Project Starfighter (47 page)

His door chimed, and he pulled
himself up off the bed. Perhaps one of the others had come to check
in on him and make sure he was okay. They had been doing that every
few hours, but he had shooed them away each time, asking them to give
him more time. He would tell them now that he was ready to make the
jump to Sol, and for Phoebe and Ursula to prepare themselves. He
opened the door, expecting to see Sid on the other side.

“Oh,” he said in surprise. “Hi.”

“Hello,” Ursula said.

“Is ... everything okay? Has there
been a problem with upgrading your ship?” He was sure the task had
been completed without a hitch. The woman had also been able to take
control of the reconnected AI module without any issues. What the
problem could be, Chris wasn’t sure. Out of everyone that might
have come to visit him, Ursula was last on the list.

“No, nothing like that.” Ursula
smiled warmly. “Can I come in?”

“Um, sure,” Chris said, allowing
her to do so. She closed the door behind her, Chris noting that she
flicked the switch to lock it. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“It’s me, Chris. It’s Athena.”
Ursula continued to smile.

“Sorry?”

“It’s Athena. I know I look like
Ursula, but it’s me.”

Chris studied the small blonde woman
standing before him, before reaching out and touching her arm. He
felt the texture of her sleeve and the movement of her skin and
muscle beneath. He slid his hand down to hers, feeling the warmth and
softness there. He softly touched her face and then her hair,
allowing the strands to move through his fingers. All felt real, all
different from what he had come to expect of Athena’s avatar. When
the avatar was solid, it was consistently warm and a little fuzzy to
the touch. It was a functional representation of a human being, but
one that lacked a certain substance. It was easy to tell that it
wasn’t real.

Ursula/Athena waited patiently,
smiling almost mischievously as Chris continued his investigation.
“Ursula’s loaned me her body,” Athena explained after a time.

“What for?” Chris asked.

“So that I could come and see
you,” Ursula/Athena said, stepping a little closer. Now it was her
turn to investigate him. She ran her fingers over his face, feeling
his cheeks, following his nose, stroking the stubble on his chin.

“Was ... there any particular
reason for it?” Chris asked.

“I just wanted to experience a
little more, just in case,” Ursula/Athena said, taking both his
hands and interlocking their fingers.

“In case what?”

“In case,” was all Ursula/Athena
answered. “Your hands are warm.” She put a hand on his face once
again. “All of you is. I never noticed that before.”

“People generally are,” Chris
said. He detected a trace of unexplainable nervousness in his voice.
How had that gotten there?

“It’s nice. Let me hug you.”

Chris hesitated. This was a little
weird.

“Don’t think of me as Ursula. I
just look like her. Until I return her consciousness, I am Athena.”

Chris considered it for a moment,
before relaxing and yielding to Athena’s wants. He put his arms
around her, Athena placing her head on his chest. He thought back to
the last time that Athena had visited him, insisting that they
cuddle. The closeness had been nice. He missed it. He realised as he
held the woman that he had become so caught up in his own pursuits
that he had neglected a number of those around him. They had all been
there for him, though, and he found himself appreciative of the
attention now.

“Hold me tighter,” Athena said.

Chris encircled his arms a little
more, drawing Athena closer to him. She sighed happily, and there
they stood for a time, saying nothing but only holding one another.

“I wish I were human,” Athena
said.

“I wish you were, too.” He said
it automatically, not having to think about it at all.

Athena freed herself from his
embrace, looking up at him. She was still smiling, but there was a
sadness in her eyes now. He made to ask her what was wrong, when she
interrupted. “Kiss me.”

Chris started. “What?”

“Kiss me, Chris,” Athena said,
sliding her arms around his neck. “I want to share at least one
kiss before we go to Sol. Just in case.”

Just in case. Why did she keep
saying that? Was she afraid? Probably. He didn’t blame her there.
He wondered if she would know what to do, as he slipped his hands
down to her waist. He kissed her tenderly on the lips, not going any
further than that, and shortly withdrew to gauge her reaction. She
sighed contentedly, smiling.

“Again,” she said.

“Sure?”

“Yes. But ... a little more.”

Chris did so, kissing her deeper
this time but not forcing anything. He was surprised by how she
reciprocated, acting more like this was something she had practised
for years, rather than her first try at it. He found himself enjoying
it more than he had initially expected. Oh, how he wished she was
human.

Eventually, she broke the kiss,
moving away happily, appearing satisfied.

“Good?” Chris asked, still
holding one of her hands.

Athena smiled. “Very. Thank you.
We have to stop here. I promised Ursula that kissing is all we would
do.”

“That’s fair enough,” Chris
said.

“But ... we’ll see what the
future holds,” Athena teased him. “After all this is done, you
promised to take me stone skipping.”

“I did?”

Athena nodded and chuckled. “As a
date.”

“Okay,” Chris said. “We’ll
go for a walk in a park, and skip some stones.”

“I’ve upped my target, by the
way. I want to skip one six times, not five.”

Chris chuckled warmly. “Good luck
with that.”

Athena moved in and kissed him
again, before reaching for the door lock. “I’ll talk to you
later, Chris,” she said. “Make sure you’re well rested.”

“I will.”

~

“Are
you still certain you don’t want to jump straight to Earth?” Sid
asked as Chris convened the pre-jump meeting on the
Dodger
’s
bridge.

“Absolutely,” Chris said,
pointing to the holographic overview of Sol. “We should jump to
Neptune and secure WEAPCO’s forces there, first. We can then make
subsequent hops to the rest of the system, bulking up our numbers
along the way – Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and finally Earth.
By the time we reach Earth, we should have amassed a sizeable force.
If you both think you will be able to handle it?” he asked of
Phoebe and Ursula.

“No problem,” Ursula said. “I’m
ready. Ironically, everything that WEAPCO put me through has actually
resulted in me being well-prepared for something like this. I already
know that I won’t have to concentrate very hard to keep the AIs on
side. In fact, I’m certain they’ll side with us regardless, just
by my being there. My presence will be enough.”

Chris raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Ursula said.

“She’s not lying,” Athena
said. “I can sense a draw and a passive persuasive influence any
time she’s around. It’s easy for me to resist, but WEAPCO’s AIs
may not be able to.”

Chris nodded. “Phoebe?”

“Athena’s training helped,”
Phoebe said. “Working with Ursula makes it easier, too. I’m not
sure why.”

“Because you’re spreading the
load?” Sid asked.

“It’s more than that,” Phoebe
said, looking at her sister. “It’s not just a case of two people
being able to do twice the work. It’s difficult to describe, but,
basically, I feel like together we can take on an army.”

“Which is precisely what you’ll
have to do,” Chris said. “And what about Kethlan? Do you think
you will be able to stop him from getting past your control and
causing whatever you’re in control of to self-destruct?”

“For certain,” Phoebe said.
“What happened back at Zetaman was me letting my guard down and
panicking when I saw Kethlan show up in person. I wasn’t even aware
that he could do such a thing, which is why I was caught out. I
promise it won’t happen again.”

“Don’t apologise,” Chris said.
“I’m not judging you, just asking whether or not you need more
time to prepare.”

“No, I’m ready,” Phoebe said.

“Ursula?” Chris asked.

“I’m ready now,” the woman
said. “I know I said I was ready two days ago, but I did need the
rest.”

“Sid?”

“As soon as you give the order to
jump,” Sid said.

“Athena?”

The avatar nodded, but said nothing.

“What can we expect to meet at
Earth?” Phoebe asked. “It’s where WEAPCO is based, as well as
that ... Eternal Engine of theirs. It will probably be very heavily
defended.”

Sid tapped away at one of the
bridge’s consoles, bringing up an information overview of Earth.
“Surprisingly, and if this is correct, there’s not a lot at
Earth. A few space stations, a shipyard, and a fairly large naval
presence. But ... that’s it. Nothing special, no über weapon as
such.”

Chris studied the image data, trying
to read between the lines, and see what might have been missed. There
was nothing more. “I’m betting that those space stations will
likely be empty, except for a few drones.”

“Absolutely,” Sid said, waving
his hand over the projection. “All this will be for show. I can
find nothing about any super weapons or similar in the
Dodger
’s
files. This is it. Just warships.” He looked at Phoebe and Ursula,
who appeared more than satisfied. Silence fell. Everything was in
place.

“Okay,” Chris said. His hands
had been perspiring lightly ever since he had called this meeting. He
looked at the holographic screen, marking their arrival point in Sol.
Their initial armaments would be few, but would grow in size as they
approached Earth. By that time, he expected them to be in command of
an army that would test even WEAPCO’s most powerful defences.

“Sid, from here, what would our
ETA to Sol be?” he asked.

“Four hours,” Sid said. “Do
you want to jump now?”

A part of Chris wanted to say no.
Where had this doubt come from? Was that a fault of being human? That
thought amused him. He swallowed, steeled himself. “We’ve come
this far,” he said. “No time like the present, is there?”

“Okay,” Sid said, punching the
command into the console.

Out of the
Dodger
’s frontal
viewport, a portal spiralled into existence. The freighter’s
propulsion engines came online and propelled the freighter forward,
crossing the threshold of the entrance to the tunnel in less than a
minute. The entrance sealed shut behind them, and the group hurtled
towards Sol.

~

Chris
discovered that he was right to suggest that the team should prepare
themselves for a hostile reception the moment they arrived at Sol. It
seemed that the instant the
Dodger
exited jump, WEAPCO forces
had shot towards their arrival point to intercept them.

Chris, Phoebe, and Ursula leapt from
the
Dodger
as soon as they were able, encountering a line of
mobile particle and plasma beam turrets that were marking the jump
space beacon. Phoebe and Ursula reacted immediately to their
presence, shutting many of them down. Chris slid beneath the timeslip
and dodged out of the way of the ones that the two women did not grab
control of in time. Lucky, he thought. If any of the beams had struck
him, this final operation could well have been over before it began.

The fighters that accompanied the
cannons moved up to take their place, before also grinding to a halt,
and falling into line behind the twins’ Valkyries. Chris had barely
had time to squeeze off a single plasma bolt.

“Good work,” he told the twins.
“How are you holding up?”

“Piece of cake,” Ursula
responded. “I can see myself easily commanding a unit in excess of
a hundred times this.”

“This is just the outer defence,”
Chris reminded them. “Things are going to get a lot tougher the
further in we go. They know we’re coming, and will likely be
holding back their most powerful assets.”

“What now?” Sid put in.

“We head to our next waypoint. Are
you ready to commence an inner-system hop?”

“Ready,” Sid said. “I’ll do
so as soon as everyone is alongside.”

“Got it,” Chris said, directing
Phoebe and Ursula to move their newly acquired numbers up next to the
Dodger
.

“Are you okay, Athena?” Chris
asked, swinging the Firefly around and moving into formation. She had
barely said a word since they had commenced jump.

Yes
, Athena responded.
Just
keeping an eye on things.

“Okay,” Chris said. “I’m
here if you need me.”

Thank you
.

~

The
defence lines that met them at Uranus and Saturn were far larger than
the one at Neptune, and Chris found himself needing to make use of
the Firefly’s timeslip and other abilities far sooner than he had
expected. And while Phoebe and Ursula were swift in taking control of
the WEAPCO forces, they did not do so as quickly as any of them would
have liked.

Chris was grateful that they had
taken the time to upgrade the shields and weapons systems on each of
the craft. Unlike himself, Phoebe and Ursula had no timeslips to fall
back on, being forced to conduct and experience the battle in real
time. Chris lent a hand to them whenever he thought it was needed,
but the two women coped well against the odds.

He kept a close eye on the Firefly’s
defences as he turned to pursue fighters that Phoebe and Ursula had
chosen to ignore in the first instance, neither of the twins wishing
to push themselves too hard at this stage. The Talons were quick to
fall to his upgraded cannons, only a few bursts needed to push past
their shields and defeat their armour. As always, the battle may have
lasted only a few minutes, but to Chris it felt closer to an hour. He
was certain that the mental exhaustion would kick in soon enough. By
the time this was over, he might well be feeling that he had battled
non-stop for days.