Target 10 S2.5 Jemy's Turn
Just as he feared it would run into him, the scene changed again, then again, then again.
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Jemy climbed into the chair under Reby's watchful eye. She looked energized after her twelve hour nap and a full breakfast courtesy of RJ. He felt much the same. The pure white of the chair room made him feel at home, like his lab on the Demption. The chair, though, he wasn't so sure about that. He could tell she sensed his hesitation. "Why am I the one doing this?" His eyebrows lifted as he held his hands over the armrests.
"Only you know what you want to know. What you need to know. It'll understand better than me trying to interpret what you want," she said. "Trust me. You can do it."
He tilted his head at her.
"Just relax. Let it take you in. Then focus on one thing."
"I have so many questions." He wanted to know everything. What did they look like, where did they come from, why did they leave, were they ever on other worlds, why did they build on Haven, what was the purpose of the huge structure—
"Jem. Jem!"
He startled at Reby's yell. "What?"
"You can't disappear into your head like that. Pick one question, stay on it."
He shook his head. "I'll try." The corner of his mouth lifted in an effort to smile at her. She knew him too well, though, and his smile faded.
She stepped up and grabbed his left hand. "You can do this." She looked past him, her eyes unfocused.
Looking for the right words to encourage me. He hoped she found some, because he wasn't quite sure why he was so nervous.
"Ah! Pretend you're flying it. There's no one more focused than you when you're flying." She patted his hand.
"I'm not sure that's going to work. I'm in control when I'm flying. You told me I need to relax and let go." He started to slide off the chair.
Her hands landed roughly on his shoulders and pushed him back. "You will try."
"Okay," he said, rubbing his shoulders. Behind her, he saw Clay appear from the lift.
"Any luck?" Clay asked.
Reby spun around at his voice, then back to Jemy. "No. Haven't even started." She raised one eyebrow at him.
Jemy shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you made it just in time." He looked down at Reby. "Relax. Focus."
She nodded at him, taking a step back next to Clay.
"Maybe I should wait for RJ to get here?"
"Stop delaying. We can catch RJ up when he's done prepping the shuttle." She folded her arms and tapped her foot.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and rested his hands on the squishy surface. They sunk, and like the first time he'd tried the chair, he had the sense they were being eaten. He resisted the urge to pull away and the sensation changed to feeling more like a snug glove. Breathe. Relax. Focus.
Have the Obexpl been on other worlds?
He held the thought, repeated it over several times before letting it go. When the answer came, he wasn't prepared for it.
He flew.
High in the atmosphere of a yellow and orange gas giant, he swooped up and down in formation with creatures that used cosmic radiation as their energy source. Their smooth, black, half-moon shaped surfaces stretched and contracted as they changed altitude. Dozens of tendrils trailed behind them as they coasted on the winds.
As they dove, the scene shifted and he was deep under water. His body panicked, almost pushing him out of the experience. His breath came easy, though, so he let himself relax. From the darkness in front of him emerged a glowing mass. Yellow, red, purple and blue lights cycled in swirly lines, while other parts emitted a golden light. It's beauty and grace calmed him even more. His mind couldn't grasp the shape, but as it got closer, he saw it wasn't a single object, but many. A huge colony of bioluminescent lifeforms cruising the depths of an ocean.
Just as he feared it would run into him, the scene changed again, then again, then again. Each one flashed by so fast he didn't know what he was seeing. But the message was obvious. The Obexpl had been to many worlds.
When the rush of imagery ended, he found himself hovering in a valley. Below him was a circular entrance covered by an energy field. He knew it was on Haven. The chair had brought him to the second site.
It bothered him he couldn't figure out how he knew that's where he was, or how he knew about the flying creatures or the ocean. Or how many worlds he'd seen. It was thousands, and that was a fraction of what Obi's people had visited. The knowledge appeared in his mind as if it had always been there.
But then he realized he'd asked the wrong question.
Jemy struggled to find the right words to ask the chair. How do I make it understand what I want? He hadn't recognized any of the worlds he'd been shown. He needed to know about his worlds. Human worlds.
Have the Obexpl ever built structures on human worlds?
Nothing changed. He still hung above the shimmering sphere surrounding the circle on the ground. Wide green fields surrounded it, with purple foliage visible in the distance to the east.
Trying again, he pushed the question, emphasizing he wanted to know about human worlds. Then he let it go.
He dropped.
In one swift motion, he passed through the circular entrance and emerged in the dark room Reby had described. It was dormant and he could go no further.
Message received. I have to go to the second site.
His hands ejected from the chair. Reby and Clay came into focus, each standing on one side of him.
He looked back and forth between them, not able to find the words to describe what he saw. When his feet hit the ground, a shock ran from the balls of his feet up through his head. It made him lose his balance and fall forward.
Clay grabbed him before he hit the ground and stood him upright. "Are you alright?"
Reby smirked. "He'll be fine. It just takes some getting used to, right?" She put her arm around Jemy. "Lean on me. The buzz will fade soon. Did you get your answers?"
"Not exactly," Jemy said as he shifted his weight to Reby. He rubbed his forehead, trying to push the dizziness away.
"Here, let me help." Clay slid his arm under Jemy's other side.
"Thanks, Clay." Jemy stood a moment between them until he was composed enough to move forward.
They awkwardly made their way to the transporter and then the lounge. Reby helped him to a stool at the table and sat next to him. Jemy did his best to describe what he'd seen—and the only conclusion he could make from the experience.
"I agree the chair wants us to go to that second site," Reby said when he was done. "Good thing RJ's probably got the shuttle all ready to go. Too bad you don't look up to going."
"Thanks a lot," Jemy said, rolling his eyes. "I'm feeling better. Give me something to eat and I'll be good to go."
"I don't know. It wouldn't hurt to wait a day," Reby said.
"No. It's still early. I don't want to wait a full day to go." He pointed above him where the sun hadn't even crested above the lounge.
"I'm sure he's right, Reby. Let me get him something and see if that helps." Clay stood and went over to his containers of harvested food. He picked out a flat, round slice of a yellow fruit and put it on a plate they'd brought from the shuttle. Grabbing a knife, he moved to the brown box with reflective bits that RJ had been so upset about.
Jemy watched him, suddenly feeling ravenous as the buzzing energy left him. Clay spread a thin layer of milip over the fruit. In the weeks they'd been at Havenstar, he'd never offered them any of the milip. He'd led Jemy to believe it was only for special dishes.
Clay placed the plate in front of him with a huge smile and sat down. "That will make you feel better."
"Why the milip?" Jemy asked.
"The situation calls for it. In addition to its nutritional profile, it has something that seems to restore energy naturally. Much like the Boli's you both have told me about."
"What I wouldn't give for one of those now," Reby said, reaching out and scooping up some of the milip with her finger.
"Hey!" Jemy pulled the fruit away.
"Siblings share, remember?" She sucked the sticky goop off her finger. "Oooh, sweet too."
Clay beamed at her. "Yes, almost as sweet as you."
Jemy nearly choked on the bite he'd taken.
Reby turned her head away and a slight tinge of pink hit her otherwise brown cheeks. She stood up and casually glanced the table. "I'm going to see what's taking RJ so long."
Jemy took another bite, waiting for her to be out of earshot before warning Clay. "She normally punches men who talk to her like that."
Clay frowned at him.
"No, really. I know she's been nice to you, and probably likes you too much to hit you at this point, but she has knocked more than a few men off their feet for unsolicited compliments."
"She's quite a woman," Clay said, sitting up straight. "She deserves to be complimented."
Clay stopped talking, though Jemy got the sense he wanted to say more. His oddness made it hard to read him sometimes.
"I think the excitement of a new place to explore has got the best of all of us," Jemy said. His mind raced to thinking about what he needed to bring for full scientific documentation. The kind the Academy couldn't deny. Assuming they found corroborating proof of his theory.
Clay cleared his throat.
"Sorry. Once we figure out what is going on at site two, we can make our plan for getting off Haven and dropping you off on whatever planet you want." He thought for a moment. "Unless it's Dinucent. We have to take care of some things before we go back there."
"I really don't know. It's been so long I'd given up on the thought I could go back. Nothing will be the same."
"It hasn't been that long."
Clay's face dropped, and his eyes clouded with a sadness Jemy recognized. He wished he could pull the words back. "Well, I can see how it would feel that way being stuck here alone. But I assure you there haven't been any major changes in the CR during the ten years you've been here. Wherever you left is probably still the same."
"Of course. You're right." Clay gave him a thin smile. "But first there's site two." He turned to look out at the forest. "And all that comes after."
***
Reby slowed as she approached the teleporter. Clay's compliment had surprised her, though she knew it shouldn't have. It'd been obvious how he felt about her from day one. And she'd used that, all the while ignoring that she was attracted to him too. She didn't like the feeling. It was too overwhelming, sent her reeling out of control. If I'm going to be in a relationship, I'm going to be in control. Besides, she was the first woman he'd seen in over a decade. If what she'd learned about men were true, and she had no doubt it was, any female would have received the same reaction from Clay.
Not what I want.
She entered the teleporter, choosing to think about the previous night with RJ. She remembered kissing him, and the huge smile he greeted her with in the morning. And the perfect sunrise version of his famous sunset dish, only made with vegetables from Haven. Jemy'd been there too. But he was so nervous and excited about site two and using the chair, he was oblivious to the fact the two of them didn't argue. Maybe we have enough time to talk before they go.
She exited onto the dock to find RJ walking around on top of the worn, black shuttle. Since he hadn't noticed her, she watched him work. He'd stop from time to time and kneel down. He reached the end of the long, wide sections they used for cargo, then jumped over to the shield around the engines.
"What are you doing?" She called out, realizing he wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
He turned around and smiled when he saw her. "Visual inspection. Just to be sure."
"That's overkill even for you. It's not like we've been wandering around. It's been docked here since the last time you inspected it." She continued walking toward the shuttle.
He made his way back to the side where she was, grabbed one of the hand-holds along the cargo hold and climbed down the side. "Well, you never can be too careful can you?" He dropped down the last meter, his boots hitting the deck with a smack that resonated through the open space. A swath of grease was smudged across his forehead, and his hands were nearly black.
"Or too clean."
"A working engineer's hands are never clean." He pulled an already filthy towel from a pocket and wiped his hands. Both the towel and his hands seemed to get even dirtier. "How did the chair go?" He leaned to his left and right, looking past her towards the teleporter. "Did you lose Jemy on the way back?" He smirked and put the towel back into his pocket.
"He's yucking it up with Clay and eating some lovely milip-covered yellow fruit. I can't ever remember the name."
"Wait. Jemy's eating the milip? Clay gave him milip?"
"Yes, he did. Said it would restore Jem's energy after the chair. Like a Boli." Her mouth watered.
RJ frowned.
"What's wrong?" she asked, RJ's expression suppressing her desire for a Boli.
RJ shifted his feet. "Probably nothing. I just suspect that milip is even worse for you than Boli."
She smacked his arm. "There's nothing wrong with Boli!"
He grabbed his arm where she'd hit him. "That hurt. And see what I mean? You can't deny it's addictive. And Clay has hovered over his supply of milip like you and Jemy guard your Boli stash."
The urge to hit him again, harder, surged through her. But the essence of his message tempered her anger. Point taken. "Sorry." She gestured to his arm. "You think it might be addictive?" I had some too. "Why would he share it then?"
RJ shook his head. "I don't know. I hope I'm wrong and it's just another one of his weirdnesses." He paused, then reached out for her hand.
She let him take it.
"I'm worried about leaving you here alone with him."
His thumb caressed the top of her hand, spreading grease across it. Her impulse was to pull away, but not because he wasn't clean. Still, lost in RJ's concerned look, her body refused to cooperate. She swallowed, giving herself into the moment. "And why is that?" She gave him a coy smile and lifted her eyebrows.
"Don't tease me. You know why. I don't trust him. And I," he stammered, "I know he's after you."
"So are you worried about him, or about me?" She stepped closer to him.
"I don't trust him not to take advantage of you—"
She started to pull away, but he held her hand firm.
"And that you might want him to." RJ's eyes searched hers, then he looked away.
She pulled her hand away and he let her go. "No one. No one takes advantage of me." She breathed deeply, realizing the nerve he'd hit was still too raw. He knew nothing about it though, the things she did, the things that happened to her, on Igni Prime. Neither did Jemy. Now's not the time to talk about it. "You remember that night on Kioni? When you and Jemy left me alone at a table in what you thought was a decent restaurant?"
He nodded, still looking away from her.
"Then you remember seeing those three assholes—who wanted to take advantage of me all at the same time—bloodied and unconscious when you got back?"
A thin smile broke on his face. "Yeah. That was a hell of a scene. I had no idea you were such a badass. I was terrified for weeks."
"Wrong. I am a badass. And you should still be terrified." She put her hands on her hips. "And so should Clay."
"Does that mean you don't want him to?" His voice was just a whisper, but hopeful.
"No, I don't. But I can't believe you'd think he could take advantage of me."
He turned to look at her again. "I didn't, really. I was more afraid that you liked him."
"I do like him," she said, folding her arms. "But he's not what I want."
RJ leaned to embrace her, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. Then she took a step back, avoiding the temptation to give in to his charms. What had happened on Azu, and everything he'd done since, that wouldn't just go away. She needed answers before letting him get close again.
"What I want is to talk. Starting with what was in those messages I never read."
"That I can do."
"Hey you two!" Jemy's voice rang from the teleporter. He dashed across the distance to the shuttle. "What's taking you so long?"
***
Jemy stopped when he reached them. He took deep breaths and grabbed his side. Still out of shape, but we've got to go. "Is the shuttle ready? Are you ready? Let's go back to the lounge so we can plan this thing!"
RJ and Reby stared at him.
"What?" he said, his chest still heaving as he caught his breath.
"I take it you're feeling more energized?" Reby asked.
"Oh yeah. I'm ready to fly!" He clapped his hands.
"Maybe you're flying already?" RJ pulled out his analyzer and waved it up and down in front of Jemy.
"What? I'm just feeling revitalized is all. And excited to get going. You know, to find everything I need to prove I'm right."
"Well?" Reby asked, looking at RJ.
"His energy field is comparable to yours after using the chair and then taking a break. But if we put him in the auto doc, that might tell us if anything is in his system."
What are they talking about? "Excuse me. I'm right here. Why are you analyzing me?" He tried to grab the device from RJ.
RJ yanked his hand back. "Do you see Reby getting grabby when I check her after using the chair?"
"You don't seem yourself, Jem," Reby said, rubbing his arm.
"What are you saying?"
"RJ thinks there might be a little extra something in the milip."
"Of course there is. Clay said as much, didn't he? Like a Boli. And you had some too."
"What?" RJ's eyes went wide.
"It was just a taste. And I don't feel anything odd. I mean, I feel good, but not over-energized like him." She gestured to Jemy.
"Stop. Both of you. I really am just excited to get to site two. The chair basically said that's where I'll find my answers."
"It did?" RJ asked.
"You didn't tell him?"
Reby waved her hands in the air. "Not yet. I was getting there."
They stood there, looking back and forth between one another. Then they burst out laughing.
Jemy wiped the tears from his eyes, trying to stand upright and regain his composure. It's been too long since we've laughed like this.
Reby hugged him. "I'm glad you're ok."
"I am."
"I need to clean up. Why don't you fill me in on the chair's wisdom while I do that?" RJ held up his hands for Jemy to see.
"Yeah. You got a little something up there, too." Jemy pointed at his forehead.
"The life of an engineer." RJ shrugged.
"So you said earlier," Reby teased.
RJ winked at her and turned towards the ramp.
Jemy linked arms with Reby and they followed RJ. He raised his eyebrows at her.
She rolled her eyes back at him, but smiled.
***
The sun was still high above them when the threesome returned to the lounge.
Clay was nowhere to be seen.
"He said he'd wait here," Jemy said, scanning the lush gardens, expecting Clay to pop up from behind some shrub.
He didn't.
RJ sat down at the table. "So let's get planning."
"What about Clay?" Jemy asked. Where could he have gone?
"Maybe he went to take a whiz." RJ held up his hands. "Does it matter? It isn't like he's going to have a lot to do in this plan."
"He's right, Jem," Reby said as she sat across from RJ. "I assume you two just want him to babysit me in the chair. Make sure I don't overdo it."
Jemy looked around one more time. "Yeah, I guess so. Still, I think it would be nice to wait for him." He looked so sad before.
"So now you're not in a hurry to go?" RJ stared at him.
"No. Of course I am." He sat next to RJ, who nodded approvingly.
"Here's how I see it. This first trip is just to check it out. See if what you and Reby saw is real. If it is, we see if we can get in. Then we come back." RJ leaned back and folded his arms.
"Come back? If we get in, we need to see what's there." Jemy looked at RJ sideways.
"Well, yes. A little."
"A little? I need to do a thorough examination—"
"Which is my point. We've been here weeks already and barely scratched the surface. If there's anything to see there, it'll take you time to document it. We don't want to be apart for that long."
"What are you suggesting?" Reby asked.
"Just what I said. We check it out and if it's open, we come back here, grab you and head back there until Jemy's finished his work. It'll be half a day at most to relocate to site two. We could even stop by the Demption and refill your Boli supply." RJ winked at Reby.
"What about Clay?" Jemy asked.
"He can—"
"Did I hear my name?" Clay asked. He emerged from the walkway behind them with an armful of fuzzy, little green fruit.
"Yes," Reby said. "We're just talking about how we'll all move to site two. If they're able to access it."
Jemy noticed her emphasis on the word all, and her look to RJ who rolled his eyes in response. I can't deal with more fighting. Not now when I'm so close.
"Excellent," Clay said, sitting down next to Reby. He opened his arms and the fruit spread out on the table. He picked one up and offered it to Reby. She shook her head, so he took a bite. "What else have I missed?"
"Nothing. We hadn't got to the details yet," Jemy said.
"Good. Good." He popped the rest of the fruit into his mouth.
"It is good," RJ said. "And simple. Jemy and I do a quick flyover, land and see if we can gain access while Reby guides us from the chair. If it opens, he and I look around for a little bit, then head back here to load up for a longer expedition. If it doesn't open up, we come right back and rethink what to do."
"What's a little bit?" Clay frowned.
"We don't want Reby in the chair too long. A couple of hours at most, I think."
Why is he rushing us? "It might take longer. We have no idea what we'll find or how long it will take to find it." Jemy didn't get mad at RJ often, but his friend just didn't seem to understand.
RJ twisted to face Jemy. "Remember how worn out she was from, what, less than four hours in the chair? I know this is important to you, but I'm not willing to risk her health for it."
"I'm not suggesting we risk her health! She doesn't need to be in the chair the whole time. Just check ins, really. We'll set a schedule—"
"Excuse me!" Reby stood up, the stool grinding against the floor as it pushed backwards. "Did you forget I'm right here? Neither of you will tell me when or when I will not be in the chair!"
Silence settled over the table as the three of them stared each other down. Jemy glanced at Clay, who was looking at Reby with a smirk on his face. When he turned back to Reby, her nostrils flared and her eyes were daggers. He dropped his gaze to the table.
"I'm sorry, Reb. I didn't mean to be telling you what to do." He looked up and her eyes had softened.
"Neither did I. I just worry what being in the chair so long does to you." RJ leaned forward on the table. "How do you want to do this?"