Cryptikon Far Freedom Part 2

in a slight depression of the mattress.

  A cryptikon appeared above the bed and one of its surface patterns flickered. Reality flickered. The engineering bay of the Freedom reappeared.

  2-38 Lost and Found

  "That was a sad song," Aylis remarked. "You look like you could use a hug."

  "I can't sing happy songs," Zakiya said.

  Aylis hugged Zakiya and both sat down in the front row of the theater. Musicians put away instruments on stage. They waved good-byes with caring expressions as they left the rehearsal.

  Aylis looked terrible to Zakiya. Somehow she had managed to survive the trauma of retiring Setek. Someday soon Zakiya needed to explain to Alex and Koji what really happened to Setek. Aylis had lied to them. So far they seemed to accept that Setek had suffered an unexpected organ failure and would be in regenerative stasis for a period of time. In a sense that was true, as the failed organ was Setek's brain.

  "I'm glad you could come hear me rehearse," Zakiya said. She held onto Aylis's hand and looked into her saddened eyes. "Don't feel badly about Setek, Aylis. You did the right thing. He's more than you can deal with right now. I'm almost ready to retire Alex, too. It's not that they've done anything wrong. They know we have them under close watch. They just seem to be a little more patient than we are."

  "The barbarians are standing between them and us," Aylis said. "I hope you haven't given up on Petros, Zak. I know it seems impossible but..."

  "Iggy and Direk are still working on the jumpship restoration. There doesn't seem to be much else we can do. We're almost finished mining asteroids for the material we need for the cannons. The fabricators have been fabricated. Right now it's just another activity - like staging a concert - to keep the crew busy. I don't know what we'll do when the barbarian jumpship is fixed. I don't know what we'll do when all the cannons are manufactured and installed. The future frightens me. What have you been doing, Aylis? I know you can't let yourself do nothing."

  "Tending to tasks no one else wanted to do. I autopsied the barbarians."

  "Find anything interesting?"

  "Some mutations. It will take years and a much greater sample, but I suspect they're victims of a slightly negative genetic change. They have a shortened natural life expectancy, which would be inconsequential with modern health care. I can also verify that two of them are only a few generations removed from Earth. The third one has ancestors that I can only assume came from a prehistoric diaspora, perhaps neither Rhyan nor Essiin."

  "Nothing to explain their violent behavior?"

  "Unfortunately, the potential for violent behavior is probably a trait required for the survival of a species. That's your area of study, Zak."

  "Yes, and we will condemn Alex and Koji for a very fine point we put on the application of violence."

  They sat in silence for a few moments. Zakiya tried not to think about anything important. So many years had passed in her life. How many ordinary days had vanished into oblivion, too uneventful to be retained in memory? She felt old.

  "Would it upset you if I told you some things you didn't know about Sammy?" Aylis asked with concern.

  "You also did his autopsy? I don't think I want to know."

  "I didn't do an autopsy in the physical manner that old word used to mean, just a better scan. I've held back some information about Sammy from a scan before he died. I thought it was in error and would only distract you. But I see no error now. This scan confirmed it and yielded another surprise."

  "This is something you need to tell me, Aylis? I think I can take it, but if I can't, I don't want to pull you down with me."

  "What are a few more tears for me? I seem to have an endless supply. You would want to know these things about Sammy, Zak."

  "Tell me, then."

  "As you know, genetic analysis inferred that Sammy was either born to parents who didn't live in the present era, or he was genetically-designed to be unrelated to anyone presently living in the Union. Of course, now we realize he might be related to someone in barbarian space. But I don't think so. The evidence is too clear that his genetic code doesn't exhibit the slight drift present in contemporary genetic codes. Since time travel isn't possible, I assume Sammy's parents lived in the distant past. He was either produced from ancient samples of DNA, or he arrived in the present by some means of storage. Isotope dating confirms that he was born several hundred years ago - on Earth."

  "The poor child!" Zakiya declared. "The poor, poor child!"

  "Why do you say that?"

  "I just imagine the worst kinds of things happening to him! I think he must have been raised from an infant by someone who really cared for him, because his basic nature was so good. But then something bad happened. Mai was never able to find the cause of his amnesia, and that, in itself, was a tragic wound. And we know he spent months alone in Africa. Why? It just doesn't make sense! It continues to anger me!"

  "The golden alien you saw - the female named Constant - she seemed to care about him, and the other one apparently hated Sammy. They knew who Sammy was and they must have been important persons in his life. If only we had been able to save Petros! He would have known so many things that would have helped us. And Sammy."

  "What is also troubling," Zakiya said, "is that Sammy may have had a mother and a father. I can't imagine how they lost their son, but they did. I know how they must have felt. If there is any chance that the voice of Milly belongs to a real person, I want to meet her! She must be Sammy's mother. She must also be in trouble. If only I could help her!" She sighed.

  "One other thing," Aylis said, "and I'll let you be. During the scan I found this in Sammy."

  Aylis held forth a transparent bag containing a tiny red object. Zakiya looked at it with immediate recognition.

  "It's a gem from Shorty!"

  "It's a molecular machine," Aylis said. "Purpose unknown."

  "It knows me!" Zakiya declared.

  "It knows you? It just irritates me! I think it may have made me bring it to you, because I certainly wasn't planning to come here."

  "I've felt its presence since you arrived at rehearsal, Aylis. I didn't know what it was. Let me have it!"

  "It could be dangerous!"

  "I don't think so."

  Zakiya took the plastic bag and opened it. She held the tiny red translucent object in her fingers. It stuck to one of her fingers. She could feel a sensation in the nerves of her finger but it was weak. She curled her finger to place the red bead on the palm of her hand and it transferred itself and attached to her palm. In a moment the nerves up to her elbow began to tingle but it still seemed too weak. Finally she placed her palm on the back of her neck and waited for another reattachment. She felt a tiny shock at the base of her skull. It began to communicate with no words but only urges that seemed familiar. It wanted to go home! She closed her eyes to try to sense a direction to go.

  "Follow me." Zakiya stood up and started walking.

  "What are you doing?" Aylis asked.

  "Looking for Shorty."

  "The gatekeeper? The thing that lured Sammy into the space elevator? The thing I saw with Pan's android on Earth?"

  "That's the one. The one that rescued me from Oz."

  "Shouldn't we have noticed its presence on the ship?"

  "That and other questions need answers!" Zakiya declared, transformed by purpose.

  "What other questions?" Aylis asked.

  "How did it get here? Why is it here? Can it open gates to places we may need to visit?"

  "I'm not sure I want to know any of those answers! What is this thing doing to you?"

  "It's making me feel strong emotions."

  "Emotions?"

  "I don't think it can help it."

  "How? It's just a tiny machine."

  "It's part of Shorty. It needs to return to Shorty. It isn't being very helpful. I'd say it's confused and frightened. It should be pointing me in the right direction."

  They walked.

  /

  Moments la
ter, Iggy and Wingren appeared by transmat a few meters away from Zakiya and Aylis. Iggy immediately noticed that Zakiya was agitated and distracted. He turned a questioning look to Aylis, who had also noted that Iggy and Wingren were in a distressed state.

  "What's wrong with Zak?" Iggy asked.

  "If you need to speak to her," Aylis replied, "now is a bad time, Iggy. What's wrong?"

  "We have a possible situation. We saw something with a cryptikon that may be very important."

  "Tell me what has happened," Zakiya said, continuing to walk, apparently fighting some inner distraction.

  Iggy let Wingren describe their encounter with the distant alien starship.

  "Put the ship on alert!" Zakiya abruptly ordered. Then, all but dismissing them, she walked on without further discussion. He and Wingren and Aylis were forced to follow behind her.

  "Iggy, I must have missed something in the story," Aylis said. "Why should we put the ship on alert? What's going to happen?"

  "Wingren and I think the alien ship is coming to find us. It's incredibly far away but it could be here in seconds. It could be capable of almost anything, including jumping across a large part of the universe. I think our cryptikons may be used by it to pinpoint our location."

  "I don't think it wants to harm us," Wingren said. "I think it wants our help."

  "Why?" Aylis asked.

  "We saw some blood, like someone was injured," Wingren answered. "It has to be a human, an Earthian, who was injured."

  Iggy contacted Horss by shiplink. As Zakiya led them in the general direction of the hospital, the warning lights on buildings began to glow and flash for attention. Iggy