing the circle cut out of it. She jolted and covered the ah area and frowned. "Didn't think you swung that way, Hebert." She pouted with a raised eyebrow of suspicion. "Wait. No way!" She fingered the slightly pinkish sealed wound there. "It felt a lot worse last night, that and my ribs?" The last bit was asked as she wiggled her arm in a circle. "Damn. I feel better than I have in years."
"Good to hear it." I stood up and looked around. She seemed a little shorter than usual. I held a hand out to measure her height, bringing it back to where my mouth was. I could swear she was closer to my eyebrow level yesterday. Ah, if this is tomorrow. Might still be in a dream state. Dream, this is still the dream...
"Ah, ship, can we get some civilian clothes for Miss Hess here?"
Immediately the near whispered answer. "Please define civilian wear."
"It's freaky to hear with no face to look at, do the puppet hand thing like before. And you can scan my closet for examples, just dark and broody, ah trade any red for black."
A pair of the arms lowered and became the puppet face. "With power returned, local communications monitoring suggests several items."
An image right out of Grease the movie of the bad girl in leather and off the shoulders top appears.
"Ah, hard no." Sophia groused.
"Hoodie and sweatpants." I clarified. Another image came up. "A jacket with a hood, not the Klan wannabe. And the pants should be cloth, not that nineties reject. In her size."
A hoodie and the correct gray sweatpants materialize on the bed she'd gotten up from.
Sophia gestured for me to turn around, which I did. The puppet face appeared to turn away as well. She stripped off her blood-soaked pants and I could hear her stop. "Where is the shower?"
I shrugged. "It's just a dream, I haven't thought out details." I considered a moment. "Ship, clean off the blood, sweat and any accumulated grime on her please."
The light flashed and Sophia was shaking a little as she pulled on the sweatpants. "Can it fix my bra, that is one of my favorites."
"Three bras, just like that one, but intact." I say.
Three bras appear on the bed.
She whistles. "I thought I was on the good stuff before. Which hospital am I at?"
Whisper again, "This is no hospital. You are on the exploration craft Freyja. According to my records, you are Sophia Hess also known as Shadow Stalker –friend of Captain Hebert."
The puppet mouth stayed in sync so well, I could swear it was talking. I turned to speak to Sophia after I heard her finish getting the sports bra and the hoodie on. She had her nose pressed to the clear panel with her gear in it, looking down.
"Does that look like my costume inside there?" She asked.
I look at the puppet. "Explain please."
"Your orders to bring you and Sophia aboard. You requested that she be fixed up. You also stated that she needed better armor versus small arms."
We were interrupted by a loud bang followed by a very loud Emma voice. "OHMIGOD, TAYLOR!" Thump, Thump, Thump, slide.
"BLOOD?!" Emma's voice rose an octave.
Holding my hands over my ears. "Too loud, quiet it down."
Thump, Thump, Thump, SLAM.
"Exterior sensors are connected to communications." The Puppet face explained.
"What noise?" Sophia asked, looking puzzled.
"Did you give her comms?" I asked.
Solemn puppet face nod. Sophia blanched and backed away, having just fully noticed where the voice came from.
"Activate. Authorize. Turn 'em on."
Sophia. "Huh, I hear Emma's voice shouting."
"Ah, ship. Put me in my bed clothes and beam me to the bathroom."
As the light flashed. "Beam? How quaint."
I dabbed some water on my face, brushing my hair back as I walked out into the hall.
Emma was rushing up the stairs with Aunt Zoe behind her. "What's happening?"
"Taylor, what is this all about? Emma said she found a lot of blood."
I walked in my door and held it for a moment. "Ship, clean up evidence." I whispered.
The flickers of light as the bloody mess on my bed disappeared was quite amusing to me. Emma pushed on me to keep me from blocking the door. "See?!"
Zoe crossed her arms. "See what exactly?"
"Already cleaned up." I muttered. "Ahem." I nod toward the drawer with the open box of tampons sitting in it.
"Oh." Zoe grimaced and shook her head. "Don't forget to run the batch through the laundry or the stain will set, honey. Emma. downstairs, pronto."
I close the door and get dressed.
I heard snickering over the communicator. "I guess we are even after that show, Hebert."
Red faced now. "Ship, cut off external sensor imaging unless I am aboard. Keep it down, Hess, I don't know if there is some way to overhear things."
I dressed for a jog, it's a Saturday and I think that is what Emma was dressed for. I open my door to find Emma leaning against it with a glass.
"You heard me." I say voice flat.
She waved her hand side to side and looked around my room. "Where is she?"
"Not here. Let's go to the park." My necklace is on and tucked into my shirt. It's sunny out, but a little on the blustery side so we grab light jackets to tie around our waists if the weather turns.
Emma is simmering with curiosity on the way to the park. But I wasn't listening. I was paying more attention to the HUD that was displaying on my eyeballs. It highlighted groups of people with gang affiliations.
"How long until we get to the park? And why?" Sophia spoke over the communicator.
"Almost there. Sensors on." I added.
Emma harrumphed. "You are acting most strangely, sister-friend. What sensors?"
I walked us into the park and headed for the picnic tables. Nice day, but not nice enough for anyone but the kids gathered at the jungle gym. That and mom's chatting by the benches over that way.
"Hess in her civvies? Beam her outside."
"Acknowledged."
"Whut?" Emma asked, then squeaked as Sophia sat up from the grass on the other side of the picnic table.
"Hey Red. Twig." She gave me a look. "I see we are out of Never-Never land. Can we head to my place so I can have my stuff back?"
"Am I going crazy here?" Emma was holding her head, elbows on the table. "There was no one there."
Sophia grinned a little nasty version of her usual mood. "And no blood on the bed, right?"
"How did you even know that?" Emma's voice dropped to a whisper. "Are you a Stranger?"
Sophia rolled her eyes. "Noooooo." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Wanna bet you get rated as one though?"
I blink. "Moi? I'm not a parahuman."
"How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways: Healing. Pocket Universe. Material creation?" she growled but did not whisper, not in the least. She was also rubbing her collar where the injury had been.
Emma looks at us like she is watching a tennis match but her eyes light up now. "TayTay, are you a cape?"
"Say it louder. The mom patrol didn't quite hear you." I use my deadpan at her.
One of the women from the bench by the little kids got up and walked our way. "Ladies." She said, looking at Emma and me. "Is this young woman bothering you?" She said, judgmentally looking toward Sophia. Her brown hair didn't much make her look anything beyond a Karen.
She held herself like she was armed.
"This is our friend from school. She is not bothering us as we invited her to meet us here." I spoke up.
She reassessed me and I came out less favorable as she turned away muttering "Dock trash."
She made it four feet before I raised my hand in salute –bird finger flying.
Sophia who had half stood was about to comment further when Emma grabbed her with a hissed "Calm down." Then, she had laser focus on me. "Healing?"
"Bullet hole in her right shoulder. Cracked ribs. Ship handled it." I mutter.
"Ship?" She started, then looked beyond us at the two men approaching.
"You are being rather loud. Why don't you move along?" The one said while the other glowered at us without speaking.
I tilted my head. "So, did you hear what we were talking about as you walked up?"
Tweedle Dee looked at Dum and shook his head.
"How does that track with us being loud then?" I said, getting up. I don't think he was quite ready for me to be taller than him. He took a half step backward. "Go on back to your kennels, little yappy dogs. Ladies, we are leaving."
Emma and Sophia fell in with me as we turned. "Your place, by way of somewhere to lose the tail."
"Long jog from here." Hess grumbled.
"Then we jog to the bus and take it to your turf." I note.
*******
The apartment building she took us to was run down. Like a watch ticking it's last minute. It had a visible tilt to it. Or so it seemed. Optical illusion?
On the inside it was just a little worn, but as you passed through the lobby with the older black gentleman reading the paper, it got nicer by layers. We bypassed the elevator as it 'takes all day' and walked the stairs.
An odd mixture of people on the terraces facing inward. Black, white, Mexican, Hindu. Bit of everything. I recognized a few faces from the dock workers too.
The change outside tripled when we went into her apartment. Clean. New. WTF?
"Mom works for the PRT. They own the building. Employee benefits include on-call security, bigger on the inside suites, and the ability to call bullshit." She smiled widely. "Now where is my stuff?"
I glanced at Emma. "Fine. Ship, I need her costume and gear in a carrying case like she described."
The light flash showed the bed and there was a garment bag on the bed. On top of it was an instrument carrying case.
Sophia lifted the case with a frown and then opened it. The body of the crossbow looked the same, but the arms looked very different. "What the hell? This isn't MY crossbow." She lifted it up showing a stock but a more cylindrical shape like a two-liter plastic bottle. There were small arms visibly spaced around it that folded into slits. Picking it up caused two of the arms to open and almost tension up, and her whistle at the cartridge of six bolts ready to load.
"Ship, explain please." I note, holding up a finger.
A holographic image of the puppet hands forming a face appeared in front of us.
Emma squeaked but cut off as Freyja began to speak.
"The weapon you carried was damaged during your fight. When you described it, I checked my records for recreational weapons that closely match the desired result. While there is a charge in the battery, it can reload by pressure backwards on the trigger. It can maintain three shots at the ready, with the recoil absorbed into loading another shot for three more. Six bolts are required to fully reload." Pause. "Turn the lever to the on position."
She did so and gaped. "It is floating on its own power!" she turned it around a point in space easily, but it wasn't until Ship told her to depress the smaller button next to the trigger, she couldn't budge the center of gravity.
"The gloves of your costume contain remote controls. The unit can fly on its own from its current location to the costume wearer. The unit can hold your weight in place for up to five minutes at a time as well as rappelling with cord integral to the butt stock."
Emma was fish mouthed, sucking air as this went on. "Taylor, how long have you been a Tinker?" She managed to get out.
"To my knowledge, I am not a Tinker." I speak slowly. "I have… a ship. It existed. I found it. And I apparently claimed the 'Captain' position while panicking over a heavily bleeding visitor last night."
Emma's confusion was palpable.
Sophia cackled. "You told them it was Aunt Flow that got your bed bloody, didn't you?" She touched her collar. "Gunshot. Not a nine, but certainly bigger than a twenty-two."
Time to change the subject. "Ship, what did you do to her costume?"
The whispery voice was audible but barely so. "All materials are improved to Fleet standard protective rating... Controls were added in gloves as described before. The quiver has been modified to attach at any point of the costume chosen by the wearer, releasing only by contact of the gloves to colored portions. Communication earbud added to mask with integrated visual display interior of mask. Manuals downloaded into storage of camera systems, simply request 'manuals display'" The prim voice seemed a little peeved somehow.
I asked about that. "Ship, speak freely. What is bothering you about my decisions here?"
The voice brightened immediately. "Captain, revealing secure information to non-crew is suboptimal to continued function…"
As both Emma and Sophia reacted to this, I held up a hand. "I have a solution to your misgivings. Ship, I designate Emma Barnes as First Officer and Sophia Hess as ... Security Chief."
"You nerd! Did you just make me a red shirt?" Sophia laughed.
"Officer positions accepted, albeit with slightly different official naming conventions. Query, what does 'redshirt' mean?"
I shake my head a little. "Ship, try to connect with the communications and data storage of the city. The Library should have records of a fictional series known as 'Star Trek'. Review related works and discussion for similarities and differences so we don't stumble too much."
"Noted. Ah. I see surface similarities already." A pause. "I see no correlation between the ship design and any existing vessels of my origin… Before it is forgotten, when would you like to schedule Officer upgrades for your crew?"
"Define… upgrades." Emma breathed hopefully. I could feel her thinking about cup size.
"All upgrades need to conform to existing visible traits." I note, watching Emma deflate a bit. "This isn't time to call out the boob fairy."
Ship waited for me to finish then began briefing on the changes, similar to mine though not as extreme. Subdermal mesh. Biological additions to bone structure. Musculature improvements. Internal communications. This wasn't Star Trek. It was a might closer to Borg if anything.
"Nothing that would make us too far outside of human baseline in normal activity. If you can pack in other features that do not show on current era scans unless called on, do so but give us a manual." I then had a thought. "Is there a way for them to have their uniform –or Sophia's costume– available for immediate use when away from me?"
"Yes. I would suggest embedding a shuttlecraft inside a piece of small jewelry such as an ear stud such as –what is your preferred appellation in the field Emma Barnes?"
Ems shook her head and shrugged. "Haven't actually considered it." She was rubbing her gold stud in the second spot up on her ear. She got it when she turned fifteen. "Better add masks if we go out Captain. You gave your name before. Freyja? And do the shuttlecraft have names?"
"I am of the exploration class, designation FC-2045 Freyja. I have two shuttles aboard, the Bygul and Trjegul. Ah, the local data stream and found references to Norse mythology with my name as a goddess, with the shuttle names being two… cats. There are similarities between my original crew –most of them calling themselves Hume and others. Their origins refer to 'Earth' or 'Dirt' with much of their pre space history obscured. That suggests the Zhin field anomaly placed me in the distant past or perhaps a parallel line."
I could see Emma inhaling to ask but made a slit throat gesture while shaking my head side to side.
"I'm no scientist, but aren't you a little small to be carrying around Earthlings or descendants of such?" Sophia's tone was dry.
Freyja paused for a moment. "In the time before my creation, a development allowed the creation of a subspace zone attached to a physical device. This followed after the creation of Mattermission, what you referred to as beaming. What you experienced inside my hull was largely material that was naturally at that size." She sounded proud. "There will be no gigantic ships coming to the rescue here. The largest items in my storage are the shuttles themselves, though when they engage their subspace fields they could be missed in a bag of beans."
Ship –ah, Freyja– then made small flashes near their ears. In Emma's case the gold stud briefly disappeared and then reappeared. For Sophia a stud in silver appeared in her left ear.
"Better give her a matching one on the right. There are cultural connotations to single earrings…"
Sophia just snickered and shook her head negatively.
"Ah." Ship answered. "Captain, I would like to relocate from a necklace to a more secure location, also on the ear but as a clip stud."
"I suppose you could heal it up if I don't like it. Let me see."
There is a feeling of light pain from two points high on my ear. Between the two studs on the front side is a one-inch chain of gold with four small –ballpoint pen tip sized– crystals. The ship I feel on the back side of my ear. The pain was gone before I realized it.
"Can you give us a primer on some stuff? Like display it on the TV as if it was for the series?" Emma asked. "Better that than the a …" She waved at the hologram display. "Operational security as you said."
It was clear Freyja was multitasking, but she agreed to this plan to prevent 'unauthorized information breach'. Besides displaying various things available, she was inserting details that showed Protectorate ratings on moves we could pull off.
Brute was first and obvious. The mesh underneath our skin –after tonight for Emma– increased our defense to penetrations well beyond what most bullets could push our way. The field running through it was like an inside the skin forcefield as well. That same field could add to our strength in usage. It could also dampen the effects of gravity, redirect it about our bodies. It took energy though, and we would eventually need to find more of the materials needed for fuel production. The odd thing was that the kinetic barrier could absorb energy as long as there was enough to protect us in the first place.
Each of our vessels could project images over the surface of things. I WILL NOT call it a Holodeck, dammit. Freyja did admit that there were nodes in the earrings and on Sophia's costume and Emma's and my uniform. She elaborated that the costume was closer to a Harsh Environment Reconnaissance Suit –but Sophia just smirked and called it "Hers".
Where I had gold, Emma's uniform had violet. In an odd coincidence, security was a red theme with other levels below it. Sophia had noted an undershirt in red was part of her costume. A common tan or brown were 'Passengers' and had the least clearances on ship.
Mover/Stranger: If we needed to actually fly rather than float a bit with style we would have to beam into our respective craft. Because 'cloaking' was apparently complete fiction there would have to be an image overlay that showed us, costumed us, something like a cat or bird for faster movement or some other overlay to hide the presence of the craft inside. Top speed would be on par with a jet, but for operational security would be closer to a car.
That was the major issue with that mode right there. The craft –in this case the jewelry the craft was embedded in– could not beam into the ship, just us. Each would have to be placed somewhere within the image they showed, in a location that allowed site lines to what 'we' would see.
"Unless we were together in Freyja, then we could spread them out or dock them onto the main piece." Emma pointed out.
I didn't like the muley tone Freyja got when asked about ship's weapons. The shuttlecraft themselves were unarmed, but ship weaponry was only unlocked in emergency situations involving mass loss of life threats.
"Like Endbringers."
The TV screen froze, then showed three overlapping images. Behemoth in New York. Leviathan in Kyushu. Simurgh hovering over Lausanne in the Alps. On the edges, death counts and dates scrolled by.
Even Freyja seemed taken aback. "Quite."
It was clear that Freyja began to concentrate on her research as the TV returned to showing scenes of ships moving around the planets of not-Earth systems.
We heard the jingling of keys in the front door. Sophia quickly took her uniform and Caster to her room, while Emma and I sat on the couch.
The young man who came in was the same as from the car weeks ago, but now I saw why he didn't come in. He was in a leg brace, using a crutch. He immediately fixated on the TV and the ships on it.
"Oh cool, what is that? A new series?" He glanced at us and did a double take.
Freyja scrolled some credits and then switched the channel back to what appeared to be a newsbreak.
Sophia's mother trundled in with a toddler in her arms as well as a grocery bag.
"Mom, the worst possible thing has happened!" He was cringing over dramatically. "Sophia. She has FRIENDS!"
"Oh, ha, HA." The so-called came back in.
"Girl, I need help with the other bags, stat." Emma and I shared a look and got up to help. There was some middle schooler holding the elevator door down the hall, so we scrambled to grab the bags taking up the back half.
The poof ball afro tween girl holding it smiled at us. Yeesh no middle school girl needs, ah, boobage like that! She winked as she slid an apple behind her back. I pretended not to notice but Sophia waved a fist as a half threat. Clearly, she was a resident of the building who had been dragged along in the wake of one Kiki Hess.
Coming back in a line I could see her mother examine us in turn then frown at Sophia.
"Sophia Eve Hess." Ah the fated 'brooks no argument' tone. "I thought we discussed piercings and why they would be a BAD idea for your, ah, work life."
Sophia set the bag in the kitchen then spoke through the pass through over the breakfast counter, feeling safer out of reach. "We discussed other kinds of piercings, not earrings."
"You have the matching one on the other side?" Observant, thy name is mother.
Sophia lifted the hair on her left side. "Nope. And before you say or ask it, I am not gay. But I dooo enjoy taunting certain Empire affiliated boys at school. Just more reasons for me to thump them good."
Sighing but smiling. "Yes, and it is a blessing when you use up that spitfire outside of our home. But what if you get grabbed by it?"
"Trust me, Mom. That won't be a problem." Sophia grinned.
The toddler ran out of the room, the shy type. Terry ambled off the way boys do, even though he looked like a senior he didn't appear to handle company well.
Her mother paused to introduce herself then. "Kiki Hess, girls." She considered us. "I remember you two from the law offices. Emma and Taylor. I had not connected you to Red and the Twig my loving daughter has mentioned at times."
"Ma'am." I noted.
Hand up to her forehead, dramatic mode on. "Oh lord! You done called me up. No way MY daughter found herself friends with pleasant, POLITE people.".
Sophia sighed even as Emma chuckled. "I know where Terry gets his sense of humor."
"Fine." Kiki rolled her eyes at us. "Introductions aside", she looked me up and down, pausing at my one slightly overlarge earring and then at the doors down the hall which had closed. Her tone went to adult 'serious-mode' and she looked me square in the eyes and asked. "Is Sophia recruiting you or are you recruiting her?"
Emma's squeak of "She knows?" was blocked by the TV going to a loud commercial.
Sophia cringed as Kiki held my hand, waiting.
Clearing my throat. "Not how I expected this to come up, but I am recruiting her."
"Hero, rogue or… vill?" She asked.
I considered that her other hand had slipped behind her back under her jacket. "Ah, not a villain. It is complicated, but we aren't here to flip her."
She studied me as her finger rubbed my wrist. Then she let go, relaxing and showing her other hand. "No change in your pulse as a reaction to my asking or on your answer. Something under the skin." She turned away and started putting away the food like nothing had happened. "You are either a very good liar or that is God's honest truth."
Kiki kept the chatter up while we put away things and then further as she cooked. While she chatted about anything and nothing at all she brought out papers from her bag. She pointed to a blank pad and then to a pamphlet for the Wards, and managed to say Team twice once while touching each.
Sophia quickly pointed at the paper. Emma was kind of wishy-washy. I thought about it and pointed at the pad as well.
Nodding along she took up a pen and wrote on the pad. 'Independent team. Did you check for bugs? I work for the PRT.'
I was about to ask Freyja but saw the TV switch to an ad on 'Pest Control services. Kills Bugs Dead.' with a logo that showed a circuit patterned roach. I nodded and answered confidently there were none.
"Huh?" Kiki intoned. "I would have sworn that they had a mike on me most of the time, even if it was my phone."
"You would be correct." Freyja's voice came from the TV. "But your phone's microphone is currently hearing the news cast under light conversation in real time. Your son and other daughter are using the internet."
Kiki's eyebrow raised at me.
"That is Freyja." I gesture at my earring. Point at Emma's. "Bygul ." then to Sophia who brushes back her hair again to show the earring more clearly. "Trjegul."
"Mine can speak and think for herself, the others do not, yet." I feel a little pinch at misdirecting the woman, but there was a point to keeping your cards close.
Sophia looked at me and shrugged. "Still going by Shadow Stalker. I don't need to build up a rep from scratch."
Emma shook her head demurely, "I haven't come up with anything good yet."
"And you? Your cape name is?" Kiki asked.
"Captain." I answered automatically.
She smirked in a way showing Sophia was not adopted. "Girl, I read comics before they faded out in the eighties. Captain America you aren't."
"Not The Captain or Captain America, just 'Captain'." I nod to the TV. So much for cards… "Freyja is my ship."
"Pull the other one, it's got bells..." Flash.
We three were on the bridge of the ship, Emma, Kiki and I.
Sophia looked around in a near panic. "What if someone walks in?!" I could hear her as if she were in the room, but she was out there, displayed on screens split into two different views. There was an echo from the room so Kiki could hear it.
Freyja did the multi-limbed face puppet thing and answered. "I am projecting you and Taylor. Emma is projecting through her shuttle, Bygul. Sophia will cover for us if need be."
Kiki mouthed a word. "Alien" I think.
"We are not aliens." Freyja spoke calmly. "This ship around you dates from a time so far in the future that the mythical origin point for all Hume is just 'Dirt'. Whether I come from your future via time travel or from an alternate running parallel that was in effect thousands of years ahead of your own… The point is moot. It is what it is. My original captain and crew are dust. I was trapped in stone, without an organic intelligence that would allow me to interact with the world around me." She seemed to take a breath metaphorically, "I moved forward through hundreds of thousands of years the natural way. Taylor found and claimed me under salvage rules. She bonded with me to become my Captain. Emma and Sophia are now part of my –our– crew."
The flash put us back in our respective places as the door to the toddler's room rattled then opened. Kid TV music played as she came out. Smiling around her paci, hair flouncing as she walked into the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator by leaning away from it holding the towel on the handle. She reached in and collected a premade bottle of chocolate milk then hip checked the door shut.
Holding it up she took out the paci with her off hand and pronounced her triumph. "Choco Bob." and walked down the hall to her room. As she left, she tossed the paci over her shoulder to land in the sink without missing a beat.
Sophia just shrugged it off as if that was completely normal. Moving on autopilot, she mixed up another chocolate milk bottle and screwed the lid on before putting it in the bottom shelf.
Emma popped a poser that didn't occur to me. "How come Bygul doesn't talk?"
Freyja replied through the TV again. "My shuttlecraft are sentient to a degree, but not sapient as of yet. You can think of them as un-developed versions of me. My class of ship is designed to build them out into fully developed ships of their own when I have sufficient resources and time. And then more shuttles. Until they are fully formed they are essentially cats, friendly but aloof."
"Cats?" Emma simpered. "I like cats."