Alternity Chapter One

Alternity - Chapter 1

The Girl

Time: CY 10086 - AD Jun 5163
Location: Bathsheba planetary spaceport

chapter illustration She heard the girl before she saw her. The girl had what some people called a little girl voice, somewhat high pitched and sugary. She sounded much too young to be in a place like this.

"Please, Mister, you're the captain of a starship. Can you help me get out of here? I can work for passage. I'm a real hard worker."

"Just what are you willing to do to for passage?" The other speaker was a man, and from the sound of his voice considerably older than the girl.

"Anything."

"Anything?" There was an emphasis on the word.

"Anything."

It was the girl's tone of voice that attracted the listener. Had it been filled with promise she would have ignored the conversation, assuming the girl to be just one of the local portside prostitutes looking for transportation off planet. But there had been no promise in the girl's voice, just a sort of beaten dejectedness. She knew what coin she was going to be expected to pay in.

The listener was Rebecca Valentine, better known to her friends as Beka, owner and master of the merchant vessel Eureka Maru, registered out of Winnipeg Drift in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. She was tall, well built, in her mid thirties, with for the moment, blonde hair, and handsome rather than beautiful. It was her eyes, however, that were her most striking feature. They were the eyes of a much older woman. A woman who had seen too much and who had done things that haunted her sleep, but who would do the same things again if she had to. The flight suit she was wearing was old, well-worn, and in need of patching in several places, but the gauss pistol holstered at her side was modern and in perfect working condition. At present she was searching the local watering holes near the Bathsheba planetary spaceport, looking for her engineer so she could get him back on board the Maru and sobered up before the ship lifted off.

It was the beaten tone of the girl's voice that caused her to turn and examine the situation. The man was probably in his mid fifties, jowly, and with a florid complexion. He was wearing a new, and from the way it fit, custom tailored flight suit with the logo of one of the Free Trade Association's large interstellar transport companies prominently displayed on the breast pocket. He was waving his hands in the air as he spoke, and Beka caught a flash of gold on his wrist. His appearance coincided almost exactly with what her mental image of him had been.

The girl though was another matter entirely. Beka had thought she was familiar with every form of humanoid life in the galaxies that had once formed the Systems Commonwealth, but the girl was a novelty. She was either a species Beka had never encountered before or she had undergone extensive genetic modification. She was basically human in appearance but her skin was a shade of purple that reminded Beka of some lavender flowers her father had once given her, it actually sparkled in places as though there were crystals embedded within the flesh. Her ears weren't rounded at the tops like a human's, but pointed, giving her an elfin appearance. She also had a tail, which made her unique among the species Beka had encountered. She was young, no more than sixteen or seventeen, petite, with a svelte figure, and bleached blonde hair. Her tail was hanging limply, mimicking her downcast eyes. A well-used backpack was lying at her feet. She was dressed like one of the numerous prostitutes that earned their living among the bars and cheap hotels lining the spaceport perimeter, wearing too much makeup and a dress that showed a great deal of purple flesh. Despite the dress and makeup, there was an air of innocence about the girl that struck a chord with Beka. If asked later why she did it, Beka wouldn't have been able to give a satisfactory answer, but she decided to step in and give the waif an alternative to selling her body.

"You don't have to go that route if you don't want to, girl. You can earn passage on the Maru, and it will be work that you do in the vertical position, not lying on your back."

Both the girl and the man turned towards the newcomer. A look of relief crossed the girl’s face while a look of annoyance crossed the man's. The man started to say something but stopped in mid sentence. Beka had laid her hand on her gauss pistol and had it halfway drawn.

"I think the girl has changed her mind." There was steel in her voice and the look in her eyes said she was more than willing to use her weapon. "Why don't you find another bar to troll in?" Then, switching her attention to the girl, she said, "We're heading for Dawkinstown Drift. Will that be OK?"

"Anywhere away from here will be fine." The sound of relief in the girl's voice made Beka wonder why she was so desperate to get away.

"It's settled then; you 'll be working for me till we reach Dawkinstown. I'm Beka Valentine, captain of the Eureka Maru. What do I call you?"

"I'm Trance Gemini, Captain Valentine Ma'am"

"Is Trance OK? And it's Beka, just Beka."

"What do you want me to do first, Beka?" She seemed so excited that Beka expected her to start jumping up and down.

"The first thing I want you to do is clean that junk off your face and change into some more suitable clothing. Do you have anything in that backpack or will we have to go to wherever you're staying and get something?"

"Everything I own is in my backpack. We don't need to go anywhere."

She headed into the bathroom at the back of the bar. A few minutes later she came back out. She was still wearing too much makeup by Beka's somewhat conservative standards, and the halter top and short pants she was wearing still revealed a great deal of flesh, but at least now she didn't look like a streetwalker looking for a date.

"I suppose that will do. Come on, we have one job to do before I take you to the Maru. You can help me find my engineer."

The two had only taken a few steps outside the bar when Beka heard a rumbling sound coming from Trance's midsection. The older woman glanced at the younger one, who in turn gave her an embarrassed look.

"Hungry?" asked Beka.

"Very," came the reply.

"I guess we can stop long enough to get you something to eat. I expect that by now Harper's too drunk to do more than just sit in whatever watering hole he's parked in."

As they walked Trance kept up a non stop monologue. "I'm really glad you're letting me come with you, Beka. I don't think that man would have been very nice to me. You're going to be nice to me aren't you? Are you really a captain of a starship? What's it like to be a captain? How many planets have you visited? Are we going to get something to eat soon? I'm really really hungry. Whats the name of your ship? Is it a big one? What..."

After a moment Beka tuned her out, letting the girl's chatter fade into the background, and simply making 'uh-huh' noises at appropriate intervals. They stopped at a small café. Beka ordered a coffee while Trance ordered a vegetable meal. "I don't eat meat," she explained.

The waiter brought Beka's coffee and Trance a drink of flavored water. With the arrival of the drinks, Trance stopped talking, but her excitement remained. She folded, unfolded, and refolded her napkin, played with her silverware, and fidgeted in her seat so much that Beka started to wonder if the girl had a rash in a sensitive location. When her meal arrived, she began to devour it with such enthusiasm that Beka half expected her to put down her fork and start using her hands.

"When was the last time you had a decent meal, Trance?" asked Beka.

"Three, four days ago,"mumbled Trance around bites.

That, thought Beka, might explain why the girl had been dressed as a prostitute.

Trance continued to eat as if she hadn't eaten in a week, which Beka suspected might just be the truth, when in mid bite she abruptly put her fork down. Her complexion paled as she put put her hands over her mouth, stood up from the table, and began running in the direction of the café's bathroom. Idiot, thought Beka, I should have made her slow down once I saw how hungry she was.

Waving a waiter over to her table, Beka ordered a bowl of soup and asked for a slice of bread to go with it. The food arrived at the table as Trance, still looking pale, returned from the bathroom.

Beka pointed to the bowl of soup. "Eat, but this time take it slowly."

Nodding her head in agreement, Trance turned her attention to the food. By the time she finished her complexion had returned to its normal purple color.

"Better?" asked Beka.

Trance nodded her head in agreement.

"Good, now let's go find my engineer."

Prologue

Chapter 2