Chapter 2

Transport to the new ship gave Angie and Marty time to examine it up close as their small shuttle craft moved slowly past the giant starship like a gnat flying around an elephant. Illuminated by lamps, the X-4001 stood ready to assault the galaxy. All it needed was the dynamic duo.

"Wow! This baby is huge,"
Angie glanced at him before turning back to admiring the new ship. "We could get lost in this crate."

"Nah, we can always ask Delphi for directions."

"Why do we have to do that? Didn't you memorize the plans?"

Marty gave her a mock frown. "Yeah, right."

The shuttle slowly mated to a connection port that appeared to magically emerge from the smooth seamless outer skin of the new ship. The two star travelers entered the ship at a nexus of five corridors. Lights automatically activated in the corridor that they were supposed to go down.

Marty gestured for her to go first. "Delphi knows that we're here."

They walked up the corridor to an elevator complex. When they moved toward one of the elevator doors, it opened.

"Take us to the command deck," Angie said.
The elevator rose quickly and stopped to open on the command deck.

"Wow!" Marty said, trying to take in the expansive deck. "This is really well appointed."

"Yes, they're getting much better at designing these things."

Angie walked over to the command chair and sat down.

"You're in the wrong seat," Marty said.

She looked around. "Oh, I'm sorry." She got up and moved to the navigational station chair.

Marty sat down. "This is supposed to be my ship, although, that may not be for long."

She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I've put in a request to be relieved of my command."

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Why?"

He sighed. "This is no longer fun for me. I want out, and the sooner the better."

She screwed her face into a serious frown. "This is about me, isn't it? You're angry with me."

"I don't like being under you. It's not that I want to be an admiral or anything like that. I just don't like being put in a position of having to worry about what crazy order you might conjure up."

"Oh God, I didn't want you to feel that I'm imposing my . . . Look, I'm sorry. I apologize for what I did. It was stupid. Please don't allow my stupid actions to influence your decision to . . ."

"If you must know, I've lodged a formal complaint against you."

She bowed her head. "Oh, God, please, I'm sorry. I won't do anything like that again. Please don't quit because of me."

The computer lamp flashed. "Space Command wants to know if you're ready to depart, Angie."

"Excuse me, Delphi. Yes, we're ready. Take us out of dock, please."

"Yes, Angie."

He pointed at her. "See. That's just what bugs me. This is supposed to be my ship, and you're taking it over."

She held up her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to usurp your command." She began to tear. "You hate me, don't you?"

"I don't hate you, Angie. Jesus, don't cry. Let's face it: they are not going to allow me to resign, and they are not going to discipline you. We're too valuable for that. It's just that I want relief from your mood swings. You've become totally absorbed in your authority over me. You think that I'm your plaything and that you can do anything to me to amuse yourself. If our positions were reversed, I would never do that to you. I respect you more than that."

She was really crying now.

Marty frowned and set his jaw. "Maybe we should turn around and abort this mission."

Tears were running down her cheeks, but Angie was still the professional. "No, don't do that. Please. I'll be okay."

"Align us with M-36 and take us up to jump speed, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

As the main engines screamed to life, Angie tried to control her tear production. "Look, I promise that I won't make you do anything you don't want to do."

"How do I know that? Would you like it if I made you do pushups in the altogether?"

She cried. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that you would be this angry. I'll do pushups like that for you. Will that satisfy you?"

"No way! I don't want you to do anything of the sort. It's demeaning. Don't you understand that?"

"What do you want?"

"I want to be as far away from you as I can possibly get."

She bawled. "You hate me, don't you?"

"Jump will commence in five minutes, Martin."

"Good. Execute on count, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

"Look, Angie, I'm just pissed right now. I don't know what I want to do, but I know that this situation has got to be changed. I will not put up with it anymore."

"Okay. Okay. Let's call a truce. I won't make you do anything. We'll get through this mission and then see what happens."

"It's too late for that. I'm afraid that I've opened a can of worms. When we get back, we're going to end up in a hearing that won't be very nice at all."

The deck began to elongate and spin.

"How long will this jump last, Delphi?" Marty asked.

"Twenty-two minutes, Martin."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Martin."

"Shit," Angie hissed. "I forgot Onuki's pills. I'll be totally messed up."

"That's just great!"

"I'm sorry. Maybe I should be the one who resigns. I've screwed up everything. Maybe you should be admiral."

"I don't want to be admiral. The last thing I want to be doing is lording it over everyone."

"Was I that obvious?"

"It was the confinement to quarters that did it. You knew full well that I would relent, didn't you?"

"Yes. I knew that you wanted to be drinking beer with your friends."

"That was completely unfair."

"I'm sorry. I had no idea that you would be this angry. I promise that I'll make it up to you."

"Let's leave it go for now."

She tried to smile, but failed. "Okay."

###

"We have entered normal space, Martin."

"Bring us to GLSR, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

Marty stood up. "Here, you take the command chair."

She looked at him through reddened puffy eyes. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"Yes, I've calmed down now that I've had twenty some minutes squeezed into a singularity to think about it. I'm sorry if I've said anything that offended you. It's just my male pride talking. You're still in charge and I will obey you no matter how crazy your order is."

He was relieved to see her smile even though it was weak. He elected to remain quiet for the next fifteen minutes while the breaking engines fired. He figured that she needed the time to settle down.

"We are now at Galactic Local Standard of Rest, Angie."

"Good, Delphi. Scan the star cluster please."

"Yes, Angie."

Marty began his observations. "Wow! This cluster has a whole bunch of stars. The big blue ones are hundreds of times brighter than our sun."

"Are you sure you're not angry with me?"

He looked up at her from binocular eyepieces. "I told you that I'm not."

"Even though I may have to punish you again?"

"If you feel that I need to be punished, do it. I certainly deserve it." He returned to peering into the eyepieces. "You should make me do pushups for an entire day."

"Don't be silly. You can't do pushups that long."

"That's strange."

Angie jumped up. "What is?"

"I've picked up a G-class star in the middle of the cluster. I thought that open clusters only have B-class and WD-class stars."

"Does it have any planets?"

"I can't tell," Marty said. "We're too far out."

"Take us to the G-class star at 10000 kps, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"That'll require three days," Marty said.

"We're not in a hurry, are we?"

"Not for any reason that I'm aware of, Angie. Oh, I meant Admiral. Sorry."

"That will cost you a hundred," she said.

He went back to his scans. "The blue stars are rotating faster than hell. According to spectral analysis, they're rotating at approximately 300 kps at their equators. They must look like footballs."

"Speaking of rotating, I feel dizzy."

He looked up at her. "Maybe you should go lay down, Angie."

She buried her face in her hands. "I'm going to catch hell for being so stupid. And, by the way you owe me another hundred."

"Shit, by the end of this mission I'll owe you ten thousand."

She tried to laugh but it sounded more like whimpering.

"I'm beginning to pick up hundreds of brown dwarfs. They're more visible in infra red. By the way, are you going to make me do all ten thousand in the altogether?"

"I may. I definitely think that you should. You've been particularly bad, and you should be severely punished."

"Why do you have to make me strip? I hate that."

Angie smiled. "I'm not trying to be pernicious; obdurate, perhaps, but not pernicious. No, you're obdurate."

"I admit that I am, Admiral, but I still don't like doing it in the altogether."

"Why do you need to wear anything to be punished? You're not making a social call; you're being punished. I think that it's especially appropriate in your case because you need to be taught a lesson and made to understand how bad you've been."

"You don't need to go on, Admiral. I get the message."

But, if you object, I won't make you do it."

Ignoring her, he returned to his observations. "That G-star definitely has planets around it, and I'm not detecting any instability in its spectral scans." He paused. "Do you really think that I'm that bad?"

"Yes. You're terrible, and you need to be routinely disciplined. I would love to make you do pushups, run and do jumping jacks for hours on end until you're totally exhausted."

"I don't know if I would like that, but you're probably right. I have been bad boy, haven't I?"

"Yes you have, but I don't want to make you do anything that you don't want to do."

"You're my superior officer," he said. "If you think that I should be severely punished, then you should do it."

You don't object then?"

"I'm sorry that I objected in the first place. You're perfectly within your rights to punish me in any manner that you wish."

"Thank you, but right now I feel horrible. I'm saying things that I shouldn't. I apologize."

"No need to apologize, Admiral, you're saying what you should. In the meantime, why don't you go to your quarters and take a nap."

"I would love to, but I can't leave you alone. What if we get attacked?"

"Delphi and I can handle it."

"Oh, that's going to look good. You're fighting battles while I'm taking a nap."

"Don't worry, I'll cover for you."

"That is an infraction that will earn you severe punishment."

"Add it to my tab," he said, smiling.

She smiled. "You're crazy, but I guess I'm at your mercy."

"Go, Angie. I'll mind the store."

She got up and pointed at him. "That's another hundred." She shuffled off to her quarters.

He shook his head in disgust and then went back to his observations.

###

When he heard the elevator door swish open, Marty turned to watch his superior officer walk back to her station.

"What's our status, Delphi?"

"We are 30 AU from the fourth planet, Angie. All systems are optimum."

"Good morning, Admiral."

"What do you have so far?" she asked, taking her seat in the command chair.

"Well, the planet has an atmosphere that is not that much different than Earth's, perhaps a bit thicker. The planet has a 6200 kilometer equatorial radius, an inclination of 20 degrees and a mass of 6 times ten to the 24 kilograms."

"I want to apologize for my tirade. I was not feeling very well."

"No need to apologize. I deserved it."

"You forgot to add admiral. That's another hundred."

"What's my count up to?"

"A thousand."

"A thousand what: pushups, jumping jacks, sit-ups?"

"What do you like?"

"How about none of the above."

She laughed.

"I'm happy to see you in better spirits, Angie."

"The count is up to 1100 now."

"Thanks."

She laughed again.

"This planet has an interesting surface," Marty said, switching his telescopic image to the main screen. "It doesn't look all that different than Earth. The oceans are similar."

"I wonder if there is any life on this planet."

"I have detected strong chlorophyll peaks, so it definitely has plant life. The mean temperature is 280 K, so it's very close to that of Earth. The oxygen is 19% and the carbon dioxide is around 0.002%, so I can't imagine it not having life. However, since it's so close to these big blue B-class stars, the UV radiation might be a tad high."

"What's our ETA?"

"I've stepped up our velocity a bit, so we're about ten hours from orbit."

"You didn't get my permission. That's another 500."

"You were asleep."

"That's another 100."

"I'm sorry, Admiral. I forgot."

"You forget on purpose, mister."

"I apologize, Admiral."

Angie looked around. "What do you want me to do?"

"Why don't you check out the weapon systems," Marty said. "You never know when we might come under attack."

"I'll do that, but I think that you should get some shut eye. You've been awake for twenty hours."

"I'm okay, Admiral."

"That was an order, mister."

He got up and saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

Angie watched him enter the elevator before she turned to looking at the main screen. The view of a dense pack of stars was spectacular and awe inspiring, but she wasn't interested in that.

"How did I do, Delphi?"

"You have effectively shamed him into submission, Angie. Congratulations."

"I can never tell if he's voluntarily compliant, or he is simply afraid that he'll be busted out of the service."

"You are his superior, Angie. He is required to obey you."

"That's true, but I'm afraid that I've destroyed any chances of a romantic relationship with him, Delphi."

"I sense that he respects you and is ashamed that he has jeopardized your status in the service."

"Respect is only one aspect of a relationship. I think he fears making a commitment. Besides, I made him angry by abusing his male pride."

"It is quite possible that he secretly enjoys your abuse."

"You may be right, Delphi. I will need to explore that possibility and see how far I can push him into submission to me."

"Go for it, Angie."

She laughed.

###

Angie looked up when she heard the elevator open.

"Good morning, Commander."

"Where are we, Admiral?"

"We're fifty minutes from orbit. I have not detected any organized RF signals and see no evidence of civilization on the planet."

He sat down at the navigational station. "How do you feel?"

"Better. Onuki's pills work after the fact, but I have a terrible headache now."

"That's not good. I'll have to mind my P's and Q's or you'll punish me."

"Speaking of punishment, you're up to 2000. If you would like, we can cut a deck and give you a chance a double or nothing."

"Is that an operational standard?'

"No, but it may give you a chance to be relieved of your obligation."

"Okay, let's go for it."

She pulled out a deck of cards. "I was playing solitaire." She shuffled the cards and allowed him to split the deck. He pulled the top card and turned it over—a King of Spades. He immediately acquired a satisfied smile, but it was devastated when she drew an Ace of Spades.

"Sorry about that," she said, grinning. "You owe me 4000 now."

"You're just lucky, that's all."

She acquired a sour face. "That is true, but, not lucky in love."

He stared at her with surprised eyes. "What are you trying to say, Admiral?"

She tilted her head. "Do you feel anything for me?"

"What do you want me to say: that I love you?"

"Do you?"

"Yes, I do. I fell in love with you the day that I first met you. You're a combination of beauty and brains, but I'm having one hell of a problem trying to express it to you. If I say anything informal to you, you immediately reprimand me. I can't even call you by your name, a name that I've used ever since we met, without you punishing me for it."

"I'm just teasing you," she said, trying to sound soothing. "I don't really want to punish you, but I have no choice. You're hopelessly obstinate. As for my name: I can't allow you to use a familiar greeting in front of the crew. It's not proper for them or for you."

"We're not in front of any crew."

"I know, but I have to keep you in line."

"That's the problem. I don't know when you're mad at me, or just teasing me, and God help me if I make any attempt to be intimate. You would more than likely throw me in the brig."
"That's assuming that I had a brig to throw you in."

"You do, Admiral."

Her eyes widened. "This ship has a brig?"

"Yes it does. It's down next to the gym and swimming pool on Deck three."

She stood up. "We have some time before we achieve orbit. Let's check it out."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Take over, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

They took the elevator to Deck three and found the gym, a large room filled with exercise machines, a handball court and running track. The brig was at the rear of the main corridor. The door had a hand print biometric entry key.

"I can't open it, Admiral. I assume it's meant for you only. They probably installed the brig just for me."

She laughed before placing her right hand on the screen, and after a scan crossed her palm, the door opened on a chamber that was constructed entirely from stainless. The small brig itself was situated in the center of the chamber and had completely transparent walls. A slab that served as a bed, a toilet and sink, all stainless, were the only furnishings. A control unit stood on a pedestal right outside the brig's entrance, and this unit had a hand print key and a touch pad screen.

Angie placed her hand on the scanning screen and the brig's door swished open.

"Who wants to be the guinea pig?" Marty said in a joking manner.

"Very funny, Commander. I'm the admiral, remember? You get in there," she ordered. "I want to see how it works."

"Yes, ma'am."

Marty approached the entrance and an alarm went off accompanied by flashing red lights.

"What happened?"

Angie went over to the touch screen. "It's showing an image of you and it's showing your clothing flashing. It's saying that contraband has been detected."

"It doesn't like my clothes?"

"Sure looks like it," Angie said. "Maybe, it thinks that you could use your clothing to take your life or attack the guard."

Marty sat down on a stainless bench and removed his shoes and socks. He stood up and removed his belt and emptied his pants pockets. "Let's see if that helps."

When he approached the door, the alarm went off again.

"Now what?"

"It's still indicating that your clothing is contraband," Angie said.

"That doesn't make any sense. What does it think I'm going to do, hang myself with my pants?"

"I don't know, but that's what it showing."

"Shit." He removed his shirt and pants and approached the door, but the same thing happened. "Aw, come on. Surely, it doesn't want me to remove my shorts?"

"That's what it's saying," Angie said with a grin. "Sorry."

"Okay, damn it," he said before he removed the last piece of clothing protecting his modesty.
He stood before her, shielding his organs from her view with his hands.

"Are you that modest?" she said, teasing him with her eyes.

"Come on, Angie. I'm stark naked."

"I'm sorry, but it's a necessary evil." She pointed at the brig. "Get in there."

"Yes, ma'am."

When he approached the door, no alarm sounded, and the door closed immediately after he got inside.

Still trying to protect his modesty, Marty looked around at his stainless prison. "It's mighty small in here."

Surprisingly, his voice could be heard plainly on the outside.

"There's a bunch of strange controls on this touch screen," Angie said, studying them. "I'm going to try one and see what it does."

She noted a temperature control with an up and a down arrow. She moved the temperature up to 100 C. "Do you feel any difference in the temperature in there?"

"No, I don't."

She pressed the down button to move the temperature down to 5 C. "Any change?"

"No."

"That's strange? I wonder what this controls." She pressed another button and a heavy shower of water erupted from the ceiling.

"Yeeiii!" Marty screamed over the sound of the crashing water. "That's ice cold, Angie. Turn it off. Turn it off!"

She punched several buttons to no avail. "I can't seem to stop it."

"I'm freezing to death in here, Angie," he screamed in anguish. "Let me out of here!"

She looked up to watch his shivering body violently jumping up and down in an autonomous effort to alleviate the effect of the icy cold water that was impinging on its bare flesh. The owner of this tormented flesh had his arms tightly folded around his chest and was screaming at the top of his lungs. She smiled. She was enjoying seeing him suffer, and it made her feel guilty, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from this unexpected opportunity to torment him. She was enjoying it. As far as she was concerned, he deserved every bit of it. What she really enjoyed was the fact that she had absolute power over him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Suddenly, the water stopped, but his suffering continued. She continued to watch as he shivered and cried like a baby.

"God damn am I cold! He finally screeched after he could talk again. His voice was stressed and weak from all the screaming and his teeth were chattering. "That hurt like hell, Angie."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that it was going to do that."

"Get me out of here, Angie. I'm freezing." His entire body was shaking violently, and he jumped around in a futile attempt to warm up.

Angie held her hand on the hand print screen but nothing happened. "It doesn't want to open. I don't know why."

"Please have mercy on me, Angie. I'm still shivering like mad."

"I can see that," she said. "Why don't you hang tight and I'll try to find out what's wrong." She looked up. "Delphi, can you open the brig door?"

"I'm sorry, Angie. I haven't been shown how to do that."

Angie looked at Marty and shrugged. "I'm sorry. Why don't you relax, and I'll go look up the manuals."

"How in the hell can I relax, Angie? I'm shivering so hard my muscles are locking up like vices."

She never responded. After he watched her turn and leave, he sank down onto the stainless bunk, but stood right up again when the ice cold metal made contact with his bare skin. All he could do now was suffer in silence and hope that she could find a way to spring him.

###

"We have achieved stable orbit, Angie. It will be necessary for me to make periodic corrections to our orbit."

"Do so, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"That's because of the main moon," Marty said. "It's slightly larger than our moon, but it's only 98,000 kilometers away from the planet."

"That must result in some bodacious tidal effects," Angie said.

"For sure. Look at the moon," Marty said. "It looks very similar to ours, with old and new craters. That would indicate that this planet has been around for at least a few billion years."

"Obviously, this planet is not part of the open cluster," Angie said.

"It's a wandering system, but where did it come from."

"We'll let George and Lucia answer that question. Our job is to see if there's life on it."

"We sure as hell can't figure out how it got here."

"Launch planetary and oceanic probes, Delphi.
"Yes, Angie."

The probes launched and quickly entered the atmosphere. Readings began streaming in after a few minutes.

"The atmosphere is thicker than that of Earth," Marty said. "I'm reading supersonic velocities at 50,000 meters and temperatures in the minus 70 C range. The ocean is at a temperature of 30 C and has salinity much less than that of Earth's oceans, in the 0.003 grams per cubic meter range. That's almost like fresh water. Interesting."

Angie's heart rate increased. "Oh, oh!"

Marty looked up. "What?"

"I found what looks like some sort of structure. It's some sort of complex, and trees surround the entire thing." She switched a close up view to the main screen.

"That looks like a city," Marty said. "We might be seeing evidence of intelligent life, assuming that the creators of this city are still around."

"Scan for energy sources, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"The atmospheric pressure at the surface is 1.5 to 1.7 atmospheres relative to Earth," Marty said. "The temperature is approximately 75 C at 40 degrees latitude, a lot more comfortable than the brig."

She looked wide-eyed at him. "What did you say?"

"Excuse me, Admiral. I meant no criticism."

"Are you angry at me for what I did to you in the brig?"

"No, Admiral. I am not angry. You didn't do it on purpose."

Her face flushed. "I wasn't trying to torture you. How dare you infer that I was!"

"Please, Angie, I'm not trying to infer anything of the sort."

"You must think that I enjoy tormenting you, don't you?"

He held his hands up. "Please, Admiral. I don't wish to argue with you. Okay?"

She calmed down. "I'll tell you what: I'll remove all of your punishment points, except for a thousand. Okay?"

"Thank you for your generosity, Admiral."

He went back to his observations. "I can make out motion in that city."

"What kind of motion?"

"Well, it looks like carts moving about and people walking around." He looked up. "By the way, I studied the manuals that you found and it appears that the brig has much more capability than we thought."

"Really? I figured that the shower system was just for cleaning. You weren't supposed to be in there when it was activated."

"I don't think so. The controls allow programming a lot of parameters inside that chamber. You can raise the temperature and humidity to unbearable levels and you can also bring it down to freezing. The shower can be temperature controlled and the duration and flow rate can be regulated. Not only that, but you can lower the ceiling so that a prisoner could not stand up straight. Also, the fact that you couldn't open the door was the result of not pressing the right buttons."

"I know that. That's how I got you out of it. I can't believe that they've created a torture chamber. Why in the hell would they do that?"

"I think it's the damn engineers. They were told to design a brig and they probably went overboard to earn more bucks."

"That's crazy. Using torture is against the conduct standards."

He smiled at her. "I think that you should experiment with it some more. I'll be your guinea pig again."

She shook her head. "No, I had better not. I might get tempted."

"I don't mind," he said in a teasing tone of voice.

She ignored him. "Launch a Biometric probe, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The probe launched and quickly entered the planet's atmosphere. When the Mother unit was at a thousand meters above the surface, it launched twenty small probes that appeared like insects but where sophisticated electronic probes that could fly about in near silence and spy on aliens.

It didn't take long for images from the probes to be displayed on screens at the navigational station. The images were both interesting and shocking.

"They look human," Marty said. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know if that's a very accurate assessment," Angie said. "They have humanoid-shaped bodies, but they're far from looking like humans."

"Yeah, now that I'm getting a closer look, I agree, but the fact that there's any life on this planet is unbelievable. Some of those big blue B-class stars are only four or five light years away. The radiation hitting this planet has to be higher than a kite."

"Your own readings show why it's possible. The atmosphere is thicker and has a strong ozone layer. You said that this planet's magnetic field is three times stronger than that of Earth."

"Yeah, but look at these aliens. They have nearly white skin and are hairless, plus they run around completely naked. The only thing that I can figure is that they're impervious to UV radiation."

Angie switched another scene from the insect probes to the main screen. "Look at this."

Marty looked up. "What the hell? Is that some kind of a sporting contest?"

"I don't know. They're running around kicking some sort of object. It may be."

"It looks like they don't discriminate against gender. There are both male and female participants."

Angie smiled. "Yeah, it's sure easy to tell which are which."

Marty laughed. "That's putting it mildly. I wonder why they don't wear clothing."

"Maybe they don't need clothing. Just because humans wear clothes, doesn't mean that aliens will do the same."

"That's a question for Ferris to answer."

"I agree. Let's just get some good images and scans and let them figure it out."

"There's something wrong here," he said.

"You object to their nakedness?"

"No, not that. What I find interesting is that there are no other animals on this planet, at least nothing that the probes can detect. The sea life is rudimentary, just some small primitive fish-like creatures. These aliens have hominid form, but their faces are not primitive at all. They have strange round eyes with bright blue pupils and their mouths are small and not designed to eat flesh. What could they have evolved from?"

"Maybe they didn't evolve."

"No, I don't think that they were created from clay, Angie. I believe that they were brought here from somewhere else."

"The Roswell aliens?"

"No. The Roswell aliens would have destroyed their planet and would have taken some of them to their zoos. No, I think this is the work of the Dragon aliens."

She stared at him for several seconds before holding up a hand. "I believe that you're right. Retrieve the probes, Delphi and prepare to take us out of orbit when they are back."

"Yes, Angie."

Marty looked at her with inquisitive eyes. "Are we going to the Crab Nebula?"

"Yes."

"How far is that from here?"

According to Delphi, it's only 2300 light years. It's over 6000 light years from Earth."

He smiled. "Don't forget to take your pills."

"I won't."

###

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"Slow us to 1000 kps, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"Wow!" Marty exclaimed. "Look at that."

Angie looked up at the main screen, which was filled with a bright blue, red and green cloud of excited hydrogen atoms intertwined with yellow and white filaments of indescribable intricacy.

"This thing is throwing all sorts of powerful radiation out," Marty said. "It's all across the spectrum from gamma rays to radio waves. I'm picking up a particularly strong stream of energy that pulses 30 times a second."

"That's from the neutron pulsar star that's in the middle of the nebula," Angie said. "Karl said that it's the remnant of the star that caused the nebula when it had a supernova explosion."

"This nebula is 10 light years across. Where do you want to go?"

"We can get closer than this without danger," she said. "Our shielding should protect us."

"The main danger is from gamma and cosmic rays," Marty said. "This nebula thing has four strong magnetic poles. The main stream of radiation from the pulsar is coming out from the main axis at 90 degrees from its direction of spin." He switched an X-ray image of the nebula onto the main screen. "You can see it in this scan."

"Take us closer, Delphi, but stay out of the main particle stream."

"Yes, Angie."

"Are you sure that you don't want to try out the brig again?" Marty asked.

"What? Are you a masochist?"

"No, Angie. I just want to please you. I love you, remember, and it's the only way that I can show it."

"You could kiss me," she said, grinning.

"I want to know something," Marty said. "Do you love me, or are you just toying with me?"

"Yes, I love you, but you frustrate the hell out of me at times. I can't determine if you have genuine feelings for me or you're just trying to get brownie points."

"I told you that I love you," Marty insisted. "What do you want me to do to prove it?"

"Promise me that you'll marry me."

Marty frowned and smiled at the same time. "You're kidding me, aren't you?"

"No, I'm serious."

"You want to marry me, a guy who has been divorced twice and is obstinate and disrespectful to boot."

"Yes, I do. I realize that we can't do it now, but when this is over I would like to settle down."

"Okay, Angie, I'll marry you, if you'll have my worthless hide."

"I accept your worthless hide. Let's seal it with a kiss." She stood up.

He got up and took her in his arms. They stared at each other for several seconds before locking lips, tentatively at first and then with increasing passion, but after the heat got too high, he pushed her away.

"We had better stop here. We're on duty."

She smiled. "Yes, I agree."

He sighed. "This is frustrating. We have to be discrete and yet we want to become more intimate."

"I have a suggestion," Delphi said. "You two should go away somewhere and forget the rank difference between yourselves."

Marty laughed. "I vote for that."

Angie laughed. "I second that emotion, Delphi, but we're not exactly on a vacation out here."

"I will not tell, Angie and Martin."

"I'm sure you wouldn't, Delphi." Angie said. "But, we can't take any chances. We face being reprimanded as it is."

"I understand, Angie."

Marty went back to his observation station while Angie had Delphi run through precise energy scans of the nebula.

"I have detected a fleet of vessels approaching, Angie. They are three billion kilometers away and traveling at 10000 kps."

Angie's heart rate spiked. "How many, Delphi?"

"There are at least a thousand vessels, Angie."
"What is their energy profile, Delphi?"

"Dragon, Angie."

"Yeah, and they're blocking our way back to Earth," Marty said. "You have to think that it's on purpose."

"Shit! We can't take on a large fleet like that head on."

Marty swallowed hard. "What are we going to do?"

"Please arm Nova devices in tubes number one and two, Delphi."

"Nova devices are armed, Angie."

"How are we going to get away with firing those weapons this close?"

Angie looked at him. "We're going to go into the nebula."

"That sounds dangerous."

"Plot a course into the nebula, Delphi. Take us in as close to the particle stream as is possible." She turned to Marty again. "We'll fire particle cannons into the nebula's stream causing it to spread. If they follow us in, they'll get a big surprise."

"Good plan."

"Please fire both Nova devices at the fleet, Delphi, and take us into the nebula as fast as possible."

"Yes, Angie."

"We're going to run into one hell of a resistance when we enter this nebula," Marty said. High-speed electrons at enormous energies are bombarding the extremely hot hydrogen of this nebula. That stuff is expanding at 1300 kps. The damn thing is like a giant cyclotron that's being powered by a rapidly spinning pulsar."

The Nova bombs shot out and accelerated to nearly twenty percent of light. The X-4001 had barely reached the outer expanses of the nebula when the explosions temporarily outshone the nebula itself. The ship buffeted and groaned under the stress of colliding with the hot gases and radiation. Sensors went off line.

"We'll have to use optical," Marty said. "The intense magnetism and radiation is playing hell with our sensors."

"Keep watching for any enemy ships," she ordered.

"Yes, Admiral."

After penetrating into the nebula for several minutes, Marty saw energy beams flashing. "They're trying to shoot at us, but they're not doing a very good job of it."

"Fire a steady particle beam into the main pulsar stream, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

After several seconds of continuous fire, Marty had an announcement. "I'm detecting several explosions."

"Good," Angie said. "Cease fire and change course to head closer to the pulsar, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"Do you think that's wise? That pulsar is like a whirling Dervish."

"Who's in charge here," she shot back at him.

"You are, Angie. I wasn't trying to argue with you."

"You had better not, or I'll punish you severely, and don't call me Angie."

"Yes, ma'am."

As they approached closer to the pulsar, the radiation impinging on the shields became so high that the ship was ringing like a bell. Even though they were several light years away, the neutron star could be seen as a bright object shining in the haze of glowing gas.

"I've got good scans, Angie . . . I'm sorry, Admiral."

"Take us around, Delphi and get us out of here as quickly as possible."

"Yes, Angie."

"You seem to have a problem obeying orders," she said.

"I'm sorry. I just can't seem to quit using your name. Please don't punish me for something trivial like that."

"I'll punish you severely for you impertinence, mister."

"How about the brig? You could really make me suffer in there."

"Don't tempt me because I may just do that," she said. "But I need you for now."

"Thank you, Admiral."

The ship soon approached the nebula's outer edges and emerged into unoccupied space.

"I'm not detecting any vessels on long range scans," Marty said. "I think that we're out of the woods."

"Set course for Earth, Delphi and take us up to 10000 kps. I want to hang around to make sure there are no more Dragon ships in this sector."

"Yes, Angie."

She looked at Marty with pleading eyes. "Forgive me for being an ass, but this damn headache is making me nuts. I think I'll go lie down. Hold the fort."

"Yes, Admiral."

He watched her shuffle off to the elevator before he blew out a relieved breath.