Chapter 4

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

– Anais Nin

Max led Alex back to the room where she had awoken. There was a gym duffle on the bed. It was dark grey with a silver waxing, full and waning moon symbol of the Triple Goddess embroidered on the side, Max picked it up and tossed it to Alex. She caught it.

"We put together a change of clothes, underwear and some toiletries. It should be enough till we get settled in at the temple." Max said. "Let's get down to the launch bay, we don't want to keep Dealla and Gavin waiting," and she walked out of the room.

Alex slung the duffle over her shoulder and chased Max down the hall. "It seems she really doesn't like me."

Max turned and looked at Alex as she continued walking, "what makes you say that?"

"Isn't it obvious, the way she went at me in the briefing." Alex said.

"That?" Max laughed, "Dealla's very competitive. She's also quite curmudgeonly, maybe even a termagant. I doubt it has anything to do with you personally."

Before Alex could ask anything else, Max rounded a corner and the hallway ended in large double doors. They made an electropneumatic 'whoosh' sound as they opened, and Max strode into the launch bay.

It was a large, roughly square, barn-like space with a partially retractable roof and hanger doors opposite the entrance. A garlicy and acrid smell that could only come from electro-plasma jets permeated the space. There were monitors, tool chests and cabinets along the left wall. On the right there were two platforms with hovercraft dollies for moving equipment or supplies and behind each platform was another set of double doors leading to somewhere else in the facility.

Max walked down a short ramp, and as Alex made her way into the launch bay, she got a good look at the vehicle they would be traveling in. It was a mixed-use Audi-Boeing orbital shuttle. It was painted in a grey-blue digital paint scheme. The cabin door, entrance was on the front left. With "Blaise Construction," "NC666AZ," and "Caledonia III" in black standard 30-cm script painted on the exterior skin just aft of the door.

Milli informed Alex it could hold two, 6-meter, high-cube shipping containers side-by-side in the rear cargo space with a lift capacity of 36,000 kilograms; there was an atmosphere-controlled internal cabin for passengers or gear and a cockpit that carried up to 3 crew but could be flown by a minimum of 1 with the AI.

Max walked over to Gavin who was standing by the cabin door, "You two get on board and stow your gear, we'll be taking off as soon as pre-flight is completed."

Max climbed up and through the door into the cabin. Milli told Alex, the Caledonia's AI was named Osgood.

As Alex entered, a male voice over the intercom said, "You didn't ask permission to come aboard."

"I'm sorry. You're Osgood, right?" Alex asked.

"Yes."

"Permission to board," Alex said.

"Granted," Osgood said in a cheery pleasant tone.

"Thank you, Osgood."

"Well, nobody's perfect."

Alex saw Max stowing her bag in a cargo locker near the rear bulkhead on the right side of the cabin and then Max sat down in the aisle seat. Alex placed her bag in the locker next to where Max had put her gear and sat in the chair on the other side of the center aisle.

Dealla stepped out of the cockpit door and said, "Get your gear in lockers and get your seat belts on, we're launching as soon as Gavin gets in here."

"Done," said Alex.

"Buckling up now," said Max.

Gavin came up the boarding ladder and pulled the door closed behind himself. "Osgood, lock and arm the door, confirm status with Dealla." He turned and handed a manilla envelope to Max, "here's the papers."

"Thank you, Gavin," Max said.

The shuttle's intercom beeped, "Prepare for take-off," Dealla said.

Max opened the manilla envelope and pulled out two cards and some sheets of paper and was reading them. The orbital shuttle shook, lifted off into a hover and then started slowly moving forward. Alex wished there was a window view. After about 20 seconds, forward motion stopped. Alex could hear the matter injection turbines growl louder.

The shuttle's intercom beeped, "Launch in 3, 2, 1," Osgood said.

Alex felt a 'swoosh' feeling deep in her core as the shuttle launched skyward and she was pushed deep into her seat. The pressure let up slightly, but it was clear they were still accelerating in the upward portion of their ballistic arc.

"We'll be landing at O'Hare Spaceport in a bit over 20 minutes," Dealla said, "stay seated and belted."

Max handed Alex a 7 by 12-centimeter plastic card, "here's your multi-pass."

The name listed was Alex Nolen Ó Catháin, with a birthday of 27 June 2175, which made her 25. It listed height as 172 centimeters and weight as 59 kilos. The place of birth was listed as Galway, Ireland, UER and Security Specialist listed as the profession.

There was a hologram photo of her and as she tilted the card it looked like the photo was watching her wherever the card was moved. Her hair was a rich auburn to dark ginger tone it was cut in a choppy pixie style. She had curved natural eyebrows. The only makeup she wore was eyeliner, a hint of blush on her cheeks, and deep red lipstick

She wore emerald colored 1-gauge plugs in both ears. Her left ear had a hot pink loop piercing in the tragus and there was matte black carbon fiber industrial bar that looked like an ornate arrow in her right. Alex put the multi-pass down and touched her ears - they were pierced just like the photo. Cute, she thought, but dammed if I know when they were done.

Alex picked the multi-pass back up and stared at it again. In the photo, she wore a high collared, zippered, blue denim coverall that was unzipped down to 5 cm below her jugular notch, exactly as she did now. But in the photo, there was a silver and onyx talisman of the Goddess pinned to her right collar point.

Alex looked at Max, who was watching her, a whimsical look on her face. Alex stared back into the eyes of the women's photo on the multi-pass.

Is that me, she wondered? Alex looked back at Max, "Is this accurate?"

"Mostly, there is a digital genetic sequence on the embedded chip that's from you. But your original birthday was in 2155, and the estimated age of the clone that became your current body is 25 years old." Max said. "That's why DGH set the birth year as 2175. The holo-photo was taken by DGH while you were in the briefing, she touched it up a bit, added the hint of makeup."

"Do you know anything else about me?" Alex asked.

"DGH did tell me that you grew up in Tuam, Ireland," Max said, a solemn hard to read expression on her face.

"That's so odd, I don't remember growing up there, but I know that Tuam is in County Galway, about 35 kilometers north-northeast of Galway proper." Alex felt pensive and a bit sad, how can I know so much but not remember who I really am and what I look like.

"Five minutes to touchdown at Space Port O'Hare," Dealla said.

Alex could hear the electro-plasma jets whine as they built up thrust to decelerate the shuttle for landing. As she felt her hips push downward into the seat, she exhaled and tightened her core to maintain her posture. She turned and looked at Max, who was undisturbed with her android bearing and body tone unchanged by the almost 5-g force of the braking maneuver, but Max's bottom clearly deformed the cushion of her seat as much as Alex's did.

Alex breathed deep and just let herself be pushed into the seat. Relaxing and breathing, the force lay over her like a weighted blanket. Odd, she thought, it feels quite pleasant to be weighted and held down this way.

"Touch down in 3, 2, 1," Osgood said, "Local time is 14:22, Zulu minus 6."

Max and Alex unbuckled and stood up. Dealla came through the cockpit door and strode to the shuttle exterior door and opened it, lowering the stairs down to the landing pad. Alex and Max pulled their bags from the lockers and moved toward the exit. Max hugged Dealla and they exchanged chaste kisses on their cheeks.

"Hold up a moment," Dealla said to Max.

Alex's left eye vision showed a red tonal shift and she wondered if it had glitched or the lighting here was odd. There was a deeper red tint around Dealla's eyes, hands and groin, there was a green tint around her throat, chest, major joints, mouth, and bottom. Alex reflexively stepped back as Dealla moved toward her.

"Don't be such a child, take my hand," Dealla commanded.

Alex reached out and took Dealla's hand, it was soft, but quite warm. It almost seemed to be getting hotter. She felt faint and her legs felt like they were turning to gelatin.

"Intrusion alert, Intrusion alert," Milli shouted in a shrill voice.

The world swirled and Alex wondered if she had passed out. She could only see through her augment eye. She felt, more than could see. It seemed she was kneeling on the floor with her torso pulled over a padded bench or ottoman. Her hands were in some sort of restraint, though she couldn't tell where they were tethered. Her ankles were crossed and bound together, and her knees seemed to be bound to the legs of the ottoman. She was held tight and felt extremely exposed and vulnerable.

"Release," Dealla said from somewhere.

Alex was back in the cabin of the shuttle. Her head swam and her vision in both eyes seemed to swirl. She was still holding Dealla's hand and swooned forward. Dealla caught her and Alex breathed in sharply. She noted Dealla smelt faintly of musk and baby powder. Alex was surprised how strong Dealla was, her arms enveloping her and holding her upright. Alex trembled and felt like she peed her pants, a warm wetness forming.

"What... what happened," Alex asked.

"I'm sorry," Dealla said, looking contrite, "I hacked you."

"You what?" Alex said, her eyes growing wide.

"I wanted to dynamically interrogate your security systems. We can't let you out into an interplanetary space port and not have you be safe. I can see we've got lots to teach you."

Dealla adjusted her grip on Alex, still supporting her but letting Alex take more and more of her own weight until they were just hugging. Dealla turned to Max, "You need to go over her security settings with her. Her soft is great, it's just not set up well and I suspect she didn't even understand the visual cues that got displayed on her HUD. I'll upload you the stealth and combat presets I run, adjust as you see fit."

Max nodded to Dealla, "Thanks, we will."

Alex felt awkward, but pleasant still hugging Dealla, she looked into her green eyes.

Dealla said, "Ask Milli to put you in a total lock down except for your quantum channels to Max and DGH. That should keep you safe until you and Max can work through your settings." Dealla spun Alex from a closed cuddle to a half open side-by-side position. "After you've updated the settings Max and Milli can walk and talk you through the basics of offensive and defensive hacking. We will start sparing and more advanced topics day after next. That should give you time to get settled in Edinburgh and me in the Albuquerque area." Dealla leaned in close to Alex and asked, "May I?"

"You didn't ask just a moment ago." Alex said, a hard edge to her tone, "Or am I being a child?" Alex felt a flush in her neck and face, she was very conflicted but found herself leaning in even closer and whispered, "Yes, you may."

Dealla kissed Alex, her lips brushed Alex's cheek, softly and delicately, neither chaste nor immodest. Nonetheless, Alex felt her breathing quickening. Dealla stepped back and handed Alex to Max.

"Your blood pressure and heart rate are going back up," Milli said.

"Come along sassy pants," Max said as she guided Alex to the shuttle cabin door.

As she moved, Alex felt her damp panties cold, wet and riding up in uncomfortable ways, bring her fully back to the present moment. "Milli, full lock down, but for the quantum links to DGH and Max." Alex thought.

"Executing immediately." Milli intoned.

Alex turned to Max, "What did you call me?" The edge back in the tone of her voice.

Max led Alex down the gangway, "Sassy pants. You are such a biologic."

Alex stopped and glared at Max.

Max calmly said, "Hon..."

"Don't Hon me, what do you mean," Alex said crossing her arms.

"'Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions,' David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature." Max attempted to take Alex's hand and Alex pulled away, a petulant look on her face.

Max bowed slightly, and in a gentle tone said, "my dear girl, I am sorry if I hurt your feelings." Max stopped put her arm out, Alex acquiesced, interlocked her arms and they began walking again. "First, are you on lock down?"

"Yes, I was doing that when you started calling me names." Alex said with a slight waver in her voice.

"Second, your current body, while roughly 25 years old in a developmental sense, is only 6 months old. Normal adult clones take ten to sixteen years to grow. DGH developed a special protocol with a specific hormonal soup to rapidly develop and age your clone." Max continued leading Alex into the Spaceport facility and towards the intercontinental departures concourse, " As a result, you will be extremely reactive as you will still have large hormonal swings until your hypothalamic-pituitary axis resets your biologic equilibrium. I think you've noticed how emotionally reactive and easily stimulated you are?"

Alex blushed, "But..."

Max looked at Alex, arched an eyebrow and gave a knowing look, "Don't 'but' me young lady. My third point is don't forget, the whole purpose I was created and developed for, was to sense, respond to, and cause pleasure in biologics. This is where I am a subject matter expert."

Alex blushed deeper, but stayed silent.

They kept walking arm-in-arm, "You have a cognitive schema of a 45-year-old, the body of a 25-year-old and a hormonal system with surges larger than any 12- to 14-year-old starting into puberty. Its a testament to your resilience that you can function at all."

"That does explain a lot," Alex said in a sober tone. "So, what are you supposed to be to me then? My handler, or my chaperone, or something else?"

"Do you want or need me to handle you?" Max arched an eyebrow, "Titillation is fun, isn't it? But I've sort of thought of myself more like your big sister than a chaperone or handler. As to something else, if you really need me for that, it would be an honor, but I suspect you will have no problems finding whoever or whatever you enjoy."

Alex started to protest, and Max cut her off.

"My advice to you is to start by getting to know yourself again. Bill the Bard said it more elegantly as 'This above all: to thine own self be true.'"