Viking Love Beyond Time (Time Travel Romance) (4 page)

             
“No way!” she snarled “if I let that egotistical, arrogant..................it doesn’t bear thinking about, he would be unbearable, I could never have him on my crew again”

             
“Obviously” replied the computer “but from your personal view of him would that be a bad thing?  I am taking about a purely physical relationship here, not a little plexi in the Cotswolds, two children and a cat, you asked me what to do about your mental wellbeing and I have told you - get laid Captain”

             
Austen jumped to her feet.  “Cancel psychoanalytical mode, strike from log all records of this conversation, prime directive 3556”

             
“Cancellation confirmed” it responded.  The screen went blank.

             
Austen turned on her heel and headed for the door, there she turned. “I’ll bet you were programmed by a man!” she snapped

             
Seconds later the turbo lift hissed to a halt at the gymnasium and an angry Austen disappeared into a cubicle.  Tearing off her boiler suit, she pushed a button on the wall and a panel slid back to reveal a neatly folded leotard.  Half an hour or so pumping iron would get rid of her frustrations.  Have sex with Luke Owen indeed! How ridiculous!

             
She walked into the body of the gym and selecting a weight she lay down on a bench and started lifting it above her head.  After twenty lifts she stood up and began to touch her toes vigorously.  She was so intent on what she was doing that she did not notice when the door opened and Luke Owen walked in. “You’re just as beautiful from this angle Captain ma’am” he drawled as he disappeared into the cubicle.

             
Austen sighed and straightened up.  “Owen” she called out “for both our sakes forget about bedding me, it isn’t going to happen”.   There was silence for a few moments then Owen appeared, bare chested, wearing only a pair of shorts.  Despite herself Austen felt her eyes travelling across his broad chest, each muscle perfectly outlined and shadowed in the bright light of the gym.

             
He stretched, and walking across to the weights, picked the heaviest and clean pressed it. “I only wish I could” he grunted, “but at the moment it’s all I can think about, I’m sorry but there it is”

             
Austen stalked angrily into the changing cubicle and dressing quickly she walked back into the gym.  Owen was lying on his back on the angle bench looking at himself in the mirror as he bench pressed thirty six kilograms.  She stopped opposite him and kneeling down whispered “Owen, if you swear not to tell anyone I’ll make you a promise”.

             
He looked away from the mirror and at her, she was so beautiful that it almost hurt, putting
down
the weight he sat up. “Is it a sexual promise?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.

             
“You bet mister” replied Austen, running her tongue over her lips.

             
“Oh Christ, Alodie, you’d better deliver whatever it is” he growled.

             
“When we get back to Earth” she whispered “I’m going to give a party....”
             

“Just for the two of us?” he interrupted.

             
Austen put her finger over his lips, “..........I’m going to give a party.  I personally will not be there but I will pay for the best whore in town to come and relieve you of the sexual frustrations that are obviously interfering with your concentration and marring your performance as a navigator”.  She placed her hand theatrically over her heart “I, as your captain, solemnly promise you this, for the good of the company” she continued, then sprang to her feet and stretched. “I’m going to bed now Owen, alone, before you come out with any more facetious remarks”

             
Turning, she headed towards the door, as she reached it he called out “Captain ma’am” she turned “save your money, I don’t want a whore, I want you, and let me tell you something.  One of these days or nights I’ll find out what lights your lamp and then I’ll make love to you.  You may have a brain like a computer but one thing’s for sure, you’ve got the body of a woman with a woman’s needs and desires, and the way I feel right now I could just throw you on the floor and pleasure you senseless.  I might lose my job, my pension, get time, but the way I see it an hour of ecstasy with you would be worth a couple years on an asteroid rock pile”.  

             
For once Austen was speechless, she could not believe the lengths men would go to for sexual gratification, “Take a green pill Owen” she replied, lamely.

             
Owen laughed, “No thanks Captain, they don’t work for you so what on Earth makes you think they’d work for me”

             
Austen slammed out of the gym and almost ran into the turbo lift, once again fighting for control.  “Bastard, bastard, bastard” she hissed as the lift took her to the crew’s quarters.  As she stepped into the pink corridor (Lord who had chosen the colour scheme tonight?) a vision of Luke Owen flashed before her.  What he would have thought if he could have heard her conversation with Mindbank sent shivers down her spine.

             
Entering her quarters, sparsely but tastefully furnished (a holo of herself as a child with her parents by the side of the big blue circular bed, white shelves with various mementos picked up from her travels, a clothes closet), she stripped and studied her naked body in the mirror.  Full breasts, slim but womanly hips, flat stomach, straight slim legs, very short cropped hair, deep blue, almost violet eyes, straight nose, a mouth slightly on the generous side.  A normal enough body as far as she was concerned, nothing to get uptight about.

             
Shrugging, she climbed into the bath pod and let the bubbles cleanse her skin, making her feel spotless and scrubbed.  After a final jet of perfumed water she climbed out and opened her closet.  She removed from it a blue lace creation, fitted round the bosom, slit up the sides and plunging to a deep ‘v’ between her breasts.  Night-dresses were her only sop to feminine vanity - no one ever saw them.  For a moment she thought of Luke Owen and imagined what she would do if he walked in, determined to have his way with her.  He was immensely strong, could she stop him?  Would she want to?

             
“The pig’s too handsome for his own good” she said aloud as she climbed into bed and, wondering if it would be held against him in command selection, she turned over, dimmed the lights and fell asleep.

             
The emergency alarm on the console next to Austen’s bed screamed into life exactly six hours later.  Waking immediately she hit the communicator.  “Captain, yes” she snapped, realising that her hands were shaking.

             
“Adair here ma’am - Captain, could you come to the bridge, we’ve a hell of a problem here”

             
“On my way” she replied, her training taking over from her momentary panic.  Jumping out of bed she threw on her boiler suit then, running her fingers across her scalp, she made her way to the bridge.

             
Adair, Owen and Bradey were already there and as she entered all three glanced up, faces fraught with worry “What’s the story?” she asked.

             
Adair scratched his head with a long sucker like finger “I ran a routine diagnostic on the navigation array...”

             
“And?”

             
“It’s like this ma’am” cut in Bradey, obviously exasperated by the Medullan’s slow, clipped speech “the main circuit on navigation has three burned out components”

             
“Impossible, what about self repair”

             
Bradey took a swallow of coffee “That’s the rub, that’s one of the components”

             
Austen felt her stomach begin to churn “and the others..............?”

             
Bradey and Owen exchanged a glance “Automatic warning” continued Bradey “and, this is the big one, main direction locator - Captain, it’s a one in a billion chance.......”

             
Austen groaned and put her hand to her head “In other words, we don’t know where the hell we are” she ran over to the nearest communicator and stabbed a button, the
lilting Welsh
brogue of the chief engineer,
Williams
, answered “
Williams
, take us out of hyper, immediately” she snapped, then turned to her crew “Adair, come with me to the obs. deck, Owen and Bradey get out the star maps, if the automatic’s out we may have to plot our position manually”

             
“Aye ma’am” said Adair, slowly.  Without waiting for him Austen ran for the turbo lift, the Medullan just managing to insinuate his long green body through the doors before they shut.

             
They rode up to the observation deck in silence; the scene outside the plexiform globe became violet, then blue, then stars appeared.  They were out of hyper but where were they?

             
Austen sat down at the computer console and feverishly stabbed some buttons.  “What the hell happened Mindbank?” she asked without preamble.

             
“I presume, Captain that you are referring to the three components in navigation?” replied the computer.

             
“Well I’m not talking about the result of the last World Series” she snapped.

             
“Three of the navigation array circuits malfunctioned” replied the computer “the chances of this happening to three circuits all inter-dependent on one another at once is  nine hundred and sixty million, fourteen thousand, six hundred and fifty to one”

             
“Great, so we win the lottery, any suggestions as to where we are?” she turned to Adair “I don’t need to ask whether you replaced the components Adair”

             
“I did ma’am” he replied -  Austen nodded.

             
“Well, Mindbank, where are we?  I’m just praying the star map is functional” she had no sooner spoken than the ship shuddered along its length.  Both Adair and Austen looked up in time to see a dozen or so asteroids flash past at high speed.

             
“Damn” whispered Austen “damage report Mindbank”

             
“Slight damage to outer skin, being worked on now by self repair, that is not, however, our main problem”

             
Austen took a deep breath “What is?” she asked, the words coming out almost as a croak, she already knew what the computer was going to say.

             
“Unfortunately, we appear to be approaching the accretion disk of black hole Copernicus”

             
Alodie took a deep breath “I’m going to initiate the Caligari manoeuvre” she whispered.

             
“Unfortunately Captain we are too close to the anomaly for that to work”  it replied.

             
The room seemed to spin, Austen felt bile rush into her mouth, she hit the communicator “
Williams
, all stop, dead stop - now” she yelled.

             
The ship seemed to slow, very slightly.  “That’s not going to help Captain” said Adair.

             
“
Williams
, put us into reverse, at my mark - now!” Again the huge ship shuddered and imperceptibly slowed but kept up its forward momentum.  She turned to Adair “Suggestions Number One?”

             
“Abandon ship Captain” he commented “the crew will be able to get out on the shuttles, they’re lighter and if they use
The Colossus
as a shield they should be able to get away, they’ll have enough fuel to get them to Carinthea or Dalto at the least”
Owen won’t like it
on Dalto
flashed an illogical thought across her mind.

             
“Mindbank, how long have we got?” she asked, a strange feeling of serenity beginning to wash over her.

             
“Maximum time before the shuttles also find it impossible to pull away, five minutes” replied the computer.

             
She turned to Adair “You, Owen, your cadet, Parnell and
Williams
go in one shuttle and head for Dalto.  Bradey, Cameron and the rest of the crew go in the other and make for Carinthea, I’ll  leave it to you to explain where we are and what’s happened”

             
Adair got to his feet.  “What about you ma’am?”

             
“There are three shuttles, leave me one” she replied “now you heard what Mindbank said, you have five minutes to get the crew out”

             
“You’re not going to try and navigate through that thing are you Alodie?” he asked, quietly “as your oldest friend I.....”

             
Austen put her hand on his arm “As my only friend Adair, just get moving,  I’ll get out in time, I’m not about to commit suicide - now get out of here before I have you on an insubordination rap” she turned and hit the
‘abandon ship’
alarm and winced as the klaxon sounded, harsh and shrill.  Adair saluted and left the deck.

             
She turned back to her console “now tell me Mindbank, what are my chances of getting through this thing?”

             
“You mean navigate the black hole Captain?  I have no data, it’s never been done.  Copernicus is big, hungry and is sucking everything in for millions of kilometres around.”

             
Austen laughed hollowly “you mean anything going through there is going to be pulled into a million mile long piece of gum”

             
“Actually Captain” observed the computer “in a ship this size you do have a slight, a very slight, chance.  If, at the exact second you hit the event horizon, you put full power on the lateral thrusters you may go down, through and out the other side”

             
Austen glanced up as the two shuttles blasted off, she felt very alone.  Shaking her head, briskly she turned back to the console “and end up where?”

             
“Insufficient data to answer that question Captain, do you actually intend to stay aboard?”

             
Austen smiled, grimly “listen, I’d rather navigate twenty black holes than face Vice President Loxley with the news that I had abandoned this vessel - when do we hit?”

             
“Five minutes Captain, you have exactly one minute to get to a shuttle and blast off if you intend to do so”

             
Austen stretched her arms above her head. “In other words, Mindbank, by the time I got to the shuttle and powered up it would be too late”

             
“Correct Captain” replied the computer.

             
She cut to manual pilot and, standing up, looked out at the sight outside the dome.  Black hole was the correct term for the thing she was looking at, it was like looking into a tunnel but a tunnel of such infinite blackness that not one beam of light could escape, around its accretion disk was a dazzling light show as it pulled in star stuff from trillions of kilometres around into its infinite black maw.  She racked her brains in an effort to remember what she had learned of black holes.

             
They had been discovered in the twentieth century and, even with the huge leaps in space technology since that time, they had remained a mystery.  They were collapsed stars, stars whose mass was so great that light itself could not escape from them.  They were, in effect, huge holes in the fabric of space/ time itself.  No one had ever successfully navigated one, no one had ever returned from one.

             
Mindbank cut into her thoughts “Two minutes to event horizon, Captain”

             
She walked back to the console, the sky above her had gone completely black, the stars had all winked out.  Austen wished now that Owen had insisted, that he had taken her to bed but
“if wishes were horses we all could ride”
her mother had said that.

             
“One minute Captain” she flexed her fingers over the thruster buttons, he really did have a magnificent body - now, as she was about to die, she let her thoughts run riot.  “Event horizon in thirty seconds, twenty nine, twenty eight.....” no one  had ever successfully navigated a black hole, if she did it she would be the most famous captain in history “Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen.....” droned the computer, Austen turned and looked up, the whole ‘sky’ was black, solid black as if painted “three two one.....” she pressed the lateral thrusters viciously and the ship was swept off to the left, left and down like a leaf in a maelstrom.

******************** 

             
Reality dissolved into chaos!  There were three Alodie Austens - all different, standing next to her: a seven year old Austen dressed in black, an eager young ensign, a serious young captain, the door hissed open and in walked her mother.  Austen tried to get up to go to her but couldn’t move, Nerissa floated above her, smiling, then, nightmare, the flesh began to drop from her body in red lumps and a rotting skeleton reached out for her with bony talons and a death’s head grin.

             
Austen screamed and the sound came out impossibly slowly.  She held up her hand and looked at it, it stretched before her eyes, went out forever and into eternity, there was no gravity, she was floating, she was at one with space, she became space, a new star, her hands and feet were the planets.
So this is death
she found herself thinking
not unpleasant really but oh, I have so much living yet to do
then she hit the deck and seemed to disintegrate like dust, falling..........falling.