KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 19-Part II

Astrid Luxor had endured every possible pile of crap duty on board the Quantum Boat, but when the psychotic man known as Adam had slashed the captain's throat and commandeered the vessel, she had to step in.

"He never should have been allowed on board," she had told the watch commander when he took her report. "Didn't anyone notice he was unstable?"

"His loyalty to save PFC Epsteen consumed him, so when the captain said leave her behind to age gracefully, he snapped."

Astrid grimaced. "Well, he certainly got us here to the Barn in a hurry, but how did he know Georgiana would be here?"

"Dumb luck, I suppose."

Astrid had shown every ounce of restraint not to kill the man, but now they were saddled with a new captain, who happened to be a Gort. One thing was for sure, he would take a more active role in tracking down the aliens, but she couldn't shake the feeling the new captain had a hidden agenda.

Moments alone were few and far between yet she found herself daydreaming about her past more and more which irritated her to no end. Astrid was always looking towards the future, her career, and the goals she constantly placed on herself. Back then, in Jar-sedan, Astrid was seventeen, yet fiercely independent. As a teenager approaching adulthood, she resented the fact her father had tried to wipe her mind, though he had taken the time to explain the subtleties of a wipe opposed to a complete erasure. Somehow it amounted to amnesia, but now her memory was coming back in full force and she had to fight between her destiny and a lingering allegiance to her family and past. It was a bitter dichotomy she wrestled with, though not in a weak way. It was more of a moral dilemma, knowing she needed to go back and finish what her father had started while performing her duty to follow orders and prove herself as a faithful officer.

There was only one person on board Astrid trusted, and that was too strong a term. She could confide in John-mark, but she only trusted herself. He had remained at his station in the deep hold of the ship unfailingly, always available on the rare occasion she should visit him. His mind wipe had been more thorough, yet they had been able to piece together a few details. The more they talked, the more her amnesia had faded and she no longer lived in a fog. At first, it seemed they were like best childhood friends, but when she looked in the mirror, all the memories from her childhood involved herself. Still, the fact remained, she had been raised on her father's estate in Jar-sedan, next to the Mc'kee farm. Two rival settlers who seemed to rule the planet in a most familiar way. But when the robot rebellion came, her family had taken the offer and moved long before the stubborn Mc'kee family. Her dad maintained they were developing robot genetics which could spell the demise of life in the galaxy, whether it be human, Gort, or any other intelligent species. They were messing with the Three Laws of Robotics which kept humans safe, but he never told her what exactly the problem was or how to stop it.

"It's too big for a few people to handle," her father had told her. "We can't destroy an entire Subdivision to save the Galaxy." She asked why not but never got an answer, and that was exactly what had happened. They isolated ten solar systems from the rest of the civilized Subdivision and left them for dead.

She may have been daydreaming, but Astrid used her peripheral vision to take in every detail, and the look on PFC Epsteen's face was a study in the subtle nuance of someone who had seen a ghost.

Grit-toraust, the new captain had come on board and taken control in minutes, and he wasted no time now, barking orders to the helm as if he had been captain for years.

"Make our course five light arc degrees north of the Galactic plane, Right Ascension three hours, twenty seven minutes, Declination two hundred thirty five degrees, twenty one minutes." Astrid could barely do those calculations with a computer, but for him to have them in his head was unthinkable.

"Course set for deep space shipping route two light years out from Jar-sedan Subdivision," replied the helm.

Grit turned to Astrid, leaving Epsteen to stand at attention. "At ease, Miss Luxor. Now that you are second in command, that discipline will only be needed in port." She dropped her shoulders an inch but no further and turned to look in his massive watery eyes. She wasn't the only one who could read expressions and body language, it was the fact the captain took pleasure in putting people under his thumb and watching them squirm that bothered her. Yet she hadn't flinched, so he pressed on since there was no reaction. "You used to have some family on the capital planet of Bar-clay-tagrina, didn't you?"

He knew damn well she did, but she refused to take the bait. "It was a long time ago, my father got out of Jar-sedan Subdivision before the first robot war."

"So destroying a few rebels who seem to think robots should rule the Galaxy shouldn't be a problem, correct?

"No, Sir."

"Very well then." He paused for a moment, looking down at Georgiana with contempt but still speaking to Astrid. "When we reach our destination, I will allow you to execute the bombing run, Miss Luxor."

Despite the pit in her stomach she only had one question. "Are the Baird aliens there?"

"No, we're killing robots, and anyone who stands in our way." He dismissed her with the turn of his back and ordered PFC Epsteen to clean the latrine.

"But Sir, I was told to hit the time decompression chamber."

"That can wait, there's no need for beauty on this boat now, is there?"

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