Chapter Two
By the time the lid to the slumberpod had fully retracted, Maia was in position. She stood in front of the pod, slightly to one side, with her hands folded in front of her, so her entire body would be visible at once. In her flowing green dress, she wasn’t concerned about blending into the wall the way Rowan did. She wanted the first thing the occupant saw as she opened her eyes to be a calm smile on the face of a familiar figure.
“Greetings, Sherzade. Welcome back.”
The almond-shaped eyes fluttered, then fixed on hers. Maia opened herself, felt lethargy and vague confusion. “Take a moment to orient yourself,” she said gently.
“Is it over? Are we on Tyrendia 3?”
“Commander Burnett is verifying our location right now. She’ll be here soon to bring us all up to speed.”
Stepping out of the slumberpod, Sherzade yawned and ran her fingers through the short silver-white hair spiking straight up all over her head. Her trademark, the synthetic crystals imbedded in her tunic, immediately began glowing in every shade of blue, from deep indigo to the pale cerulean of the Feather Cloud Nebula. Fitting, considering her position as Social Illuminatrix.
The Federation had never appointed an SI to a mission before. But then, this was no ordinary interplanetary delegation. Like Maia, every other woman in the group had been chosen for her unique area of expertise. Some had highly specialized skills. Others were born with gifts they honed over time, like her own abilities as an empath and Healer. Qui Jin Chang, Earth’s newly elected prime minister, was a progressive. He believed in fostering intergalactic peace by forging ties based on mutual respect and understanding, rather than relying solely on wielding military force. As Social Illuminatrix, Sherzade would gather data on the interpersonal and societal interactions of the Tyrendians, searching for common ground with Earthers.
Back home, Sherzade’s weekly broadcasts made her a rock star. Her holographic form appeared in nearly every home on the planet. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, her chronicles brought to life the joys and struggles of people from every corner of the globe. Finding the threads that bind all humans together. She touched lives and hearts with her stories, and Chang hoped she could shed light on ways to create a lasting diplomatic alliance between two very different worlds.
The pod at the far end of the bay slid open and both women headed for it at once. The occupant, Ellen Davis, was as different from Maia and Sherzade as anyone could be and still share the same gender classification. Unlike Maia’s soft flowing gown and Sherzade’s eye-catching garb, Ellen chose to dress in comfortable but drab beige jumpsuits. A brilliant scientist, she had a lightning-quick analytical mind. Choices in outer appearance were a trivial matter to her, hardly worth her time. She wore her dark hair short and the lack of any makeup made her large blue eyes stand out even more in her slender face.
“Greetings, Ellen. Welcome back to the world.”
Those blue eyes blinked, then focused on the faces of the two women in front of her. “Maia. Sherzade. Greetings.” She glanced around the room. “Where’s everyone else? They haven’t transported to Tyrendia 3 already, have they?”
Maia spoke before Sherzade could answer. “The commander is on the bridge and the others haven’t Awakened yet.” She heard the hiss of another pod. “I need to go. Sherzade, could you stay with Ellen for a bit? Stepping out of the slumberpod and back into a gravitational field sometimes creates a sensation of dizziness.”
“Thanks, but I’m used to that,” Ellen said. “I’ve been in slumberpod simulations. You’d both better go. If the next one to Awaken is Xia, you’ll have your hands full.”
Instead, it was Rashida’s pod that slid open.
“Greetings. Welcome back to the world, Holy One.”
Maia put her hands together in a prayer position and lowered her head in a gesture of respect.
Rashida gave the traditional response. “Greetings, Maia. The Goddess sends you Her blessings,” she murmured in a soft voice.
She ignored the hand Maia offered and stepped gracefully from the pod, her silk robes shimmering in the light. Since she expected the male cyborgs to be present when she Awakened, she’d entered the slumberpod with the customary veil covering her face and hair. Only her delicate hands and her deep brown kohl-rimmed eyes were visible.
She exuded an air of peace and serenity. Maia was happy to have her calm presence at hand when the lid suddenly retracted on the pod next to her.
Eyelids opened a crack. Blue eyes peeked out from under a mop of unruly blonde curls.
“Greetings, Ashleigh. Welcome back to the world.”
“Hi, Maia,” she answered drowsily.
Ashleigh rubbed her eyes with her fists like a sleepy toddler. Then her eyes opened wide, followed by her mouth, and the onslaught began.
“O. M. G.! Are we here already? I can’t believe it! It seems like I just fell asleep. Hi, Sherzade. Hi, Rashida. Hey, guess what? I had a dream about you, Rashida. We were hanging out in this park together in San Francisco, just chillin’. It was back in the last millennium. Way before my time, even. I gotta tell you, with the way you dress and the whole New Age thing you’re into, you woulda fit right in back then.”
Ashleigh bounced out of the slumberpod, then stopped dead, as though an actual thought had interrupted her ramblings. “Wait! Maybe you were from there. I bet you could put yourself in a trance to go back and find out. You’re one of those mystics who’s had, like, tons of past lives, right?”
Why the Federation chose to send Ashleigh to Tyrendia 3 was still a mystery. Maia suspected it was because they didn’t know what to do with her on Earth. She wasn’t as airheaded as she sometimes pretended to be. Maia was certain of that. After all, at the dawning of the twenty-first century the girl pled her case successfully before the highest courts in her land. Convinced them to allow her to be the first human cryogenically preserved before her death occurred, hoping a cure would be found for her rare form of brain cancer sometime in the distant future.
Two years ago, a team of archaeologists discovered the vault where she’d been kept. Lost for hundreds of years, under the remains of what had once been the ancient city of Los Angeles. Scientists were shocked to discover her cryomains were still viable, considering the primitive techniques in use when she was frozen back at the beginning of the third millennium.
Since she wasn’t of legal age, once her illness was remediated, Ashleigh became a ward of the Federation. She’d been kept under close guard until her twenty-first birthday last year, while teams of scientists and scholars took advantage of the opportunity to study her. Maia didn’t know who made the decision to turn her loose on an unsuspecting planet, but she was fairly certain whoever it was would never rise any further in the Federation’s ranks of political power. When her existence became known, young people immediately claimed her as some kind of superhero. She’d lived in ancient times, among near-mythical figures like the Kardashian tribe, then cheated death to rise up from the grave.
To the horror of Federation officials, Ashleigh was a born rebel. Once free to live outside a lab, she challenged everything about her new world, from the mode of dress to the rules governing society. The revealing clothing she insisted on wearing was considered scandalous by those in power, as was her tendency to engage in spontaneous bursts of unapproved physical contact. Hugs, she called them.
Maia was surprised when the Federation assigned her to the team. Surprise turned to shock when the reticent Rashida struck up a friendship with her. Even embraced the concept of hugging.
The Holy One stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Ashleigh. “Greetings, little sister. I dreamt of you, too. We were in the presence of the Goddess.”
“Really? That is sick! Tell me all about it.”
Only one pod remained sealed. Maia took a reading of the room. Ellen and Sherzade stood with their heads together, speaking in hushed tones. She picked up tightly controlled anxiety from both of them. Nothing more than would be expected as they waited to meet the alien beings they’d volunteered to live among for years to come.
Rashida had her arm around Ashleigh’s shoulders. The young woman was spouting off again excitedly. One of her monologues so filled with archaic junkspeak Maia could hardly follow it.
“…and so I thought, like, this is dope! I mean, I barely get used to the idea that I’m alive again and they’re putting me back in suspended animation, sending me off on a spaceship as an envoy, whatever that is, from Earth. Now here I am, on a mission to another planet with my bestie from the future!”
They all turned to the door when Rowan strode into the room. Questions flew at her, but the commander held up a hand.
“Greetings, everyone. Welcome back to the world. I have some news, but it looks as though Xia’s pod hasn’t opened yet. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hold off until we’re all together.”
She avoided their eyes as she went to the last pod, entered the manual override code.
A powerful wave of negative emotions struck Maia the moment Rowan entered the room. She may have had news, but it wasn’t going to be good.
“Allow me, Commander,” she murmured, casually stepping in front of the woman as the lid to the pod began sliding open. Xia had an abnormal ability to sense any threat, the result of her extraordinary upbringing. It was as though she could pick up the scent of danger in the air. One look at Rowan and she’d know instantly that something was very wrong. There was no telling how she might react.
The most exotic member of the team, Xia had been raised in Africa. She was an orphan, taken in as a child by a tribe of Tuareg nomads who survived on the fringes of the Sahara desert. Maia had heard several versions of the story during the time they spent training for the mission. One had a Tuareg scout spying a wild child, a female human around three or four years old, nursing at the teat of a female lion deep in the heart of the Atlas mountains. She was naked and filthy, with a badly matted tangle of waist-length black hair. He waited till the lion went off to hunt, then snatched the child. Though she snarled at him, scratching and biting, the first thing he did was cut off her flea-infested hair with his knife. From that day, she never let it grow back.
According to the story no one, including Xia herself, knew where she’d come from. It was impossible to tell how long she’d been living with the beasts. She had no memory of any other life.
Now nearly seven feet tall with a shaved head and smooth sleek muscles rippling under skin more midnight blue than black, Xia was a strikingly beautiful woman—and a fierce warrior. She exhibited no fear and very little patience with typical human interaction.
Maia reminded herself of that as the hood of the slumberpod retracted. The woman’s piercing brown eyes popped open. Instantly awake and aware, without a hint of the stupor Maia felt when she Awakened.
She started to speak but Rashida materialized next to her and cut her off.
“Greetings, Xia. Welcome back to the world.” The Holy One put her hands together and bowed her head slightly, but Maia noticed her eyes never left the woman.
“Greetings, Holy One.”
Xia ignored the hand Rashida offered and stepped out of her pod. She took in the room with one quick glance. “No cyborgs? I was told they would be here to serve as Greeters when we Awakened. To assist in the transition back to consciousness.”
Rowan stepped forward. “Greetings, Xia. I’ve been waiting for you to Awaken to update everyone.”
“Update?” Xia narrowed her eyes, as though she sensed trouble. “We were to Awaken when we arrived on Tyrendia 3. I was told their emissaries would welcome us. Where are they—and why are the cyborgs not here?”
Maia saw Sherzade shoot Xia a worried glance. Though they hadn’t been together long before they embarked, the women chosen for the journey quickly struck up friendships, getting to know each other and exchanging confidences. Except for Xia, who seemed to have no interest in casual conversation. The other women had all heard stories about her exploits, including her fiery temper, and they gave her a wide berth.
“Please, Xia, if you’ll be patient, I’ll answer all your questions shortly,” Rowan replied. “As well as any questions the rest of you have,” she added, making eye contact one at a time with the others.
Ashleigh rushed over. She stopped short of giving Xia a hug when the woman simply stared at her outstretched arms. “About time you woke up, sleepyhead. The rest of us have been up for hours.” She backtracked when Rowan shot her a glance. “Okay, maybe not hours. But apparently something’s wrong and Rowan wouldn’t talk about it until you were awake too.” She gave the commander a defiant glare.
“This will be difficult for all of you to hear,” Rowan began slowly, as though searching for words that wouldn’t create instant panic in her passengers. “We’ve been in suspended animation far longer than we expected to be. According to a report by the ship’s computer, our destination, Tyrendia 3—in fact, its entire solar system—was wiped out before we got there. Destroyed. Not by an act of nature but by some unknown enemy.”
She ignored the shocked outbursts and raised her voice to continue. “Siri reported that the enemy forces scanned our vessel as we approached the area where we expected to disembark. When they found only two cyborgs and the rest of us in slumberpods, they deactivated the cyborgs with some type of beam and allowed our ship to go on unmanned. Fortunately for us, we’re in a passenger transport vessel unequipped for battle. We don’t carry any cargo they felt was worth appropriating and we posed no threat while in cryogenic sleep. So they let us live.”
The women all gaped at her, speechless.
“Our destination no longer existed,” she went on. “With the cyborgs who served as our first mate and navigator decommissioned, Siri had no one to give her commands. She allowed the autopilot to continue its preprogrammed heading, which carried us out of what had been Tyrendia 3’s solar system and into deep space.”
“So where exactly are we?” Ellen demanded, breaking the stunned silence. The scientist in the group, she wanted facts.
“We’re in Vector 6.”
“Vector 6? But that’s on the other side of the galaxy!” Ellen’s shocked outburst was followed by dawning recognition of their circumstances. “This area has never been fully mapped.” She glared at Rowan. “You have no idea where we are, do you? Just how long have we been asleep?”
“Roughly one hundred years.”
The women stared at each other in shock.
“This can’t be happening to me again. No fucking way!” Ashleigh shouted.
Ignoring her, Rowan went on. “The reason we’re not asleep any more is that our propulsion system has stopped. That sent our slumberpods into automatic wake cycle.”
The women all began talking at once. Except for Xia, who stood silently, taking it in.
Rowan held up a hand. “There’s more. Our ship has come in contact with another vessel. In what I believe is an attempt to rescue us, they deactivated our propulsion system and they’re basically towing us along behind them.”
“So for the last seventy years or so we barreled along, heading no place. Now we’re being dragged to God knows where by some faceless alien creatures from an unexplored quadrant of the Universe who you think are trying to save us. And if they’re not, we have no power. No way to escape.” Once again, Ellen cut to the chase.
Rowan sighed. “That’s one way to put it.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow. “Seems to me it’s the only way.”
“Many of our questions will be answered very soon.” Maia’s quiet voice interrupted. “I sense life forces drawing near. Prepare to be boarded, Commander. I believe we’re about to meet our rescuers.”