Regan's Reach 4: Avarice (4 page)

Regan pondered the information for a few
minutes, just absorbing it before the enormity of the venture and the danger of
construction hit her. "Wow, what a risk it must have been to go through
the first time, surely Aaron didn't do it himself?"

"No . . ." Ham's eyes lit up as
he had been waiting for her to ask and he looked unbelievably excited. "Oh
babe you have so much to find out; are you ready for this? Minds went through
first as the risk takers, Minds from Gliese and they did it in androids can you
believe it? Adventure seeking, explorer Minds . . . I love it! They built the
return portals and have taken every first jump since." Ham looked simply euphoric,
delighted to pass on the information and incredibly proud.

Regan sat quietly trying to take it all in.
Relax girl, there'll be time enough to learn about all of this.

"You said this is the Gliese path . .
. does that mean there are others?"

"It seems so, there's another portal
holding station a quarter orbit from here, and it's the first portal to the
star Rigel, in the Orion Nebula." He seemed to consider something and turned
to her with a look of genuine compassion. "Regan - be patient, it's simply
not going to be possible to absorb all the new information now, I can see that.
Babe, it's been more than six years since we were here and so much has changed.
There are people from every tribe in Gliese working in your solar system now,
and there are ships moving constantly between there and here. Reubus has a huge
trade delegation visiting Earth right now as we speak and they're preparing for
the opening of the Gliese portal line, it's amazing."

"Reubus?" She turned to him with
a blank puzzled look. "Who's he?"

The question made him pause for a moment
and then he reached across to gently place one hand on hers and squeezed.

"Babe, exactly, you've missed so much
while you were away." Somehow he made the time sound like a holiday and
then he smiled suddenly gesturing back to the screen. "Now - we need more answers
and I think it's time for us to go in - are you sure you're ready?"

She hesitated only a moment, taking one
last look at the glorious ring before answering with a confidence that
surprised even her, "Yes, I'm ready."

He took her hands. "You understand how
we are going to do this; I will merge first, and then there will be a delay, and
then when we're ready we'll call for you."

"I understand."

And already the Saucer was moving, picking
up speed at astonishing pace, racing for Earth and Hillary Station.

* * *

With the Saucer now nestled securely in its
rightful place on the base of the STEIN Traveler the ship looked restored and
almost the complete sphere now for the first time in seven years. Only a small
coin slot shape marred the overall picture, with one Pod currently away on
duties in New Zealand.

Regan's ethereal presence in the Saucer
Control seemed lonely now as she waited for news from Ham. She had no desire to
leave this space, not yet, and not even exploring the STEIN Traveler would
tempt her; instead she stayed where she was, curled up on the seat. This
smaller space felt secure, especially after years of loneliness locked in the
ADF flight recorder and now months with Ham recovering. The Saucer control, was
her womb; at least for the moment. Thankfully she could speak to Hilary who she
could tell was being careful in her conversation but nevertheless a wonderful
friendly voice. As they chatted Regan looked out via the screen to a completely
different Hillary Station.

[This finished station design Hilary; it's
not at all what we envisaged all those years ago, what happened to the globe that
you planned?]

[Democracy Regan, that's what happened. It
seems people like the variety of starscape that the pipe spin offers and even
though we don't need to spin for gravity any longer they preferred a world that
keeps on turning. I wasn't helped by lobbying from people who referred to my
design as the death star]

She could see the central pipe or axle was
now encircled by huge rings, each attached by four spokes. Spiraling around the
whole structure curled a double helix tube that seemed to link with the pipe at
the ends. Tube transports, she guessed.

[How many rings are there?]

[You can't count them?]

[No need to test me Hilary, I'm all here,
just running slowly at the moment.]

[There are five . . . was it tough Regan?]

She paused before answering, thinking how
best to reply. It only took a small prompt for all the memories to come surging
back and some of them she would rather forget.

[From day one it was a nightmare Hilary and
that about sums it up. I was stupid . . . I never thought it through really but
once I'd decimated Beria's ship and mine I knew pretty quickly what I'd done. I
was aware that I was still there, so I hadn't been killed in the collision, and
I knew immediately I had to be stored somewhere, trapped. Honestly, I was in a
state of absolute panic for days, and then I started building my own little
world which was good for a time, and then I started to break down again. It
took a while.]

[You're home now Regan, this will go well
and everything will seem in a different light in time. The way you feel now, it
too will pass.]

[I hope so Hilary, I really do.]

* * *

Saucer Ham opened his eyes to a room he
didn't recognize, but to a Regan he most assuredly did. She looked a little
older now of course, six years older, more drawn and almost battle hardened, or
so it seemed. Nevertheless Ham took his time drinking in the sight of her, the
small creases at the edge of her mouth, the small laugh lines at the corner of
her eyes, the extra muscle definition of her arms, and that beautiful smile,
for him. They looked at each other in silence for a few seconds and he could
see the love in her eyes.

"You searched for me . . ." She
stood from the bed to go to him where he was seated at the desk and in that
fraction of a second he became aware of hands for the first time, and the tangible
sense of a torso and legs. He raised the arms to marvel at them and then
touched the android hands to his face in wonder as Regan knelt at his feet.

"You amazing man, all that time you
were searching for me and you never gave up." He could see a tear in her
eye. "To think I have a partner, a friend who would never give up on me
like that. Thank you Ham, thank you so, so much."

"You wouldn't have given up on me
either." He replied.

"Don't diminish it Ham, I let you down
back then by not talking to you, and not taking you into my confidence. This whole
thing was of my making and I am so sorry for the consequences and what they
meant for you."

A look of concern came over his face as he
considered her words. "And there have been consequences for you Regan,
this is not going to be easy for you, you know that; you need to prepare
yourself."

"I will Ham. Somehow I feel that with
you beside me I can get through anything, even this." She looked up into
his eyes and smiled.

"I will be there for you babe, always,
and you are right, you can get through almost anything. I can tell you - you're
an amazing woman."

She hesitated then, with just the slightest
change in her expression giving indication that she had something to share,
something important. He tensed slightly, wondering what it was and as he did so
marveled again at the tangible sense of 'being' that he felt from the android
form.

And then she began.

"Ham, since you left to search for me
the nature of our relationship has . . . how shall I put it? It's changed . . .
it's developed from what you will remember, it's different now."

He looked at her questioningly; cocking his
head without thinking, and realizing immediately what he'd done he tried it
again, repeating the action before asking, "In what way “developed”?"

Instead of explaining she stood, and tugged
at him with her hands to help him rise unsteadily. In that moment of standing he
looked down for the first time and realized he was naked. She didn't comment as
she gently drew him to the bed and sat him there before stepping back to
release the nub of her suit and stripping it in one practiced motion before kicking
it away. His android form began to shiver immediately at the sight of her, and
she waited a moment longer before joining him on the bed, lying beside him and
then pulling him down to her.  She whispered in his ear.

"Ham . . . my man, we are going to
take this slowly, there is no hurry. We do have a lot to talk about and we have
all the time we need, but first I have something to share with you; my gift, I
give you myself, and I want it to be good for you."

* * *

Much later, in a post coitus cyber space meeting,
two beautiful men stood silently for a while, just looking and taking each
other's measure. Both seemed greatly impressed with what they saw. They shared
a smile of self congratulation, the recognition of a job well done and then they
high fived in an action that turned into a swirling spin, with the spin
resolving into a single merged form.

Ham then walked to his command chair and
made himself comfortable before extending an arm to link hands with Hilary. He
opened to her and together they shared the data trail, horrors and victories,
delights and disappointments until both were fully updated and ready. Then they
turned their attention to Regan.

It was now her turn to merge.

* * *

Regan lay back on the bed and made herself comfortable.
She was nervous and uncertain but then braced herself mentally for . . .
what?
What could be so bad?

[Are you ready babe?]

The glance sideways at Ham and Hilary was
enough and Regan nodded assent before clasping her hands to her chest and
waiting for just a second more. Closing her eyes she then reached out to the
STEIN Traveler, to the Transport and then to herself, the figure she could see
sitting and waiting there, clearly nervous too. There followed a moment of
uncertain greeting, signals sent and received, confirmation followed by
certainty then a feeling as if a child was leaping into her arms, desperate for
security, and comfort . . . and then she blacked out, a deep tired sleep that
led to dreams.

* * *

Walking across a large grassy lawn she
could see figures in the distance entering a building. It had big double doors
that swallowed them as the doors opened and closed, with person after person entering,
but they were all too far away for her to see who they were.

There was the sense that she should be
there too and so she began to run, but the building was far off and it took
forever to reach the doors, or so it seemed, and anyway they remained closed to
her when she got there. Pressing up to them she could see a small gap so she
inserted her fingers and strained to pry the doors apart and gain entry. They
were almost impossible to move until hauling on one side she created an opening,
just large enough to press through and then the doors slammed shut behind her.

And immediately she had the sense that
she didn't belong there in this huge space, with only a few people gathered and
they were people she didn't know. Corridors stretched away from the foyer and
in the distance of each she could see people entering rooms, talking and laughing,
walking confidently, clearly knowing where they were, where they belonged . . .
but not her. Running now to her left, she chased the remnant of the last group
she could see and on reaching the doors to that room she cautiously peeked in.
It was a conference of sorts, a business conference with hundreds gathered in
groups talking and laughing, none of them familiar to her, some looking
strangely in her direction. Making her way through the crowd she tried to
ignore the growing feelings of disquiet, and the looks, unpleasant, unwelcoming,
and even hostile. The feeling was of searching and searching for something,
someone, she didn't know what and then she panicked, running from the room to
the corridor and continuing down to the next room before repeating the process,
growing ever more anxious with every minute that passed. Finding her way
blocked at the end of this room, with the hundreds now turning and looking just
at her, she wrapped her arms around herself and readied to scream, and then
something caught her eye, the gracious lady and the beautiful man moving toward
her through the crowd. The groups seemed to part for them as if they were
royalty, and the pair shone with halo light. They didn't hesitate in their steps;
they were coming for her, and her alone.

And then they were there beside her,
taking her hands and turning with her toward the crowd. And suddenly everything
was different, with the people smiling and looking for her hand, all wanting to
talk, and greet her warmly. The gracious woman and man guided her from the room
into the corridor and toward the foyer and as they walked she found herself
flooded with a wonderful new sense of comfort and security that overwhelmed
her.