Victor Bergman’s Return

Prolog---Victor Bergman

Victor dramatically put his eyeglasses down and reached forward, switching off the diary recorder he spent the last few minutes talking to.  The Newbies asked him to make as many recordings as he had time and energy to create to preserve his wisdom for future generations and he obliged mainly because it was easier than arguing with them.  They started the tradition long ago and considered it an obligation for everyone to keep a diary, though Victor found the reminiscences enjoyable as well. After all, he was still hale and hearty….

            “Hearty!  That’s a good one old pallie!”  Alan Carter’s voice cackled with humor until he started coughing.  His hoverchair danced from side to side as his damaged body racked itself with rasps and silibations, but finally he recovered his ability to breath and got the chair back under control.  “You know,” he wheezed, sucking in another breath, “that was funny, it being your third heart, and all.”

            “Yes, quite so Commander.  I didn’t realize I’d said anything out loud.  But I remind you that although I am chronologically over 130, I’m physiologically about three years your junior.  You need to take care of yourself, Old Boy.”

            Victor Bergman was only half joking, as the former Commander was a bit of a sight.  Over 100 years of age, Alan Carter was restricted to his flying life support chair after the accident that claimed his legs and nearly his life twenty-six years ago.  Even the amazing cloning, bionic, and nanotechnology the Numebiziria brought to Alpha over fifty years ago could not rebuild Carter’s body before the damage was irreversible.  Carter adapted quickly, and was now the Flying Terror of Numeterra, as they called their new home.

            “You’re only as old as you feel, Dr. Bergman.”  Carter quipped.

            “Indeed.  A state of mind, as they say.”

            “Yeah, that’s it. But this diary tradition is a Newbie thing.  Not mine.  Remembering the old days is not my bucket o’ beer, so….” Carter’s chair rose, banked and zipped away.

            “You may be my age, but you still have pilot’s blood!”  Victor called after him.

Victor returned to recalling all the days since his “resurrection” as John Koenig liked to call the repairs done to Bergman’s body. He could remember nothing of the time from his first painful death until the Numebiziria, also wanderers through space joined the Alphans on their wayward moon two decades later but read all of the logs.

Commander Koenig welcomed the fellow travelers, humanoids with a tall, handsome, Elven look about them.  They arrived in a huge spacecraft running extremely low on the ditronium that powered their space engines. Koenig and Bandowee, the Numebiziria Captain, negotiated a pact between Alpha and the 300 newcomers to merge their great ship with Alpha. The two groups, compatible in biology and needs, joined hands in their common struggle to survive and both gained much.  The Numebiziria were the last of their people; set forth in their ship more than 400 earth years earlier.

            They began their journey numbering over 500 of the best and brightest of their kind escaping the local star going nova.  The entire planet of Numebizir came together to build an ark and send their racial salvation onto the stars.  The people of the Fertado, as their ship was named, met many challenges, disasters, and dangers before chancing across Earth’s Moon; not the least of which was a natural life span of just over 100 years.

            The Numebiziria were already able to replace organs with bionics as were the Alphans, and during their long travels they developed organ cloning technologies and nanobots.  This enabled them to keep the greatest of them alive and well indefinitely, and by the time of Alphan First Contact nearly one third of their compliment were still of the original crew; over 400 years old and the rest were succeeding generations.  It took almost five years of shared effort learning one another’s physiology before Helena Russell was ready to bring Victor out of cryogenic stasis to attempt to bring him back.

            Victor absently rubbed his chest as he thought about the miracle of having his own natural heart still beating in his chest over fifty years later.  Many hardships had befallen Alpha-Fertado in the sixty years since the joining but many joys had come to them as well; the greatest of which was their finding a world to call home a few years after Victor’s rebirth. There were new challenges to face on their new home once they committed to Operation Exodus. 

The Newbie ship, Fertado was fully integrated into Alpha to accommodate the increased population, but kept at the ready to lift off again for Exodus.  Fertado, in conjunction with Alpha’s Eagle spacecraft, could easily carry everyone and everything they needed to take to the new home.

Other challenges they had yet to deal with effectively were the numerous ancient citadels spread across the planet and which had so far prevented the immigrants from investigating them. The other problem was the diminutive, fur covered, natives of their new home. The three foot tall, indigenous life forms seemed primitively intelligent, but the new residents did not yet have time to study the people.

Victor turned and walked away from the recorder.  The early years were as complete as he could make them.  His next recording would be the one he’d put off until last; the event of his resurrection.  It could wait for another time.

Chapter 1    The Big Hello

A lone figure waved a hand over the wall sensor causing white and red doors to slide to the side with a nearly inaudible whooshing sound. Inside the Medical Center was dark but for a single desk lamp in the small office at the back of the facility. At the utilitarian-looking table Medical Center Chief, Helena Russell sat, her head resting on her folded arms.  A pale hand with long pointed nails painted the blue of a summer sky grasped Russell’s shoulder and squeezed.

            Helena jumped to her feet, startled, toppling her chair and losing her balance.  Before she fell, another strong hand grabbed the other shoulder to steady her and she looked up at the face of her frightener and savior with trepidation.

            “Oh!  Rhin!”  Helena said in sudden recognition.

            “Rhin Plesec, Dr. Russell.”

            “Cra-T’Ka, Rhin Plesec.”  She smiled a sincere smile at Rhin’s reminder that the Numebiziria had adopted “last names”.  When they first arrived just a few years ago, each one had only a single name, but then took their language’s word for each of their own occupational specialties as a last name in a way similar to Helena’s own ancestors.  Rhin’s occupation was that of physician-researcher, much the same as Helena’s.

            “I see you have been practicing your greetings!”  Rhin said happily.  “But you know we all have learned English.”

            “Humans like the differences between things and modern English is made up of bits and pieces of different languages.” 

Helena looked up at Rhin’s almond-shaped eyes with their tiny, dark green irises and wondered how they could be so much like earth humans this far from her home planet. Rhin turned away from the light, his tall muscular frame then lit from behind against the inky backdrop of the deserted Medical Center.  Helena tried to not stare, but Rhin was a supremely attractive man.  Flesh colored tights clung to toned legs displayed beneath the traditional knee length skirt of the Numebiziria men.  The sheer puffy blouse hid nothing while enhancing Rhin’s already broad shoulders.  The tips of his slightly pointed ears just stuck through his straight, shoulder-length, golden blonde hair.

            Helena finally pulled her eyes away from his form and back to the folder she had fallen asleep on. 

            “Is everything in place for tomorrow, Helena?”  Rhin asked, folding his arms across his broad chest in the darkness.

            “Yes, but I’m still not sure. I know your people have been extending life for centuries and we have saved several lives that would otherwise have been lost just since you have been with us.  Your nanobots that clear arterial obstructions have probably prevented numerous difficulties for our aging Alphans.”

            “Helena, you need to cease doubting our ability use the technology to do this.  We have the parts grown, the resuscitation nanobots are ready, and tomorrow, together, we will bring Victor Bergman back to you.”

            “Still…”  Helena halted.

            Rhin stood stoically, allowing her to find the words to express her feelings.  It was one of the things Helena noticed about the Numebiziria; that they were natural psychologists.  They seemed to know when to probe for information and when to listen, and in his silence she found her words.

            “I don’t know if humans are ready for this step.”

            Rhin was impassive in the darkness for a time.  He breathed deeply of the dry and cool Alphan air, like a brisk morning on Orrnid, one of the many planets they had visited in search for a new home.  Alpha still maintained the atmosphere a good deal colder than the Fertado was kept, and many Alphans had emigrated across the Joining to live permanently in the vast, unoccupied areas of the great ship for that reason.

            The two cultures were intertwined on many levels and they had only been here a couple of years.  Several unions had already taken place and research begun to allow Numeb-Human hybrids to be born that were not mules.  Some on both sides of the Joining, the facility constructed to connect Moonbase Alpha and the Fertado, were against the unions, but many favored it.  Rhin would have been blind not to see that it was predominantly the Alphan woman who were interested in the Numebiziria men and his own women had expressed some interest in human men.

            “So many differences and yet the same.”  Rhin muttered.

            “What do you mean, Rhin?  Helena asked.

            I apologize, Helena.  I was thinking of how much we have learned from one another,” Rhin replied. And how much we still keep from one another, and how distracted I am around you, he thought.

            “Helena, you have come to know and trust the technology, but not yourself.  The Victor project is one of the first proposed when we met, and yet now when the moment is at hand you become uncertain.”

            “The technology is ready, preparations have been made, the new parts are prepared but bringing someone back from the dead seems like treading on God’s territory.”    Helena’s voice wavered, and Rhin decided a meaningful silence would be counterproductive.

            “You are experiencing self-doubt, not fear of your creator.”

            Helena chuckled nervously.

            “The two are closely related with my people.”

            “You have brought many people back from the grip of oblivion.  You must consider Victor as one more.”

            “None of them had been dead for twenty years.  If we bring him back only to lose him again…”  Her voice trailed off.

            “He was special to all of you.  I do not believe I have spoken to any Alphan who did not revere him.”

            “That’s true.  He was like a father to me.  Of course, now I’m about the age he was then so I’d better adjust to him being like a brother to me.”  She smiled warmly.

            “And you will get that chance when we bring him back to you and everyone else on the base.  We should, however, go over our checklist for the morning and then you should get some rest.”

            Helena nodded, and they reviewed the procedures for the next day before he walked her to her quarters.

            “See you in a few Cetti, Helena.”

            Helena smiled at his use of the Numebizirian term for what equaled about 75 minutes and turned away to enter her quarters alone before she had the chance to kiss him goodnight.  I don’t think I could resist him right now.

Chapter 2-  Observation

            Alan Carter opened his eyes, suddenly awake after a brief nap in the glass waiting area during his vigil.   John Koenig snored softly from the opposite chair.  The tableau was burned into Alan’s mind as the naked, frozen corpse of Victor Bergman lowered into the liquid-filled chamber of polished metal and glass; and it refused to leave him.  It was like a scene from a B science fiction movie; the assistants in hooded white suits scurried around the lab filled with the mad scientist’s giant equipment.  Only in this case, the mad scientists were Helena Russell and the elfin alien Doctor Rhin.

            “If everything is being done by microscopic machines, why is the equipment so bloody big?”  Alan absently ran his hand over his pate of wispy blonde hair as he muttered to himself causing Koenig to open his eyes.

            “Huh?  What did you say, Alan?”  Koenig surreptitiously used his sleeve to wipe the runnel of sleep-drool from his chin as he stretched to waken elderly joints.  “Arrrgh.”  John winced in pain from his rheumatoid arthritis afflicted shoulder. 

            “I didn’t say a thing, Commander.  But you know, the Nuwbies have a nanobot for that.”  Alan smiled   It was getting to be an old joke between them.  Koenig resisted using any Numeb technology for his own benefit, even though they were clearly safe.  Carter suspected a martyr complex, but as Koenig was still in command of the base he refrained from voicing his opinion out loud.

            “The Numebiziria have a nanobot for just about everything.”  John said acidly.  “Next thing you know, they’ll have a pill for getting an erection.”

            “Ha!  Good one, Commander.”  Alan rose from his chair and winced a little bit himself from sleeping on the hard plastic chair.  He looked at the lessened action in the lab, and hoped everything was going well.  He saw Helena and Rhin enter the lab from the left with two of the Nuwbie nurses.

            “John, something is going on.  Helena is back in there.”

            Koenig walked over to the window in time for Helena to see him and nod before she turned her attention to the glass chamber.  One of the Numeb nurses looked up and waved to Alan with a smile as Alan blushed and smiled back at her. John looked at him with a raised eyebrow without saying anything at all, and turned back to the live-action Victor show.   Using a joystick-like controller, Rhin caused Victor’s naked body to rise causing the viscous liquid to cascade from his skin like warm Karo syrup.

            John could see he was still not breathing.  But how could he be after 10 hours soaking in that translucent goo?

            Helena must have sensed that her audience had questions and touched the control at her throat.

“We are about to prep him for surgery.  His cloned heart is ready for transplant which we are going to do before reviving him.  The nanobots have assisted the thawing process and he has now been injected with repair-bots that will saturate his circulatory system, mending blood vessels damaged by the cryo-stasis.  There are also ‘bots repairing nerves and nerve connections and some for other systems as well.  It’s all going slow because we’ve kept his body temp below twenty degrees C while we hyper-saturated his tissues with glucose and oxygen.  Another set of nanobots was released to treat the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma I’d diagnosed just before his accidental death, and we will use the Numeb tissue regenerator on any other damage we find. Dr. Rhin’s wireless organo-mechanical implants are progressing to strategic points in Victor’s nervous system and will help stabilize the brain and nerve function immediately after the procedure.  The implants will break down later and we will begin pulmonary and circulatory assistance before the operation, and complete revival will take place in about six hours.

“I suggest you get some rest and come back in several hours for the main event.”  Helena smiled from behind the faceplate and turned back to her work.  John and Alan watched for a few minutes as everyone inside the lab worked at their assigned task.

“Looks like time to go, Mate.  I’ve got a recon flight training with a couple of Numebizirian volunteers in three hours, so I’m going to get a couple of winks before-hand.”

“Yeah, they look like they’re going to be pretty busy for a while.  I’m heading to Command to check on the new Numeb officer on duty.  It’s his first watch without an Alphan shadowing him.”  Koenig still had trouble not calling the new Center ‘Main Mission’ since it was virtually a copy of the base’s original control room.  When they connected the two structures, the Furtado spacecraft and Moonbase Alpha, he and Captain Lulla decided on construction of the Joining---a common area the two facilities would share.  They also decided that they would combine their control centers into one Central Command and when the Numeb saw pictures of old Main Mission they suggested an expanded version for the blended Central Command.  Captain Lulla and the other 300 plus Numebiziria decided to ask John Koenig to continue as the overall Commander of their cooperative venture and he accepted.

“And you think having the Base Commander overseeing Theese’s first watch will build his confidence?”

“It will help mine, and I don’t intend to stand behind him and look over his shoulder.  I’m going to my office and use the viewer to link into the observation cameras.  I’ll be able to see every button he presses if I want.”

“Don’t trust him to be able to do the job. Eh?”

“He wouldn’t be the Watch Officer if I thought that.  Right now I just have nothing else to do.”

“Me either.  That’s why I’m off to some shuteye.  See you in a few.”  Alan spoke as he exited the room and left John to his own thoughts.  He turned back to the window and watched Rhin and Helena work side by side, melancholy settling over him like a shroud on his emotions.  I wonder if she will ever do the same with me again. 

John and Helena cohabitated for almost 10 years until last spring when she decided to move back into her own quarters ‘to give him some rest’ from her erratic schedule of working late and leaving early to get lab work done.  She spent nearly all of that time in the lab with Rhin, as far as Koenig could tell, but he had to admit that he did not suspect a romantic relationship.  At least not yet.

“Commander Koenig, please respond.”  The Numeb-tech communicator sounded from his belt.  The device is the size of his cell phone from home with a thickness of 7 millimeters, but its surface almost entirely screen, and had become standard issue for everyone on the base.  He raised to device to his face and saw Theese Galo, the Numeb Watch Officer on the screen. Theese could also see Koenig through the camera built into the pad.

“Koenig.”  John said. “What is it, Galo?”  John used the last name which also meant security or command officer.

“We have an incoming object.  Still distant, but on an intercept course with the moon.  No other data as yet.” 

“I’m on my way.  Contact Commander Carter before he gets to sleep and see he meets me there.”

Chapter 3     Revival

            “The operation is proceeding according to schedule, Dr. Russell.”  Rhin Plesec said with a smile. 

The hours of work seemed to have had no effect on him, while Helena was near collapse.  She sat heavily, her legs aching from two hours of standing, and her hands stiff from working on the frigidly cold body of Victor Bergman.

            “Yes, I think so as well.”  She signed out loud. “What’s our next step?  Without referring to my notes, I’m too tired to remember.”

            “We are to activate the organomechanical implants in Victor which are attached to the Base computer.  The program we developed will monitor and adjust the wireless implants and regulate neurotransmitter levels because no living mind can monitor and react fast enough to make the needed corrections. We then will introduce the nanobots for the final warming and …”

            “All that is left then is the awakening.”  Helena said, interrupting Rhin.  “I never thought I’d be practicing medicine with tools I can’t see.  In my grandfather’s day this would have been considered magic.”

            “It’s well that he is not here to witness the events, then.  I would not want to scare the old fellow.”  Rhin said it with a smile and chuckle at his own joke and Helena smiled warmly at him. 

            “He would be old now.  In fact, I’m old now---or at least I’m his age, but I’m probably in better health now thanks to Numebizirian biotechnology.”

            “If that is the case, then all the trials and tribulations my people have undergone in the last 300 years were worthwhile.”  Plesec lowered himself down and laid a warm hand on Russell’s cold one.

            Helena felt warmer inside than she could account for from the hand.  Rhin had a way of making her feel that way.  The way John always did until recently.  She thought.  I don’t know when I changed.  Or was it him?  Helena felt that John’s age was beginning to diminish him in small ways and guilt tugged at her for not being able to deal with his advancing years.  I’m a doctor but I’m also a human being!  I should be able to look at someone I care about and not see the ailments and the flaws.  He’s gotten older, but so have I---but when I look at him I see the thinning gray hair, the wrinkles, the arthritis and not the loving soul I met so many years ago.

            “Helena?”  Rhin Plesec said without getting a response. “Helena?”  He said again, squeezing her hand gently until her reverie broke.  She looked at the Numebizirian’s elfish features like someone she didn’t know.

            “Sorry.  I zoned out for a minute, there.  Let’s get back to work.”  Helena knew she retreated from her feelings in the only way she could, and that was to throw herself into the job.

            For nearly an hour the entire team, plus billions of sub-microscopic robots and the Numebizirian-enhanced Moonbase computer, worked until the moment was finally at hand.

            Rhin watched the progress of the computer-controlled resurrection in his heads-up display being projected an inch from his left eye while manipulating virtual controls invisible to anyone else in the room.  He looked like a madman slowly waving his hands in the air before him as he sent instructions to the equally intangible work-crew of nanbots swarming within the dormant body of Victor Bergman..

            “The system is about to awaken him.  Body temp is at 35 degrees C.  Pulse rate is 50 beats per minute.”

            “EKG readings are at the lower end of normal.  Cardiac muscle of the new heart is functioning normally.”  Helena added for the record.  She knew his display should show him that information, but wanted to add that for the recording of the procedure she knew was being made.

            “Rebirth software activated.”  Plesec said clearly.  “EEG activity is beginning.   Just a few more minutes.”

Chapter 4      Reunion

            “Mr. Galo, what’s the situation?”  Koenig asked from behind the Watch Officer.

            “Commander!”  Galo jumped slightly, not hearing Koenig enter the Command Center. Thesse Galo stood at attention in his Numeb-style uniform.  His puffy, peasant style shirt was the same color as the human uniforms and  had a thin stripe of shiny black ribbon down one sleeve to connote his department.  His Numeb skirt, also the same color as his shirt covered flesh-toned tights and almost met his tall black boots. 

“Long-range subspace sensors from the Furtado picked up an energy burst---possibly an object exiting a hyperspacial tunnel into near-space. Readings were partly blocked by the mass of the Moon, but it appears to be quite nearby---in a relative sense.”  Galo reported.

            Alan Carter entered the Center and listened to Galo’s report before speaking.

            “How relative?  Your second cousin Vinnie relative or your mother relative?

            “Sir?”  I don’t wee how my family can be of any help.”

            “Never mind.”  Alan said smiling as Koenig scowled.

            “Can we track it, Galo?”  Koenig asked.

            “I did not initiate an active sweep, Commander, so as to not alert the subject to our exact location.  But the new passive sensors indicate energy fluctuations on the far side of the Moon.  There is nothing on any of the sensor stations on the near side as yet.”

            “Well done, Galo.”

            “Thank you, Sir.” He beamed.  The new Watch Officer seemed to increase in size at the Commander’s comments.

            “Alan, get three armed Eagles prepared for launch, but don’t send them up until my order.  Let’s get some more intel before we react.”

            “Right, John.  Twenty years ago we’d have take ships up with the lasers hot and ready for a fight. Guess we’ve grown up some.”

            “We’ve gotten older, but sometimes I think we’re none the wiser.”  Koenig paused.  “Galo, call Paul Morrow and ask him to come up here and let’s see if he has any bright ideas.”

            Alan was surprised to hear Koenig ask for Paul.  They had barely spoken for the last two decades and Paul had worked in the Hydroponics Section for the last 12 years.  When Paul married Sandra shortly after Victor’s death twenty years ago, they did so in order to have children---over the objections of the Commander when Moonbase Alpha rules still prohibited adding children to the Alphan population.   When Paul said Sandra was trying to get pregnant he and Koenig had a huge argument in Main Mission and Paul was suspended from his duties as Controller.

            Alan remained friends with both men, even though they would no longer speak to each other.  Paul began working in the Maintenance Section as a miner working to expand the underground emergency shelters, but as his family grew he decided a somewhat safer job in hydroponics would be a better idea.

            Six years after Paul quit the Command Section, Moonbase Alpha’s prohibition against children was lifted, but Paul never forgave Commander Koenig for even trying to enforce the rule. 

            Tense minutes passed and Galo could not come up with any other information about the mysterious newcomer.  Soon Paul Morrow came walking into the Center wearing coveralls and smelling of fertilizer.

            “So what is the big emergency that couldn’t wait?”  Paul asked.

            Koenig looked at Paul with wonder.  He moved like a young man with plenty of spring in his step and looked younger than John thought he would although much of his hair was gray.  He was also visibly covered with dirt and his hands were caked with grime.

            “Glad you could get away, Paul.  Thanks.”  Koenig said sincerely.

            “Yeah, Paul.  Good to see you, Pal.  But did you need to bring the whole Hydroponics section along with you?”  Alan smile as he jested with his old friend.

            “What you see is what you get.”  Paul smiled cordially at Alan, and then more seriously at Koenig.  “Commander.  It’s been a long time.”

            One corner of Koenig’s mouth curled up in half-smile that indicated his earnestness and he extended his hand to Paul, ignoring the grime and odor.

            “Too long, Paul.  We could use your help.”  The two shook hands, nodding.

            “Commander,”  Theese Galo interrupted, “the passive sensors have gone blank.  We’ve lost the incoming object.”

            “Keep trying to locate it.  I don’t want to go to active sweep yet, though.”  Koenig said.

            “What is it you’d like me to help with, Commander?”  Paul asked as he looked around the new facility.

            “We’re at a critical juncture, Paul.  Helena is in the middle of reviving Victor Bergman and we can’t afford any interruptions from this bogey.”  John looked up at the ceiling as if to see the unknown craft overhead.

            “Reviving Victor Bergman?  What are we playing at now?  Are we God?”  Paul’s voice shot upward an octave and rose in volume.

            “Paul,” Koenig felt an angry response rise inside of him, but paused to give himself and Morrow a moment of calm before continuing.   “Helena has been working, ever since Victor died, to try to resuscitate him.  There was almost no physical trauma to his body and the freezing process suspended the deterioration so that, in theory, he could be reanimated.  The Numeb brought technology into play that made it a realistic option.  They just started a few hours ago.” 

            Most Alphans did not know about the attempt to bring Victor back, so John thought it wise to bring Paul up to speed.

            “That is beyond amazing, Commander.  I don’t think we should being doing it, but that’s a command decision—not mine.”

            “It has become something of a scientific quest for Dr. Russell and Dr. Rhin of the Numebiziria and it is already happening.  That makes it my job to keep things as quiet as I can. 

“There was a contact on the long-range sensors a little while ago and it looks like we have a visitor, but we don’t seem to be able to track it now, Paul. I was hoping that you would help man the console.  You have a lot of experience with intruder phenomena and we need your help.”

            Paul scratched at his stubble-covered chin pensively while Koenig watched him until he finally responded.

            “Commander, I don’t need a handout.  The work I do in hydroponics is very important and very rewarding.”

            “I’m not trying to patch up a relationship, Paul.  I’m sorry we disagreed years ago, but it was a point upon which we differed honestly and there should not be any hard feelings anymore.   A disagreement is one thing, but I’m still trying to do the best job I can of protecting almost 800 people and in my opinion, I need your help.”

            Again Paul thought, but his answer came more quickly.

            “I’d be glad to help, Commander.  Some of those 800 are my family, but I don’t really know what I can do. This equipment,” Paul made a sweeping gesture with his right arm over the console at which Theese was seated, “is as alien to me as that intruder out there.”  He pointed to the same spot on the ceiling that Koenig had looked at earlier.

            “There have been a lot of great things that have come from the Numeb joining our Moonbase.”  John extended his hand toward Theese Galo and the equipment in the room.  “This is just an example of the wonders.  Their sensor equipment is far beyond what we had, utilizing sub-electromagnetic frequencies we couldn’t reach.  Their propulsion systems have made the Eagle craft much more efficient, and I’ve already mentioned the medical riches.”  Koenig lifted his Communicator and tapped a code into it causing the panel at the far end of the room to slide to the side to reveal a doorway.

            “Through that door and down that ramp is the auxiliary control room with all the original equipment and connections still intact.  It also patches into the new equipment.  I think you’ll recognize the console there.”  Koenig smiled.

            The four of them walked down the steep ramp to a crash-door where Koenig keyed a combination that caused the heavily armored door to slowly recede into the wall to reveal the gleaming white Command Center looking as good as new.  Lights blinked on the read-outs and monitors showed status reports on two-decade old equipment as well as the latest technologies the Numebiziria and Alphans had come up with.

            “Very impressive, Commander.”  Paul said, inspecting the controls and playing his fingers over a keyboard.

            “Can you help find it, Paul?”  Koenig asked, with perhaps just the slightest pleading tone to his voice.

            “Already got it, Commander.”  Paul said smugly.

            Alan and John looked at one another with surprise.  He only worked the controls for thirty seconds. 

“How’d you do that, Pal?”  Alan asked.

“Simple, really.  Your Watch Officer said you weren’t using active sensors, so as to not tip your hat.  We had already switched over to active seismic, gravitic, and energy sensors twenty years ago, but we still had the old passive array from when Alpha was being built.  Those arrays pinpointed the bogey.  It is currently over Tillson Crater on the far side of the moon near one of the nuclear waste dumps that did not explode at Breakaway.

“We should probably have someone in the Science Section analyze the data I’m collecting to see if they can tell you anything about the intruder.  The object appears to be in a very low, very slow orbit that will bring it near the base in about three hours.”  Paul said.

John and Paul looked at one another and nodded.  The invisible barrier between them seemed to come down.

“Alan, I’m going up in Eagle One.  Have it ready for launch in 10 minutes.”  John Koenig ordered.

Chapter 5    Overload

            “I don’t know what the hell it’s doing.”  Alan Carter swore vehemently.

            “Alan,” Paul uttered, almost to himself, “there’s some sort of sub-harmonic detected from the area of the moon that thing is scanning.  Almost like it’s pulling something out---like drilling for it without even touching the surface.”

            “You mean it’s mining for something?”  Koenig said incredulously from the cockpit of the Eagle spacecraft already on route from Moonbase toward the probing space visitor.

            “Something.  Nothing I can detect on the sensors, however.  Theese, are the sensors on the Furtado any more sensitive than the ones here?”  Paul had been gone from Command for a long time, but knew about the Joining and had worked with Theese Galo before he moved to Command Center.

            “Most of the primary sensor arrays were stripped from the Furtado at the time of the construction of the Joining because it was too difficult to route control circuitry here to the Command center.  The Furtado is just a habitat now and we have already used all the passive sensors available.” 

            “Commander?”  Paul commed to Koenig on the Eagle, “it looks like our interloper is working a search pattern, based on where it has been.  I can also infer the size of the scanner beam.  It will be on top of Moonbase in 25 minutes, but does not seem to be looking for us at all, but rather something else.  We can’t predict the effect of that scanner or what it appears to be extracting.”

            “I’m going to approach it out here, and try and communicate with it.”  Koenig reported to Morrow. “Keep tracking it with passive sensors and get everyone away from the outer shell of the base and the Furtado.”

            “Right, Commander.  We’ll monitor the situation from here.”  Paul replied.

            Koenig programmed the communication laser for the target and thumbed the power button and adjusted the controls to try to hear a response.  The coherent beam leapt from the hovering Eagle spacecraft and reached the smaller, asymmetrical craft from beyond.

            “This is John Koenig, Commander of Moonbase Alpha.  We would like to engage in a discussion of your presence here and inquire as to your purpose.  Perhaps we can assist in looking for whatever you seek.”

            Static was John’s only reply, so he tried an active scan of the visitor to see what he could find out.  Koenig hoped that by scanning from the Eagle, any response would be away from the base. His sensors did not detect any type of life form, but shielding or any number of other possibilities could account for that.  What the sensors did show was evidence of a large quantity of antimatter.

            “I think this craft is propelled by antimatter, Paul.”

            “Antimatter?  What makes you say that?”  Paul sounded unsure.

            “Antimatter?”  Theese Galo asked.  “That is not a term I’ve run across in my study of English, Paul.  I would say it means ‘against matter’.  What is it?”

            “It was first theorized by a British scientist, Paul Dirac, in 1928 and your guess is pretty close.  It is matter that is oppositely charged. The opposite of an electron is a positron.  When a positron and an electron come in contact, they are both annihilated and a lot of energy is released.”

            “Paul, my scan shows a magnetic container that most likely holds a kiloton of it.”

            “My word.”  Paul looked stricken.  “I guess we’d best not shoot at it.”

            “It seems to be turning.  Maybe we’ve lucked out.”

            “Commander, the scanning beam is moving up toward you.  Move your Eagle! John! Watch out!!”  But Paul’s screaming admonition was too late as the scanning beam engulfed the spacecraft.

            On board, Koenig heard Paul Morrow, but had his hands full.  The electrical system shut down, along with the engines just as John hit the thrusters.  He put his helmet on and prepared to meet the moonscape hard---thanking his lucky starts that the suit’s O2 was provided by a simple mechanical valve system.  The Eagle angled toward the gray-brown ground and John tucked himself into a well-known crash position.

            “I’m getting too old for this.”  Koenig said to himself.

Chapter 6     Crash

            Helena fell backward, but never hit the floor.  Rhin’s suprahuman reflexes allowed him to catch her and pull her to a safe distance from the control console which shot sparks into the air of the lab and toward their patient.

            “Victor!”  Helena screamed as she looked at her dear old friend.  The sparks and lightening arcs of energy spread from the console to Victor’s body---leaping from one implant contact to another and causing convulsions that wracked him from head to toe.  Lab technicians who did not dive away from the area surrounding Victor were stricken where they stood and collapsed.  The lights in the lab flickered and went out, plunging them all into darkness lit only by the faint blue arcs playing over Victor’s naked body.

            Helena grasped Rhin Plesec’s shoulders tightly with both hands as the lab shuddered; the floor seeming to ripple beneath their feet in the darkness.  Plesec’s heartbeat thumped steadily in her ear, calming her fears a little but she knew that there was something terribly wrong on the Base---and in her own heart in taking so much comfort in Rhin’s arms when people around her were in need.  The vibrations stopped and the emergency lights and damage klaxons returned as one.

            Helena reluctantly separated herself from the Numebizirian physician and looked around.  The console was a smoking ruin, and three lab techs lay immobile around the room.  Victor was lost to her again, but the techs still needed her help.  The first one she checked, a Numeb by the name Reamon, opened his eyes as she knelt beside him checking the munile artery under his arm for his pulse.  Several minor burns, one on his face and three more on the hands and arm seemed to be his worst injuries.

            “I’m well, Dr. Russell.  Go help Annihi.”  Reamon gestured with a still-smoking forearm toward the young woman fallen beneath Victor Bergman’s body.

            “No, you’re not well, Mister.  You are going to the Medical bay for a while, and you will lie right there or I’ll personally knock you back to the floor.”  She smiled at him while putting a wadded up sheet beneath his head.  Plesec was attending to Ron Michaels, one of her human medics, so she moved to the other Numebizirian, Annihi, who was not breathing and pulled her from under Victor’s table and began CPR.  She cleared Annihi’s airway and exhaled strongly into her lungs then pushed carefully on her belly to massage her heart and force the air back out.

            Dr. Russell learned the hard way that while Numeb muscles were made of tougher stuff than humans, their ribs were quite easy to break in this position.  Another breath cycle, then another and Helena checked for a pulse but found none.  The crash cart sitting within reach held several rechargeable defibrillator units the size of portable music players, one of which the Doctor attached to Annihi. Working quickly, leads were stuck to her stomach and side, just below the ribs, as the Nemeb heart and lungs were lower in the torso than Human beings. 

Helena pressed the single button on the box and Annihi convulsed once, and the Doctor repeated the breathing cycle. Still no pulse, so Helena pressed the button a second time.  She would need to change units the next time because the portables were good only for two jolts, but found it would not be needed because the pulse was weak but steady, and she was breathing on her own. 

Helena looked back to see Rhin helping Ron into a chair and Reamon smiling at her from the floor a couple of meters away.

“Thank you, Dr. Russell, for saving her.”  He said quietly.  He knew she could have tried to do more for Victor as they all were, but chose to help Annihi.

“She’ll be fine and so will you as long as you stay still.”  The power came back and the lights that were not hit by the arcs of electricity came dimly on.   Helena rose and keyed the Comm panel, but got nothing in response.  She grabbed her comm pad and tried to raise Command with no luck, then decided to use her medical override and reached the Medical Center.

“Get a team here to the lab as soon as you can.”  Helena ordered her Nemeb receptionist. 

“Yes, Dr. Russell.  Most of the Response teams are attending to the Eagle crash.  Most of the damage was in the Command Center area.”

“What happened?”  Helena worked to restrain her concern but her voice faltered anyway.

“All I’ve gotten is that Commander Koenig’s Eagle was hit by something and came down on the Joining.  Auxiliary Command is still working, so I’ll patch you through.”  The small screen went blank and Paul Morrow’s bearded face appeared on the device.

“Paul?!”  Helena started.

“Hello, Dr. Russell.  I’m as surprised to be here as you are to see me.  We’re pretty busy here, but let me tell you what I know.

“We have an intruder near and the Commander went out to see if he could communicate with them before it damages the base.  It swatted him like a fly, and his Eagle crashed into the Joining near the Command center.  We’re fine because we moved to Auxiliary, but command is a mess.  Alan has gone out help find Commander Koenig, but we still have the intruder, and it could get worse before it gets better.

“Alan will get him to Medical if he can, so have them ready.  How is everyone down there?”  He did not mention Victor Bergman, but Helena took his meaning. 

“There were a few minor injuries from a massive electrical overload or short or something.  The process was interrupted, so I’m afraid we’ve failed.  I’ll get to Medical as soon as we’ve gotten everyone here sorted out.  Thanks, Paul.  And you can tell me about you being there when this is over.

“Right.  Command out.”  The screen went dark, and Helena was left thinking about John as she laid the communicator on the crash cart.

“Dr. Russell!”  Reamon called out to her and she turned to see him pointing at Victor’s body which was convulsing like someone in the grip of a seizure.  Helena rushed to his side and held the icy-skinned arms down to make sure he did not fall to the floor until the seizure passed.  The original tie-down straps were broken from the convulsions during the accident, so there was no way to secure him to the table, but the seizure had passed.  Helena checked his pulse the human way---on his neck and wrist---and found it slow and steady.

  Rhin was standing opposite her over Victor, and checked the readouts.

“Everything is burned out.  We can move him to Medical and use the scanners there to check on systems, but until we do that we might as well have your grandfather here because this equipment will not help us.”

“Victor!  Can you hear me?”  Helena got no response.  She tried again and again, but came to the conclusion that they had been able to reanimate Victor Bergman’s body, but that his mind had not been awakened.  From the convulsions and electrical shocks, she was not surprised.  She covered his functioning body with a sheet just as help showed up.

Two medical response teams arrived and Helena returned to triage and getting the injured to Medical.  Ron Michaels accompanied the two more seriously injured Nemebiziria to the Medical Center, leaving Rhin and Helena with Victor’s body.  Helena sat heavily into a chair behind the burned-out console and closed her eyes for several minutes.  The team would be back to transport Victor to Medical shortly.

“Helena.”  Russell opened a blurry eye to see what Rhin wanted.  Rhin was on the far side of the room faced the other way, sorting through medical supplies from a toppled cabinet. 
            “Helena?”  She heard it again and it finally sank it; it was Victor’s voice. She jumped up from the chair and ran to Victor’s side.  Rhin heard the commotion and joined her.

“Did you hear him, Rhin?  He spoke to me. He’s awake! Victor is awake!”

Chapter 7      Voices

“I did hear him.”  Rhin examined Victor carefully with the hand scanner he retrieved from the cabinet. “The nanobots are still working in most places in his body.  The ones near the exposed implants have been altered, however, by the discharges.”

“Helena, what has happened?”  Victor’s voice spoke, but not from his mouth.

Rhin and Helena looked at each other in astonishment.

“Victor?  Where are you?”  Russell asked, looking around for the source of the sound. 

“Where?  Why right here, my dear.  I don’t seem able to move, but I can use my Commlock to call you.  You sound very near.”

“I’m right next to you, Victor.  We’ve managed to repair the damage to your body, but you are not talking from there.”  Helena realized Victor’s voice was coming from behind him and she went to the crash cart and picked up the communicator pad.  Swirls of colored static danced around on the screen.

“Very interesting.  Then my thinking of my Commlock caused my voice to emanate from your Commlock.  How am I doing this?” 

“We’re not entirely sure.  You aren’t connected to anything at all—not even medical probes.”  Helena switched the pad to two-way mode.

“Helena, there you are. Are you all right?  You look…different.  Very tired.”

“That’s very diplomatic of you, Victor.  I look old.  It has been over twenty years since your accident and you are looking at me through my communicator.  As she spoke, the swirling colors coalesced into a slightly animated-looking Victor Bergman head and shoulders.  The background behind him continued to glow, swirl, and pulsate.

“Even more interesting.  Could you turn it so I can see where I am?”  She slowly panned around the room for him. “This is absolutely amazing!”

“From our perspective as well.”   She got to Rhin when Victor spoke again.

“Who is this?”

“Doctor Rhin Plesec is part of the team that revived you.  He and his people are from a planet called Numebiziria.  They have been with us for several years.

“This lab is a mess.  What happened?”

“John’s Eagle caused this when it was brought down by an intruder a little while ago.”

 “Is John alright?”

“Alan has gone out to bring him in.”

“Good to see things change but remain the same.  Alan…let me think for a moment.  Ah, yes.  I can see him now. 

“He has aged well and looks very fit. He is with John who is on a stretcher headed for the Medical Center.  They are very concerned. 

“How can you see them, Victor?”  Rhin asked curiously.

“Let me see….  The base computer says that I’m viewing Alan at Communication Post 47.”

“You can talk to the computer?”  Helena asked incredulously.

“As easily as I can talk to you---more easily, really, since I don’t have to interface with the pad to do it.  In fact, the computer is assisting me with displaying my image on the pad so we can see one another.”

“Victor, we’re standing right next to you.”  Helena pointed the pad so he was able to view his own face.

“This is quite surreal.  I’ve grown a beard during my sleep.  Did you notice that I look a little like George Bernard Shaw this way?”

“Victor.  We….” The floor shifted beneath her feet and she dropped the pad face-up onto the table next to Victor as the based shuddered again.

“Helena?  Is this a new lab?  Those ceiling tiles are different from the ones in the old labs.  There is a mathematical progression to the hole pattern…sort of like someone was digging the holes, looking for something.  A young fellow I met, Louis was his name, sent me a galley proof of a book about holes just before Breakaway….”

“Victor!”  Helena had to lean over Bergman’s covered body to look down at his Max Headroom-ish visage, her face close to the pad. “ We need to focus on the problem at hand!  You’re alive, and we’re under attack by some kind of probe.”

“Probe?  Yes, a probe.  I see.”

Rhin stood, observing silently and tried to analyze the situation as he continued to use the hand-held scanner.  How is Victor Bergman talking to the computer?  How is he talking at all?  Why are the nanobots still active in his body?  They are programmed to break down after completing their tasks and yet Plesec could detect at least six different types still functional, three of which should no longer be working and two he could not identify.  Truly a puzzle.

Chapter 8    Signal

Alan looked on helplessly as they wheeled Koenig into the Emergency Treatment room.  Helena arrived right behind him and started shouting orders to the teams, and he could hear the pain in her voice.  John was joined by other injured Alphans and Numeb patients and the room became a tumult of barked orders, cries of anguish, and harried movement from one injured person to another.  Koenig’s condition did not change and the Numeb nurse, Nali Sucha, called Helena who was with another patient.

“The Commander is not responding to the treatments, Dr. Russell.  We may lose him.”  Nali said unhappily.  “What should we do?”  She twirled her right hand in a clockwise circular motion at the wrist and waved once with the left in the Numeb way of expression frustration.  Helena really wanted to tell her the left had was okay, while the right hand was overacting---but held her tongue.  It was after all, a cultural affectation, not just her strange habit.

“Prepare the full range of ‘Bots, and double the dosage of vascular repair ‘Bots.  He’s got blood clots forming in that smashed leg, and we don’t have time for finesse.”

“But Doctor, the Commander’s standing orders on his medical record says no nanobots.  We can’t….”

“There is no ‘we’ in this discussion, Sucha.  I’m his Doctor and the Chief Medical Officer of this Base and I’m telling you to inject the ‘Bots.  In fact, double the dosage on everything, and do it now!”  Nanobots were one of the only instances of medical care Helena could think of where simply using more was an advantage.  The more ‘Bots, the better the healing.  Russell thought.

Helena rarely raised her voice in the Medical center, and doing so caused a stir.  Alan looked on from the doorway, dodging this technician or that nurse and decided he might be more useful at Command with Paul.

Paul looked at the readouts and shook his head in despair and pressed the palms of his hands against his temples.  The Commander unconscious, the Joining damaged, external sensors down, and an alien probe on the doorstep added up to an inauspicious return to the Command Center.  The main computer activity monitor hummed so loudly it was giving him a headache.

“Paul!”  Alan Carter called to him from the doorway.  “What’s happening?  I’ve got two armed Eagles on standby.  Why aren’t they being sent up yet?”

“The Commander tried that already, and look at where it got him.”  Morrow replied angrily.  “Don’t you think I want to attack with lasers blazing and save the day?  But it more likely will end the day.”

“Hello Paul.  Alan.”  Victor Bergman’s voice calmly echoed through the room.

“Doctor Bergman??!!  You’re alive!”   Alan called out to the room.

“Doctor?  Where are you?”  Paul asked

“I’m still in the lab where Dr. Russell and Dr. Plesec revived me.”  The main view screen came to life with the image Helena had seen on the pad.

“Welcome back, Doc!  That is you, isn’t it?  Looks like you, or else it’s Bugs Bunny with a Victor Bergman mask on.”  Alan quipped.

“Oh, it is indeed me.  I am still in the lab---recovering---but I’ve reviewed all the sensor data you’ve thus far collected on the probe and what it’s doing.  I believe there is a way to make it stop without attacking it.”

“Dr. Bergman, how did you get that data?  I haven’t had time to send it out.”  Paul remarked.

“I have… a computer link here in the lab.”  It was a small lie that Victor would explain later when he entirely understood what had happened to him.  Right now he needed physical assistance to stop the probe as he could not do it himself.  “The alien ship attached to Moonbase….”

“The Furtado,”  Theese supplied.

“Just so.  The Furtado has a gravimetric deflector dish on the dorsal surface.  We need to aim that dish directly at the probe.”

Theese leaped to his feet.  “I know exactly how to do that.  Is there anything else that needs to be done on the Furtado, Dr. Bergman?”

“Yes.  The schematic shows a manual gain control for the system. Adjust it down to a 0.002 setting and be sure it is tied into the Base transmitter control.  The process should take about 5 minutes.  That should be sufficient before the probe hits the base ten minutes later.”

Theese looked at Paul who nodded his agreement and Theese ran from the room.

“What do you think the probe will do to Alpha and the Furtado, Doctor Bergman?” Alan asked.

“Nothing. Nothing at all, but the side effect of the extraction process is likely to blow the Base to shards.”

“How is a gravimetric signal that weak going to destroy the probe?”  Paul asked tersely while watching the probe’s progress toward Alpha.

“Yeah, Doc!  A flashlight puts out more wattage than that.”

“Destroy?  My, no we can’t take the chance of destroying the probe.  You were absolutely correct, Paul, that the probe contains enough antimatter to turn the entire Moon into a bubble of slowly dispersing sand particles.

“Your sensors showed a gravimetric signal emanating from the probe.  I decrypted the signal and found that it is reporting back to wherever home is located about its progress. We are going to broadcast a very weak signal, simulating a message from home telling the probe its mission is over.”

“You were able to decrypt the probe’s signal that quickly?”  Paul queried. 

“With the help of the base computer, it took 2.473 minutes.”  Victor replied.  “If you transmit this message,” Paul’s console screen lit up with machine language code until the entire file was downloaded into his station, “when Mr.Galo is ready, we should be rid of our visitor.”  Victor’s image squeezed into a tall, thin version and then only a perpendicular line and was gone.

“Dr. Bergman!  Where did you go?”  Paul asked the blank viewscreen, but got no reply.  He was not sure he trusted the newly resurrected, video-version of Victor Bergman, but without the Commander to decide if this was the real Bergman or a sham, it was up to him.  He was not sure what he would do when the time came.  What would all of that machine code tell the probe?  Would it turn on the Furtado as it had the Eagle?  Could he take that chance?

Chapter 9   Fever

            Helena worked at fever pitch, dashing from one injured person to another with a stop at John’s side between each one.  Rhin had appeared at some point and begun to assist with patients she could not get to.

            “I have a nurse watching over Victor, Helena.”  Plesec said as they passed from one place to another.  He wanted to alleviate any fears that Victor was alone, and in a single motion that surprised her, ungloved his right hand, reached beneath her hair and gently massaged her ear.  Helena’s eyes closed and her knees nearly buckled as the touch invigorated her mind and her libido, and then was gone as Rhin went on to assist with others.

            The crush of work eased after another 10 minutes of frenzied first aid, minor surgery, and bed-side badgering of the recalcitrant wounded. 

            “Helena, how are things going?” 

Russell looked up over the patient she was with at the screen in the wall displaying a smiling Victor Bergman.  The edges of his image wavered ever so slightly as the computer generated Victor spoke. She shuffled to where John’s gurney lay feeling heat radiating from his body, and touched his forehead and Victor appeared on the nearest monitor.

“Victor.  I should probably ask you that question.  You’re the one who was dead two hours ago.”  She smiled at him faintly as her concern for Koenig’s condition increased.  Russell frowned as she looked at the sensor probe attached to John’s body that was not there before.

“Don’t worry about John.  I instructed the nurse to hook him up so I could talk to his nanobots.  Fascinating things, nanobots.  Did you know that there was research into nano technology before we left Earth?  At MIT….”  Victor was talking like someone on Speed.

“Victor.   That is very interesting, but how are you ‘talking’ to the nanobots?  For that matter, why are you involved at all?”  Helena was beginning to worry for her old friend.

“Well, I gave Paul the solution to our invader probe problem, but he is reluctant to send out the signal, so I needed John to reinforce the decision and sped up his nanobots so he could give the order.  His leg is nearly healed….” 

“You did what?!”  Helena interrupted him again when she lifted the sheet covering the crushed and broken leg.  She was not even sure she could save the leg, but now the leg was nearly normal---except for the heat coming from it and cherry-red appearance.

“Victor…?”  John groaned his friend’s name as he momentarily reached consciousness through the nanobot-induced fever. 

“I’m here John.  Helena brought me back.”  The video Victor responded to Koenig’s dazed query.

“The probe?”  John croaked out.  Victor’s image looked up as if to find the probe.

“I’ve come up with a solution, but in my current immobile state, we must have Paul complete the process.”

“John, you’re in no condition….” Helena began, but Victor disappeared and was replaced with a view of Paul and Alan in Auxiliary Command.

“Commander!  How’s he doing, Dr. Russell?”  Paul asked.

“What about...probe?”  Koenig shook from the effort of speaking. 

“Gone, Commander.  Dr. Bergman’s signal worked as advertised.”  Alan said cheerily.  “The probe packed up and went home.”

“I had my doubts about Dr. Bergman’s plan, but I decided that we had no alternative and sent the signal out.  The probe just left.”  Paul said.

“Good…work.”  Koenig said and fell back into unconsciousness.

Victor appeared in a small window in the corner of the screen.

“I’ve been instructing John’s nanobots to hold his pain at bay and I’ve lowered their activity rate to normal.  He should sleep for quite a while now.”

Helena’s head was spinning.  Victor alive, John is injured but alive, another disaster averted. Victor reclaimed the whole screen.

“Helena, I understand your concerns and I think I can explain some of it.”  Victor smiled at her from the monitor.

“Can you, Victor?  How can you control the nanobots?  How are you doing that from the lab without being able to move?  What’s going on?”

“I really don’t know exactly what happened to cause this, but when I began speaking through the communicator, I found I’m able to interface directly with the Base computer system.  While I am still unable to move, I seem to have the ability to move virtually throughout the Base and see anything to which the computer can attach itself.

“The software that allowed the computer to monitor and control the nanobots is as available to me as to the base computer.  When the nurse attached the sensors to John, I could ‘see’ his nanobots and control them to increase their workload.  My own nanobots are under my control as well and I think the wireless sensors that you setup in me are connecting me to the Base network and computer without any need for physical contact.  I don’t seem to be able to give myself mobility, but this is close.”

“You’ll need to be fed through a feeding tube or intravenous system of some sort.  You are going to need nourishment until we can figure out how to get mind and body back together.”

“Not right now, though.  We’ll save the world again tomorrow, Helena.”  Rhin said from her side.

“Yes, I can see you need some rest Helena.  Let your staff take care of John and myself.”  Victor implored.  “Go relax, and we will solve our problems one at a time.”  Bergman faded and soon the screen was blank.

“Come, Helena.  Let me walk you to your quarters.”  Rhin’s strong hands turned her and sent her toward an exit.  They both shed their lab coats as she gave some final orders to the staff and was soon at the entry to her quarters.  The Numebizirian’s right hand was again massaging her ear as the left rubbed her neck until his lips met hers in a passionate kiss that she enthusiastically returned.

Her hands roamed across his muscular back, to down below the hem of his short skirt, then back up the tights-covered, well-defined thighs and derriere.  Helena’s nerves tingled so hard her toes curled inside her boots.  She had not felt this way for a very long time and was not sure where she wanted her relationship with Rhin to go.

“I sense you feel as I do, Helena.  Shall I stay?”  Rhin’s green eyes were filled with desire; his left hand drifting from her neck to her breast causing Helena’s body to respond to his touch.

“The day was full, Rhin, and I think I need to get some rest.”  She took his hand in hers, kissed it, and entered her quarters alone.  She looked at the clock and realized she had been up for over 20 hours.  John would recover, no one on the base died as a result of the probe or the resultant Eagle crash, Victor was brought back to them and she would find a way to make him fully mobile again.  All-in-all, not a bad day.

Postlog   Victor Bergman

            Victor put his glasses down again.  It was his personal signature for completing something and he knew is was an affectation---but he had learned to live with his own foibles.  His new-found ability to communicate with the Base computer, to control nanobots, and to create a virtual presence all remained with him.  Helena was finally able to give him back control over his body and his mobility---albeit after 4 months of virtual living.

            Bergman was embarrassed by the giddy attitude the connection with the computer had instilled in him, and his own use of that ability to watch everyone on the base; but he finally was able to overcome it.  The future had many possibilities, and Victor was there to see it.

Michael Lindow