Traitor
Chapter 9 - Luscious Ladies

Jason spent an enjoyable late afternoon with Robert and Marie the Chefs in their kitchen, first preparing a menu and then helping to cook. Jason loved the cooking technology in the kitchen. All food preparation was automated and cooking had progressed a long way past microwaves. They could roast, fry, barbecue, and boil food in no time at all. Timing was done to the microsecond and food was weighed by each machine to fractions of an ounce or gram. They also had installed many of Earth’s appliances of every type including ovens and cook tops to test food production and ensure that they produced authentic tastes.

They didn’t use replicators at all. Robert had removed all the kitchen replicator units and even the snack replicators along the walls of every canteen.

“There will be no fast food poisonous garbage in my kitchen or my canteen or on this ship,” was his war cry. His opposition to the machines had grown into hatred of food replicators, after he heard about the priest trying to poison Jason and their attempts to poison men throughout the Empire.

Malone and Harris arrived formally dressed, with their marine escort ahead of their seconds in command, saying that they would be late due to them assisting Connie who was short staffed in intelligence. Jason dressed in his formal suit with a black bow tie.

“Ladies you are looking luscious. I could only recognize you from your eyes! You did look fine in your armor but it’s not the same thing as a lovely form fitting, but asymmetrical garment. I seem to see some fine shapes in front of me, could they be women, dangerous women?” Jason asked flirtatiously. “Tonight, Robert, and Marie have excelled themselves in the kitchen. There will be five courses with five different wines for you to try. Before we begin I’ve made up for you a cocktail called a ‘Brandy Alexander’. I must warn you that these cocktails are lethal. Marie has prepared some pre-dinner snacks to help build up your appetites,” said Jason signaling to Marie who had been watching them through the transparent wall from the kitchen.

Marie dressed in impeccable chef’s green with a three-cornered chef’s hat, brought out a beautifully decorated platter of seafood appetizers, caught that afternoon. Jason thanked her profusely. He moved to the small serving station next to his table and took out several cocktails for the table.

“Jason, you scrub up pretty well yourself. That Earth clothing looks interesting and very attractive. Tell us a little about yourself,” said Phoebe.

“My spies tell me that you guys have already researched my background. You may even know more about my Empire family than I do. I’m happy to answer any of your questions but I’d suggest that we wait ’til the others join us so that I don’t have to repeat everything. Tell me a bit about your own backgrounds while we wait,” suggested Jason winking at them, “I’d also suggest that we move to first names. We can use titles when we conduct our professional business. I know you are Janet Malone and Phoebe Harris. Please call me Jason.”

After a brief pause with the two women looking at each other and communicating in ‘woman’s secret code,’ Janet Malone began to talk first. Her dress was a lovely shade of red with one sleeve and off the shoulder on the other side, long on one side and short on the other with a slit going up to the hip and white leggings. She was a tall woman with the usual Empire red complexion but yellow hair. It was the Empire equivalent of blonde. She was tall, and Jason guessed she was close to six feet. Her built was athletic and she looked fit and healthy. She smiled often but had a serious manner of speaking. He found her very attractive.

“I come from the most boring planet in the Empire. It’s called Hesta. It’s so boring there that it makes me sleepy thinking about it. It’s an agricultural planet that produces food for the Empire. My father and mother are farmers as was my father’s father and my mother’s father, and it goes on for tens of thousands of years and longer. I’ve two brothers and a sister all of whom are farmers, and who married other farmers close to where we live.

“Our family has none of the fertility problems that we see elsewhere in the Empire. That goes for most people on our planet. I wanted to be a Marine ever since I was six years old and watched a serial that involved a heroic Marine. Hesta has a history of producing many Marines for the Empire. Becoming a marine is one of the few pathways off of Hesta. As soon as I was twenty-one and had completed my undergraduate university studies I enlisted and joined the Marines. The Marines are my family and my life. I cannot see myself doing anything else.

“The training is outstanding at every level of promotion. It takes sixteen years to complete Marine training. We train on multiple planets in every kind of environment. We train in space and we train in trans-dimensional environments. We even train under the water.

“The Marine Academy and the Marine hierarchy emphasize mental fitness and getting to peak physical condition. Every day is a rigorous training day physically and psychologically. Marine training has evolved over a long time. We begin our training with a mix of physical fitness and intellectual stimulation. It’s not possible to specialize in any area for a very long time. Marine headquarters expects broad versatility in every marine.

“They have a special concept of the team where they mix species from all over the Empire. The Empire is a very big and diverse place. Our Marine groups have many species that you don’t see on the ship. Teams have a balance of skills and abilities.

“This battleship is extraordinary and very unusual in that you’ve a very uniform group of humanoid people. The Empire is species diverse. My best friend is from a group of planets of sentient lizards. They are large and can be irritable and overbearing but are fantastic shock troops and are very strong. The Empire has developed universal translators that facilitates easy communication with diverse species who can’t articulate language. The Marines on the ship are an elite special forces group amongst the Marines. Every marine has to get fit and has to remain in peak physical condition. One has to learn highly disciplined habits in order to survive.

“The equivalent Army training is much less rigorous until people get to the stage of joining special forces. Because people live for such a long time, special forces would represent a much bigger proportion of the Army than you could expect on your own planet.

Our medical care is wonderful. We can repair almost every injury, no matter how severe, except moderate to severe brain damage. Even in that area the medics are getting better. I had better stop there before I descend into evangelism for the Marines. Phoebe over to you!”

Phoebe sipped her cocktail delicately. Jason looked at her. Her hair was brown which was uncommon on the ship. Her eyes were a green gray mix. Her hair was tightly platted next to her head on the right side and she had straight hair on the left side of her head that extended to her jaw line. She had high cheekbones and a narrow wide mouth. She had a very attractive and cheeky smile. She looked at Jason frequently, batting her eyelids. If he looked at her she blushed. She wore similar clothing to Janet except in green. The colors seemed different to those usually seen on Earth which are used for clothing. He thought about it but couldn’t explain why he thought so.

“My family lived near the capital on an estate. My mother has a shipping Empire and is a merchant. Both my parents come from merchant families and their marriage was a merger of two empires. My father recognized that my mother was a great chief executive and she recognized that he was a frustrated artist forced to work as a merchant.

My father was also a great homemaker, a superb cook and has a reputation as a sculptor and holo-painter throughout the Empire. He has great skill in producing huge sculptures that you will see in front of many of the buildings all over Cassiopeia and on many other planets of the Empire.

At home, he was the one who supervised homework and went to school functions. When he was busy on some of his projects we had nannies that would take over for him. He would work day and night. My mother merged the two merchant empires and led a busy working life, but was a devoted mother when time allowed. As time passed and she learned to delegate more, she was able to spend more time with us.

“I have one older brother who is recognized as an artistic genius and is producing great work with my father. They get on well together and have done so for centuries. I’ve five younger sisters.

“The whole family was competitive with any and every kind of game that you could imagine. You could say we were fanatically competitive. When I was three I started on a jet board, encouraged by my crazy father. He used to race at a professional level and converted to play jet board hockey for one of the professional teams in Cassiopeia. He played all over the Empire. Everywhere we go people recognize him as a great forward.

“I raced on anything I could from the age of five. At the age of four my father to the horror of my mother and our body guards started to teach me to fly a small, racing shuttle. From five I was racing jet board and a mini race shuttle. My brother and sisters were not far behind. At school, we were into every sport. My father was our most avid supporter. My mother was the one who promoted the importance of academic studies. We all did well academically, but it was not our priority.

“We traveled every year on holiday to a different planet. One year my father combined a holiday to coincide with a freighter fleet delivery of goods, accompanied by our naval fleet to one of the more remote planets.

“We traveled on a lovely new cruiser that my mother had recently acquired. It carried forty-five fighters. An incredibly stupid pirate attempted to intercept the fleet with an ancient destroyer with four fighters and an even more ancient and derelict frigate with one fighter and two Corvettes that looked like an insane person had glued them together in some kind of random fashion.

“We had 400 massive freighters themselves armed with missiles and the escort consisted of four cruisers, sixteen destroyers, forty frigates and a tiny carrier with 400 fighters.

“You might have guessed my mother was a worry wort. It’s an understatement when it came to the family. She was terrified that we would be killed or taken hostage or kidnapped. We had half an army protect us at home.

“No pirate could have taken on half our fleet even if you excluded the escort. My mother wanted us to be sent to our rooms deeper in the ship but my father knew that we were just as safe on the bridge. It was the most exciting experience of my entire life and shaped my future. We absolutely slaughtered them. I saw the fighters in action and fell in love with fighters in space.

“An ancient, retired admiral, who was very shrewd and could be still considered spritely, commanded our fleet. She had fought in many campaigns and was very experienced. She explained everything that she was doing to us children as if we were adults and showed us how she was managing the battle computer. She was a great teacher and had a lifelong influence on our family. Four of my sisters have done the same as I have, joining the space force. One of my sisters is a brilliant strategist and tactician and has made Admiral. She’s the youngest Admiral in the space fleet. Jason, you, and she would get on very well.

“Here come the others and that almost completes my account. I joined the space fleet when I could and I’ve progressed at a reasonable rate. I love what I do and wouldn’t swap it for anything,” remarked Phoebe.

“You lot certainly took your time. You need to learn to interrogate people faster. Jason has been asking us about our backgrounds before he tells us what he says we already know from our intelligence. His counter intelligence has told him that we have been spying on him.

“You need to try this amazing ‘Brandy Alexander,’ and if you were a loose woman before it, you will be lost after,” she said laughing. “I think that Connie goes next.”

Jason looked at her. Her features were decidedly greenish and she had short thick black/brown hair and pale green eyes. Her build was slight compared to the others and she had a startling dark green plunging neckline dress with pale green leggings that matched her eyes. He saw her pupils were vertical and cat like. She had metallic studs in the middle of her earlobe on one ear. She was like so many of the woman startlingly lovely. She moved quickly and her movements reminded him of a mouse. She talked with her arms moving very actively.

“Very well then,” said Connie cheerfully, “let me tell you a little bit about my family. We come from the planet Io which is a huge Army training base. The army activities dominate the planet and the people on the planet are largely there in support of the base. The planet itself is dry and hot and no one would live on Io if it was not for the Army. It’s so hot that we all live underground. Beneath the surface of the planet are caverns and tunnels in abundance. It’s an underground paradise for children to explore. The natural tunnels and caverns are listed among the great wonders of the Empire.

“We also have massive drilling machines that are continuously enlarging the habitats and training facilities. There are underground lakes and rivers throughout the planet. We grow our food hydroponically though we have increased underground soil based cultivation in recent years.

“We have varieties of animals that have adapted to living underground. My mother was entirely responsible for making the planet self-sufficient. She’s a super biologist farmer type. My father works in intelligence and is a professor and Dean of Intelligence at the war college. He’s much older than my mother, but you would never guess that that’s the case. He looks young and is energetic. He has boundless energy and drive. He’s also a great cook. It’s his recreation.

“My mother came from a family of public service administrators. My father’s family were in military intelligence and academics as far back as we can go. My father says that we are born to intelligence, if only we had more of it!”

Robert brought them their first course and Jason introduced the food and poured the wine. He indicated to Connie to continue when able. She ate her food talking after each few mouthfuls continuing her story.

“My mother and father met at a martial arts competition. They are equally competitive and would be regarded as combat fanatics who specialize in many weapons and also are great collectors of weapons. My mother has an ancient sword that’s priceless. Her parents handed it on to her after she won a major tournament. It has been in the family forever. My father loves throwing knives, death discs, and darts. He’s good with a sword and performs well in unarmed combat even at his age. I started martial arts as soon as I could walk and my mother insisted that I became more than proficient with the sword, while my father made sure that I could throw as well as he could.

“One day when I was eleven or twelve on a day he was looking after me, I went with him while he gave a lecture to intelligence officers, seeking promotion, on the analysis of information following interrogations. I found it very interesting and couldn’t stop talking about it and asking questions on the way home. He set me up in a simulation where I had to do an analysis following an interrogation, then act on the results and continue the process as more information emerged. From then intelligence owned me. I read everything that I could and I went through everything.

“At home, we had a learning machine with the entire curriculum of the war college on intelligence. By fifteen I had done it all and had completed all the simulations. I thought I was doing it secretly but my father knew I was using the machine and was feeding the machine harder and harder simulations that he created after the usual library of simulations ran out.

“On my sixteenth birthday, my father took me for my birthday present to the war college over a weekend where I competed as an enemy intelligence general, against a group of visiting intelligence Colonels, from all the services, who were attending for a mandatory update; prior to their postings. My father had me hidden in his office. He told me that I was competing against a group of his junior students.

“In the office, we had the observers from the University who had built the simulation who were watching what was happening.

“The observers were from Cassiopeia and the top intelligence college on Laomedeia the capitol and had created a most challenging simulation. They argued with my father about the suitability of my participation. Father told the observers that I had done the war college course and all the simulations. The observers thought that I was going to be krevil meat and their talented students would quickly finish me off.

“He said that if I was doing badly he would step in and do it as he had always done in the past, demolish them, but he said he had faith in me.

I slaughtered them, and in so doing, there was no conceivable way that I was going to do anything other than intelligence. The observers asked my father to see my previous simulation performance. After they looked at my results, and how I achieved them, they offered me a scholarship to do intelligence training with them on Cassiopeia, after basic training, at the Imperial War University. I chose to do my secondary training with the Marines and transferred to Cassiopeia five years ago.

“They put me to work soon after. I was doing some boring intelligence analysis that was driving me crazy before I joined the ship. Marshall Adams, the Dean, sent me in the month before the battleship left Cassiopeia to join the ship as the ship’s intelligence officer. He said and I quote, “There’s something fishy going on and that battleship is the key. It may be boring in the beginning but I promise you by the end you will have the most terrifying and exciting experiences of your life. That trip will make your career, I promise you that. My father said the dean had spooky second sight!

“Like you, Jason, I’m a youngster amongst these ancients!”

“Jason, you’ve had it easy so far, we’ll continue with the other two but perhaps you will answer a few questions?” said Janet.

“Fine, I shall do so with pleasure after Marie serves the next course. We need to keep going with the food or it’ll spoil.”

Marie passed boards for them to have small pieces of roast meat and vegetables and Jason poured a Merlot from Margaret River. He suggested to Marie she and Robert could deliver the next courses as they were ready, so the food wouldn’t be eaten cold.

“I believe that your daughter encouraged you to leave and was very supportive of your trip. Can you give us a bit of background?” Connie asked.

“My wife suicided after she confirmed she was developing dementia. We were married for fifty-five years. She and I grew up together as neighbors. Both families expected us to get together. I loved her as a friend ’till I fell for her in my teens but she went out with others. She said she wanted me to be jealous and chase her. I thought she wasn’t interested in me like that.

“After University, Sarah strongly encouraged me to marry her and before I knew it the years went by, and we had two children and were old. I was eighty, and for Earth that’s pretty old. Many friends had died of old age.

Before University I spent time in the military in special forces specializing in jungle warfare and fought for five long years in the jungle before being promoted to planning operations. It was a vicious costly war that the politicians would not allow us to win.

The army paid for my University. My later career was in computers and I consulted in security. Lauren took over the company when I was sixty and I reduced my hours. I was still working at the time of my wife’s death.

“At a conscious level my life was lacking something important. It felt empty and lacking something of substance. We had a programming company and did well, but it was not enough. We had loving children and grandchildren and many friends but I felt I needed something else. It never eventuated and I became old.

“Since I’ve been on the ship I’ve felt that I’ve been battling to rebuild my body and educate myself and to get myself up to Empire standards educationally and physically. Lately I feel I’m running faster and faster, but can’t get ahead.

“The programming baffled me totally, and I can’t recall ever having experienced so much frustration in my whole life. Now I feel as if I’m no longer in control. One thing comes after me, and when that’s done the next hits. Somehow, I thrive on this change and threat. Perhaps I wouldn’t have said that when first facing the pirates, but I feel better after facing the fear. I’ve a sense of purpose, despite still feeling that I’m an old man. I can’t shake the feelings and my attitudes of a lifetime.

“I desperately want to get to the Empire, and to my great grandfather, but everything seems to be getting in my way. Papa Zora is directly obstructing me in doing what I need to do. It’s strange ... a little over two months ago I was thinking of moving to live in a home for the aged, and now I’m in a society sixty-five thousand years ahead. My body was full of aches and pains and now I’m younger and stronger every day and headed into the unknown, totally out of control of what is going on and unable to achieve my mission.

“My biggest doubt is the one about not knowing who I am, nor my place in the Empire. None of my family are sure of why the Emperor and my great-grandfather sent us to Earth, but even more, they’re unsure why we have never been recalled. So many of us died unnecessarily because of primitive medical care. Ostensibly, I’m going back because my great-grandfather wants me back. He’s old and seems to be sick. How can you be sick when you have this level of technology?”

“You mentioned something about your experiences with the priests I believe to the programmers,” Connie asked.

“A few weeks ago, an attempt to poison me was foiled by my dogs.” He saw the women look at him puzzled.

“They are pet animals who are excellent protectors. I’ll show them to you soon.

“When I saw the dogs drag a priest into my wardroom at three in the morning, I was incensed. I had dug up some nasty information on the Patriarch and he had no business visiting at that time. There was something about the situation that was wrong and I was not polite and friendly. I had no doubt that he was up to no good. I interrogated him viciously while the dogs crunched his bones to keep him off balance. I knew that if I didn’t I wouldn’t get anything. As it was I got information of Empire shattering significance. I now know how evil Papa Zora is. The priest told me he had a poison that works on men, and they use it in the Empire’s replicators. I don’t know what kind of evil bastard would try and poison all the men in the Empire. Correction! That’s not true, I do know one evil bastard who would do exactly that!” said Jason.

The others sat with their mouths open.

“What do you mean, Jason? The priests are poisoning the men in the Empire?” Janet asked incredulously.

“Yes, I’ll tell you the remainder of the story. He was carrying a heavy briefcase and in it were many vials. He told me that he put the vials into food replicators, and that was the method that the priests used to poison men in the Empire. He then started to fiddle with his mouth, I transported him into a medical pod but it was too late he had poisoned himself. When I thought about it afterwards the whole sickening plan was obvious.

“Papa Zora, for his own twisted reasons, wants to damage men and reduce their fertility in the Empire. What better way to do so to introduce poisons into the replicators? If you also control the medical pods, you can ensure that you are not discovered. He builds both the medical pods and the software that controls them and many of the doctors in the Empire are part of the priesthood. It’s a lovely closed nasty dirty system. He’s been doing this for a long time. The problems that men have, are nothing to do with the nonsense that has been sprouted and I’ve heard. There’s no doubt that he’s up to something very serious,” said Jason thoughtfully, but with a very angry tone in his voice.

“We also heard you found some information on the ship about his activities?” Phoebe asked.

“Yes,” said Jason, “lots of sick stuff that supports my conclusions that he’s an evil son of a bitch, up to no good, and is a traitor of the worst kind.”

“I’d like to get that bastard before he gets me. I also have an obligation to my great grandfather that I can’t forget. Sadly, I’m not going to attack Nirvana with a borrowed battleship, the cruiser, a damaged destroyer, and even more severely damaged frigates but I know that if I don’t deal with Papa Zora in time, Papa Zora will deal with me.

“That reminds me, how the hell does The Mob fit into this; and are they after the ship, or me? I guess you will tell me all tomorrow, let’s not talk work tonight.

“I am delighted to have you as colleagues in this bizarre series of events in which we replace ourselves. Now let me propose a toast to victory over the infidels,” said Jason as he raised his glass. They all followed him in raising their glasses. He topped up the glasses that were empty.

“To victory and may we all overcome our adversaries,” said Jason and then proceeded to explain the tradition of the toast.

“Now let’s continue to eat, I promise not to be maudlin for the rest of this evening and then I’d like to hear from Cherry next,” he said as he beckoned to Robert to deliver the next course.

“My story is a little different from most of your stories, and will surprise you I expect. My parents were both slaves in the Norg abyss. Pirates captured them on their cruise ship on their honeymoon. They sold my parents as slaves to an abominable smelly obese pervert of a merchant who owned a substantial mine on Oodna in the pirate, no man’s land. Life is brutal on that bleak and miserable place. They maintain the mine poorly, caring nothing for the wellbeing of the miners who have a brutal, sad, and very short life.

“When my parents arrived, the cooks for management were terrible and the mining boss interrogated all the slaves to replace if there was anybody who could cook. My father is an exceptional chef and was soon cooking for the mine boss and senior staff. My father heard that they were looking for a pilot and suggested my mother. My mother is an excellent pilot and they used her to ship ore to freighters in orbit.

“I was born on Oodna. It’s a desolate windswept world, but it was my first home. I knew no better. I was as happy as any child. I was fortunate to go to school with the children of management. My father simply took me to the classroom and that was where I stayed. No one questioned it.

“My parents very carefully and very patiently planned their escape. The merchant who owned the mine visited irregularly. My mother obtained information about one of his trips. His pilots fell ill on the first night after they arrived, as my father poisoned them. My father suggested to the merchant that my mother fly the merchant and his yacht home and he would cook. The slimy fat stinking merchant agreed with alacrity as he had an appointment to fetch some more human fodder for his mines. Mother smuggled me aboard and hid me. My father poisoned the merchant and the entire crew. Some of the children on the mine told me about what he had done to them. I wished I could have killed him myself. We were much too fast for any pursuit. I didn’t know that my parents had it in them.

“On the long trip my mother taught to me how to fly the yacht. Flying became my mistress and my passion. We had enough fuel to fly to Nazrod IV where they sold the yacht for a small fortune and we returned home. We are a family of manufacturers of components for a variety of machines. We ship all over the Empire. On our return home, we were feted as the long-lost children and only grandchild and given every privilege. I found unlimited opportunities to indulge my interest in flying or anything else for that matter. I had no further brothers or sisters.

“I’ve a strong interest in ending all slavery. I’ve a profound loathing for pirates. I wanted to protect people from pirates and slavery, so I decided that flying for the Armed Forces was the way to do it. As soon as I could I entered pilot training and I’ve been a pilot for quite a few years. I still love it. I’m also a geek by nature and have a strong interest in the cyberwarfare group and assist when I can. I do a lot of flying for them.

“Now it’s over to you, Kirsten, after Jason organizes the next course. That was an excellent meal, Jason, please thank the kitchen staff for us all,” said Janet as she rubbed her stomach and groaned.

“I was born in the Palace of the Emperor and was delivered by the Empress Alana’s personal physician. You can say I’m close to royalty, but unfortunately not Royal. My mother is an Imperial guard, and my father is a gardener at the palace. There’s a small Junior School at the palace which I attended before I went to regular school. I always had a guard who took me to school and back. My mother’s family serve as Marines and have done so for thousands of years. I have a brother and a sister, both of whom are Marines.

“I was doing advanced training prior to promotion at the war college when the commanding general told me to report to the battleship for a training assignment. He said he had the feeling that I’d get better training on the battleship than I would at the war college. He said he had been speaking to the people from intelligence. He said nothing of interest was happening anywhere else in the Empire, and he felt that something was going to happen on the battleship. He said he had been talking with his colleagues and they were going to ensure that the Marines stayed with the ship. He said that it would be a long trip, but it would be a good opportunity for me to train, study and then reality would face me and I’d discover if I’d be a good or a great Marine. I’ve no doubt that I’m now in the reality component about which he told me!”

“Thank you, Kirsten,” said Janet, “thank you for your account. The Empress, I suspect, was behind many of us being here. She’s a quiet power behind the throne.”

“Jason, we all go to the gym every morning,” said Janet changing subject onto a topic of common interest to the women present, “and then have a lesson in some aspect of unarmed combat or fighting with other weapons. After that we move on to sparring, have a session in the sauna, and have breakfast. We can entertain you in our canteen for breakfast. We start at oh-six-hundred, in the gym. I’d suggest that you make your way to that previously hidden door and I’ll have someone take you to the gym. I’ll get one of the trainers to help you with your rehabilitation. We’ll be careful with you for the remainder of the session,” said Janet. “At the gym, we are all friends and it’s a first name basis. You will meet the formidable Staff Sgt. Lucia Pablo who trains us.”

Jason agreed to join them in the morning, waved to them and headed back to his wardroom, patted the dogs, updated Lauren on the most recent events and read her most recent emails. He fell into a deep sleep to wake at his usual early time to go to the gym.

He didn’t recall dreaming before waking after the alarm went off and both dogs jumped on the bed. They nuzzled him on both sides putting their wet noses under the bed clothes to get him up and take them for their run and to chase a ball. But first it was breakfast for them and the routine was not to be broken.

Both dogs looked like Rottweilers. Rosie was a huge Rottweiler, Doberman, German Shepherd, Ridgeback mix with a delightful personality and affectionate nature. Lilly was a very slightly smaller version of the same and the last of the same litter. They were both trained to hunt and to guard and were fiercely loyal, though they were both playful and friendly with people they knew.

Jason believed that they considered themselves his children and didn’t see themselves as dogs. Most of the time they went with him everywhere. They first ran with Jason to one of the large holds which was partially filled with material from the asteroids, but there was still plenty of space for more material. The space was huge and not easily filled. The floor didn’t feel metallic, but it was more like walking on a soft linoleum. It was a very robust material and seemed to heal itself when a big piece of asteroid damaged it. Jason had a large metallic arm extension with a cup for throwing a ball significantly bigger than a tennis ball. He also brought along his baseball bat to hit the balls when his arm got tired of throwing for the two dogs. They each carried their own ball.

The Ship AI kept the area that the dogs used clean and made a self-cleaning dog toilet area shortly after Jason’s arrival both in his wardroom and in the hold.

Jason threw the balls, ran and hid, hit the balls, chased the dogs and they all had a whale of a time. Sometimes he ran two or three times around the cargo hold before he went to the gym. Sometimes they simply went for a long run throughout the ship. Sometimes he took them to the hold and then he cycled throughout the ship with his guards following behind using their own small armored vehicles. Today was to be a change of routine.

A few minutes after waking and dressing, he and the dogs ran through the bulkhead scaring the daylights out of the young marine waiting in gym clothing next to the bulkhead. She said something about rage hounds and appeared to be battling to control her fear. Jason introduced her to the two dogs who took to her rapidly and were keen to lick her hands and face. She explained to Jason that in their culture there were myths of dogs that had great powers. She believed they evolved the capacity to travel through space, were fiercely loyal, and fought for their masters to the death. She heard that they had horns and electrical powers that allowed them to shock their victims. She said that she didn’t know how much of all of this was legend and how much was reality. She said that the pictures she had seen were exactly like Rosie and Lilly except they had horns.

People scattered and ran after seeing Jason and the dogs arrive at the gym. Jason called out that these were his dogs and even though they looked like rage hounds, they were only dangerous to his enemies. He introduced the dogs to the senior Marines. Janet and Phoebe asked many questions about the dogs and how they had bitten the priests. Jason opened their mouths and showed their teeth to an appreciative audience. They were amused when the dogs stood on their hind legs and slobbered on his face and neck.

Janet showed Jason around the gym including the spa and sauna with the ubiquitous sparring mat. He joined her on a cross trainer, then a bicycle before pushing weights. He noticed that the Marines had finely chiseled muscles and looked strong. He wondered if they were augmented as they were heavily muscled for women, even though still very feminine in their gym clothes.

Janet looked as though she was in her early thirties, though he suspected that she was much older. She had blonde hair that was more yellow than one would usually see on earth, and eyes of a shade of blue that was quite unusual. She was a little smaller than Phoebe Harris, but very well-built. He saw that even with his left arm feeling a little weak he did well pushing weights with the marines. When he thought about it no one looked older than forty on the whole ship. It was strange not seeing older faces on people some of whom were thousands of years old. Most looked as though they were in their mid-twenties.

Phoebe was very warm and friendly to Jason and suggested she introduce him to Lucia Pablo, before she used the refresher as she and Janet had to go to work early.

“Lucia, I want to introduce you to Jason. He’s the person that we went to fetch on Earth. I’d have liked to have seen him spar, as he tells me that he learned martial arts and he’s been working out with the marine AI in his gym. When the Mob boarded and attacked the bridge they did shoot Jason in the left shoulder. So, he’s not able to spar for a few days. I know you’ve done a lot of rehabilitation work. Can you help Jason get up to speed?”

“Hi, Jason, before we begin can you give me some background of your experience?”

“My father fought in special forces, and he began to teach me from early childhood what he knew about martial arts. From the time, I was six, I attended classes, and began to compete when I was nine years of age. I continued with my father, but I also attended classes throughout school, the army, university, and after. I wound down as I aged. When I entered the ship, I found my skills and strength sorely lacking. The AI believes that I’ve improved but am well below standard for the Marines,” said Jason sadly. He looked around and everyone was smiling or laughing.

“Jason everyone is laughing because the AI says that to everyone. The AI continues to raise the standard no matter how good you are.

“You are safe to do forms with us. Join us in working through our forms, then you can watch us do some sparring and subsequently if we have time to do some work using the crystals. Incidentally, what crystal do you have, and what are your powers?” Lucia asked him.

“I don’t have a crystal, yet. I hope to get one as soon we have a bit of time for a breather,” said Jason hopefully.

“Jason before we begin I’d be interested to see you do some of the forms of the martial arts forms that you have on your planet.”

He hoped that he wouldn’t embarrass himself excessively as he started and began to work through his forms systematically.

“Those forms are quite fascinating and very different from what I’ve seen anywhere in the Empire. I’ll be very interested to see how those methods work in practice at a later stage,” said Lucia sounding very interested.

He could see that as he went through that it interested the Marines deeply and several later expressed considerable interest in his martial arts.

Jason joined in the class and found that he did as well as most of the group.

Jason watched them sparring and was very impressed watching them put full effort into everything that they did. Within minutes they were sweating and tired, but no one relaxed, nor were they slack.

Lucia was a small; strongly built, but compact. She was also a very attractive young-looking woman with pink/bronze colored hair. Jason could see that she was very strong and very quick. She was faster than anyone else that he saw at the gym and she anticipated attacks remarkably well. Her skin was a little darker than most. She had extraordinary blue eyes and very dark plump red purple lips and red/bronze skin. Her movements were economical and her technique was the most perfect he had seen.

He began to look around at the gym. It was very much bigger with more equipment by far than the gym he’d attended on Earth. It looked like a hard-working gym and there was a distinct smell of sweat. The floor looked scratched and worn despite its self-repairing status, as did much of the equipment. Everything was impeccably clean and all the equipment was well maintained. The sparring mat was a dark brown, and much thinner than mats he had used. The cover had cracked in several places. He watched Lucia throw her current opponent on to the mat and the impact was thunderous.

He looked around at his fellow gym attendees. He noticed that all of them had similar T-shirts that fitted tightly to their bodies with short shorts that showed off their legs. The men’s legs and arms largely appeared hairless and they had much slighter builds than the women. Some men had neatly trimmed beards.

“People we don’t have enough time to do any more today. We’ll continue tomorrow morning, same time, same place. Thank you all very much,” she took Jason aside to join her in a quick drink of water.

“Have you had any form of augmentation?” Lucia asked Jason.

“No, the medical AI has been given instructions that I’m not to be augmented. I do have some advantage over some of the Marines as Earth has a heavier gravity than Cassiopeia,” said Jason.

“Lucia, you mentioned something about powers from crystals that people have, can you explain a little more?”

“The general population have their genes optimized to reduce the risk of illness. The Marines have augmentation which consists of a special gene optimization targeting genes to improve physical fitness, coordination, persistence, concentration, muscular strength, energy, and drive.

“We go a long way beyond the usual health gene optimization to help us cope in adverse environments. We don’t do this optimization until we have a crystal in place. The crystal may do a considerable amount of its own optimization and in some cases, it’s superior to that which our medical pods can achieve.

“A crystal can give you several powers and these powers could include telepathy, telekinesis, time distortion, anticipation, and a few other less common powers.

“Every marine has to enter a trans-dimensional room after their third year of training to obtain their crystal and insert their crystal into it’s appropriate slot.”

“Lucia, how many have more than one slot and can you fit more than one crystal into a slot?”

“There were rumors that some people did have more slots and more crystals, but I’ve not met such a person. There are rumors circulating that the Royal family can accept the biggest crystals and have more than one slot. It’s an unsubstantiated rumor and remains unconfirmed. The size and the color of the crystal are important in terms of capacity. For example, the crystal that an admiral might have would have an entirely different organizational capacity and impart completely different skills to the user than the crystal that a marine would use or the crystal that an IT specialist would install. I don’t know who determines the crystal’s attributes, or who builds them. The crystal connects the person to new powers from the other dimension.”

“Jason come and see me first thing when you get to the gym tomorrow morning. I want to give you a tailored routine to help your left arm recover full power. You will get a better result doing what I suggest than your own routine. The Marines on the bridge have spoken well of you, and we all will want you to get back to your previous best level. Join my sparring group and continue to work out with us. When you’re ready, I’ll start you off on some very light sparring, and work up quickly from there. Now we go to the sauna which soothes tired muscles and repairs minor injuries.”

They all disrobed. He couldn’t believe the spectacular physiques that appeared. They all looked beautiful and even the men were exceedingly handsome. Not a hair appeared on any of their bodies. If one looked closely their skin had more of a reddish tinge in some while others had more of a blue color. One marine was green and another yellow. He saw gray, bronze, pink, purple, platinum, brown, black, red, orange, green, and even beige colored hair. He saw hair in a wide variety of styles. Most of the hair was short but even so, some was straight, some was Afro and some was fluffy and some kinky. A few had their heads shaved. There was no shyness or self-consciousness. His hairy legs, and hairy chest excited much interest.

The sauna was a more powerful medical recovery machine than the one in his area. It could accommodate at least forty at a time. Within ten minutes every ache and cramp disappeared and a few minutes later, all evidence of bruises were gone. The room was hot and they sweated profusely. Drinks were handed around. The women were very “friendly”. They were very touchy-feely with each other and in particular with Jason. Lucia sat very close to him with their bodies tightly against each other, with her on his left side and her right leg across his left.

A large marine to his right introduced herself as McGregor and sat equally attached to him. She said that she had been on the bridge with him. Both had their arms behind him and on his shoulders. The air felt humid and had a soporific effect. Jason could smell a musky smell. He watched with horror as he got an erection and it became iron hard. It was the first he had in nearly thirty years after an accident had fractured three vertebrae and he steadily lost function over the next four years. Lucia Pablo pulled his head down and kissed him deeply, raised herself up in an instant and straddled him, looked at him as if asking for permission.

“Lucia, much though I’d like to do this with you, I just don’t feel that I can so soon after the death of my wife. Please forgive me. You are a very attractive woman; but I’m a very old-fashioned man from a primitive planet with archaic values. She moaned and slowly began moving while moaning and moved her upper body from side to side, and slowly moved to sit next to him.

To Jason, it seemed as if his life on Earth felt such a long time ago and so distant. He felt conflicted both by not doing and by not pleasing. He didn’t feel free yet to start another relationship. He wanted to enjoy the moment and take advantage of his returned sexual function. He was facing life and death problems and didn’t want to miss any worthwhile experience, as it might be his last; but he just couldn’t let himself go.

Jason looked down at his erection still standing proudly and watched as it moved with his heartbeat. He was mortified with embarrassment. He saw the women looking at him intensely, and licking their lips.

They adjourned to the spa with the women teasing him about his erection and calling him ‘studly Jason.’ He apologized abjectly for his feelings. They all said that they were going to schedule ‘an appointment’ for an injection whenever he was ready to ‘fit them in!’ Jason left the spa feeling very embarrassed, but mellow.