![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/5Moons-Resurrection-Cover-007.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe come in peace\u201d is what we told the anoza when human explorers first encountered them, but you would have to ask the anoza how that worked for them. They would tell you fast and quick that humans were cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in our hearts. It didn\u2019t take them long to figure that out when we left the blood of four innocents on their hands. In fact, we pretty much convinced them of it by trying to hide the evil that was done. Union Fleet flew an unmarked ship into space docks after the Corporate War, intending to secretly scrap it out, intending to get rid of the evidence. A time-space distorted Tesseract had killed its crew of humans, or so they thought. Or, was that just the rationalization they needed to hide their shame?<\/p>\n
By the end of the Corporate War, Dallas Blake had lost everything: his wife, his daughter, his whole family. He was a man in need of far more than just a new beginning. What Dallas needed was a resurrection. Dallas went to the Union Fleet space docks to buy a war surplus scout-class ship. Instead, he unknowingly buys the Tesseract. It does not take Dallas long to find out that its crew of artificials seems way more human than they should be and every bit as much in need of a resurrection as Dallas.<\/p>\n
Dallas Blake is outworlder to the nines and ready for whatever life throws at him, except maybe for Mariah. Despite the fact that she is extremely smart and multi-talented, she can drive a sane man crazy and frequently does. And, oh, by the way, did I mention that Mariah is techno? Mariah is but one of the mysteries of the ship once called Tesseract, now named the Five Moons.<\/p>\n
But no one was cutting Dallas any breaks. The ship\u2019s alien technology and artificial life forms are the mysteries that he must solve as the action-packed rescue of Emma from more than just the mercenaries leads Dallas and the crew of the Five Moons into danger.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reviewed by Paul Johnson for Readers’ Favorite…<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Somehow, Amazon screwed up and left the original Double Dragon paperback on their system. Click the picture to find it.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am he who stands in the center of Five Moons\u2019 shadows. My word is faithful and true. Clay of Earth did come in peace\u2026 or so they told us at the time. In peace, indeed, they came, but evil trailed behind them like a foul stench. It overcame their good intentions. It left the blood of four innocents on my hands.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Captain Michael Jacobi wore a solemn face for the shuttle ride back to the Union Fast Attack Cruiser, Timequake. He made his way briskly to the Captain\u2019s office and shut the door.<\/p>\n \u201cAdmiral Omori,\u201d he commanded the wall-sized 3D display.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking\u2026,\u201d it responded. Captain Jacobi took a deep breath and set his mind as the silence closed in all around him until he could hear his own heartbeat.<\/p>\n The 3-D display suddenly changed to Admiral Omori\u2019s face.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d Admiral Omori simply asked Captain Jacobi.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s much worse than we thought,\u201d Jacobi began.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, come now. How could that possibly be?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I arrived on-scene, I couldn\u2019t even recognize the ship it had been so badly distorted in time-space, but that is not the worst news,\u201d Jacobi reported. \u201cThe Anoza had arrived ahead of me. They were trying to save the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh shit. We can\u2019t have that,\u201d Admiral Omori growled at Jacobi coldly. \u201cWe cannot be left with witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe human crew all died,\u201d Jacobi told the Admiral.<\/p>\n \u201cOh? Well, I guess that settles it then,\u201d Admiral Omori concluded.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t, not at all. That\u2019s what I have been trying to tell you. The damned arrogant anoza have already moved their essences into the AI computers onboard to save them. Now, what do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe anoza have no jurisdiction on a Union Fleet vessel,\u201d Admiral Omori told Jacobi. \u201cYou march right back over there and take control of that ship right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen what? What am I to do from there?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t care. Fly the damned ship into the nearest star. Get rid of the evidence at all cost. That is what we sent you out there to do. So, damned well do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAye aye, sir,\u201d Captain Jacobi replied with a salute.<\/p>\n Admiral Omori returned his salute just before the screen dissolved.<\/p>\n Captain Jacobi took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh. His orders were clearly set in his mind as he took the shuttle back over to the damaged ship. This was never meant to be a rescue mission. He arrived to find Aeyo, the anoza woman in charge, at the Captain\u2019s workstation watching the video logs of the ship\u2019s final moments. She turned sharply to Jacobi.<\/p>\n \u201cYou jumped this ship remotely!\u201d she accused Jacobi. \u201cYou knew exactly what was wrong, and you jumped the ship anyway. You killed these humans by your own stubborn refusal to listen to us. You killed your own people! That was cold-blooded murder!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d Jacobi demanded to know.<\/p>\n \u201cI am beginning the process to restore them,\u201d Aeyo told him.<\/p>\n \u201cOh no, you are not!\u201d Jacobi insisted. \u201cThis is a human ship, and we don\u2019t believe in all of your Anoza nonsense. I will not have my dead comrades desecrated by any such thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, now you are condemning them all to a final death!\u201d Aeyo all but yelled back at him, outraged that what Jacobi was doing now was even worse.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a Union Fleet vessel. I have jurisdiction here. You do not. So, I am ordering you to clean up your equipment and leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Aeyo looked at Jacobi defiantly for a long second while she secretly sought further orders.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will take me some time to remove my equipment and people,\u201d she relented but was obviously unhappy with the orders she had been given.<\/p>\n \u201cFine. Please do that,\u201d Jacobi told her.<\/p>\n Aeyo walked off, obviously upset but now intent upon what she must do. Captain Jacobi sat in the Captain\u2019s seat on the bridge, intent now on seeing to it that the anoza cleaned up and left.<\/p>\n Several hours later, when Captain Jacobi\u2019s patience was beyond its limits, he walked briskly back through the ship, looking for the anoza but could not find them anywhere. Had they silently left? He had heard no shuttles come nor go. He looked quickly at the engineering main display to find that there was a single human life sign left on the ship — his.<\/p>\n [What happened to the Anoza ship?] Jacobi queried the Timequake bridge across the network.<\/p>\n [It disappeared,] the Captain told Jacobi. [It simply disappeared.]<\/p>\n [Okay. Then, please send my crew over here.]<\/p>\n Three men arrived by shuttle ten minutes later.<\/p>\n \u201cDan, I have to know if this vessel is spaceworthy,\u201d Captain Jacobi told his highly qualified starship engineer. Dan headed right for engineering.<\/p>\n Mike went right to the bridge and took the pilot\u2019s seat. Sam took over the Science Officer\u2019s workstation to begin running checks on all of his systems.<\/p>\n \u201cI need to know if we can still fly this ship,\u201d Captain Jacobi told them all.<\/p>\n \u201cMike, lay in a course for the nearest star.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike looked questioningly at Captain Jacobi.<\/p>\n \u201cThis ship has already killed one crew. Union Fleet will not have it kill another. We need to destroy this alien half-breed ship before it does. Set course for the nearest star.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike began work on that.<\/p>\n \u201cEngineering is ready to voyage, Captain,\u201d Dan reported to the bridge over a window on the main display. \u201cAll fusion reactors and engines are nominal. I can\u2019t find anything wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is certainly good news,\u201d Captain Jacobi said out loud.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, Captain,\u201d Mike finally reported. \u201cThe ship refuses all commands to fly it into a star. I tried several stars and a black hole, but no,\u201d Mike reported. \u201cThen I tried to just send it off into the void, but it refused that course, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell then, what course will it accept?\u201d Captain Jacobi asked him.<\/p>\n That got Mike thinking and trying a few different things.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last course I can find in the logs was from the space docs on Etron,\u201d Mike told the Captain several minutes later. \u201cIt accepted the return course and sent it to the Nav computer.\u201d<\/p>\n Captain Jacobi thought about that for a minute. Then he went into the Captain\u2019s Office and shut the door to call the Admiral.<\/p>\n \u201cI have taken over the ship,\u201d Jacobi reported to Admiral Omori, \u201cand the Anoza are gone, but now the ship refuses to fly any course we set except one \u2013 the return to space docks at Etron.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt will only return to the space docks at Etron?\u201d Admiral Omori asked in astonishment.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir. We tried everything we could think of, but nothing worked. That is the only course we can get it to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n Admiral Omori thought about this for a long second.<\/p>\n \u201cThis damned ship thinks that it is smarter than all of us? Oh, no, it\u2019s not. If it wants to go back to the space docks, then that\u2019s damned well where we will take it, but fly it in with no transponder ID. When you leave the ship in space dock, cross the shipway with yellow caution tape so the contractors will know to strip it out and scrap it,\u201d Admiral Omori decided. \u201cIf I can\u2019t destroy the cursed ship one way, then I will destroy it another.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Clay of Earth, know this to the very core of you: yours were the people cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in their hearts.<\/em><\/p>\n Across the vastness of space, that vile Clay of Earth did drag five nameless souls to destroy them, to hide the evil that was done. At the very gates of hell, in that vast sea of despair embroiled in the wake of chaos, did I find hope \u2013 a single leaf in the wind.<\/em><\/p>\n Like a leaf in the wind, Dallas Blake rode the chaos that surrounded him in space dock.\u00a0 He was the calm in this pandemonium disguised as an orderly disposal of surplus ships after the Corporate War.\u00a0 Nearly a thousand ships no longer needed by Union Fleet would be sold from these docks.\u00a0 Nearly a thousand crews dropped off their ships.\u00a0 Nearly a thousand crews of contractors stripped them. Nearly a thousand buyers, and contractors, and androids all moved in synchronous disharmony to create this chaos.<\/p>\n Dallas Blake was the leaf in this wind.\u00a0 The chaos delivered him to the right counter where he held up the thin tablet Fleet Material Command had given him for yet another ship to look at.<\/p>\n \u201cOver there!\u201d the clerk told him as he pointed. \u201cPut it on the blue square on the counter.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas put the tablet on the blue square.<\/p>\n \u201cWait over there,\u201d the man behind the counter told him, pointing at the waiting area.<\/p>\n Dallas went to the designated waiting area with the two dozen or so other men and women.\u00a0 They all looked at him wondering what this big tough-looking marine could possibly be doing here.\u00a0 He knew what they were thinking, but he didn\u2019t really give a crap.\u00a0 He filled himself once more with calm and waited.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t always filled with calm.\u00a0 When his wife and daughter were killed, he was filled with pain and anger.\u00a0 Those were bad times.\u00a0 Those dark emotions eventually subsided and left him empty.\u00a0 Now he filled that emptiness with calm.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like the pain and anger didn\u2019t catch up with him when he least expected, oh no, but dark emotions cloud the mind.\u00a0 He needed to have a clear mind to find a ship and make it his own.\u00a0 Something inside of him had died. \u00a0Every bit of him needed something more than just a new beginning.\u00a0 What he needed was a resurrection.<\/p>\n From what he was hearing, the people around him were all waiting for light cruisers to refit as freighters, but he couldn\u2019t afford that.\u00a0 What he could afford was a scout-class ship.\u00a0 That is what he was here for, but so far, he wasn\u2019t doing very well.\u00a0 The last four ships he looked at were all stripped to the bone by the contractors, space junk now at best.\u00a0 Calling them \u2018spaceworthy\u2019 was a stretch of the imagination as well as the truth.\u00a0 He was beginning to think this might not work out.\u00a0\u00a0 An hour passed one second at a time as he waited.<\/p>\n When he looked up, yet another crew was at the counter logging out. \u00a0The Captain put his tablet down on top of Dallas\u2019.\u00a0 It was face down, so no one noticed the tablet light up for a few seconds.\u00a0 They were all busy leaving.\u00a0 The war was over.\u00a0 They all had the rest of their lives to get on with, just like Dallas.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t be done with this fast enough.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so damned glad to be off that ship,\u201d Dallas heard one say.\u00a0 How typical<\/em>, he thought.<\/p>\n \u201cMike?\u00a0 Mike?\u201d the man behind the counter called his android helper.\u00a0 Without looking, he just grabbed the top tablet and handed it to the android.\u00a0 The android looked at it for a few seconds before coming to the edge of the waiting area.<\/p>\n \u201cCaptain Dallas Blake?\u201d he called out.<\/p>\n \u201cOver here!\u201d Dallas waved at him and grabbed his duffel bag.<\/p>\n \u201cThis way please,\u201d android Mike told him and led the way, never offering to carry his bag.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know the rules,\u201d Mike told him. \u201cYou have two hours to look the ship over.\u00a0 You decide to take it; you call the office by ship\u2019s com to close the deal.\u00a0 If you do not want this ship, bring me back the tablet within the two-hour limit, and we will put you back on the stack.\u00a0 If you make Gerry send me all the way back out here to get you, you won\u2019t go back on the stack until tomorrow\u2026 maybe.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas knew all this by now but let android Mike ramble on as they walked what seemed like kilometers down endless pathways connected to other endless pathways connected to yet more pathways, flowing once more with the chaos through space dock.<\/p>\n They made the final turn right into a shipway crossed with yellow caution tape\u2026 not a good sign at all.\u00a0 Mike went back a few meters to check a marking on a column, to see if he had the right dock.\u00a0 While he was gone, Dallas quickly pulled down the caution tape.\u00a0 This was the right dock, damn it, and he was damned sick of waiting, and damned sick of excuses, and damned sick of delays.<\/p>\n Android Mike returned but looked confused.\u00a0 The caution tape was gone.\u00a0 To a human, this would have flagged that something very wrong was afoot; but Dallas knew full well that Mike\u2019s android logic didn\u2019t work that way, and he was right.\u00a0 Mike checked the sign for the dock number one more time before he finally decided that they had found the right ship.<\/p>\n Mike cautiously approached the hatch. \u00a0It scanned the tablet Mike held up and opened.\u00a0 It was indeed the right ship.\u00a0 Mike turned, handing Dallas the tablet in one smooth motion.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo hours,\u201d he reminded Dallas. \u201cTwo hours.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I know,\u201d Dallas said as he took the tablet.\u00a0 Mike quickly disappeared.<\/p>\n Dallas entered the ship.\u00a0 Most of them smelled pretty bad.\u00a0 This one did not.\u00a0 That was a pleasant surprise.\u00a0 The airlock on this ship was at the stern.\u00a0 Two hours wasn\u2019t very long to inspect a whole ship, even a scout-class ship, so he headed right to the bridge, all the way forward on B-Deck.\u00a0 It was a long walk through the heart of this ship.<\/p>\n The bridge was huge for a scout-class ship.\u00a0 It was spherical, some ten meters wide, five deep and three high.\u00a0 The 3D displays that covered its walls were all dark.\u00a0 The right seat would be the pilot\u2019s.\u00a0 He put his personal tablet with his captain\u2019s certificate on its scanner pad.\u00a0 The bridge came alive.\u00a0 The 3D displays suddenly showed the other ships around him in space dock, giving the impression that he was standing right there amongst them.\u00a0 There were no portals or windows anywhere on the ship.\u00a0 Tiny cameras everywhere provided better-than-windows views on any 3D display in the ship.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome Captain Blake,\u201d the ship\u2019s artificially intelligent female copilot welcomed him.<\/p>\n \u201cStatus displays please,\u201d he requested.\u00a0 She put them up for him.\u00a0 Nothing was perfect, but the more he looked, the more he decided that this ship was way better than any other he had seen so far.\u00a0 His quick assessment was that this ship was definitely spaceworthy and in excellent condition, but the clock was ticking.<\/p>\n \u201cTactical displays,\u201d he requested next.\u00a0 This ship was heavily armed for a scout-class ship, and all of that was intact.\u00a0 None of it had been stripped by the contractors.\u00a0 That alone would save him weeks of work and a lot of money.\u00a0 With where he was going and what he was planning, a full load of weapons was not an option.\u00a0 The outworlds were no place for the faint of heart\u2026 or the poorly armed for that matter.<\/p>\n He heard a voice, just barely a whisper like air moving through ducts. \u201cMariah,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u00a0 Is someone here?\u201d he called out. \u201cIs someone else aboard?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Captain,\u201d the copilot reported. \u201cThere is no one else aboard but you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you say \u2018Mariah\u2019?\u201d he asked her.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Captain. \u00a0She did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I thought you said no one else was aboard?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Captain.\u00a0 No one else is aboard.\u201d\u00a0 Huh<\/em>?<\/p>\n \u201cWho is Mariah?\u201d he asked the copilot.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is Mariah,\u201d the copilot answered him as if that was obvious.<\/p>\n He shook his head.\u00a0 I am talking to a ship\u2019s computer.\u00a0 That is all I am going to get from her, I guess.\u00a0 He had no time for mysteries.\u00a0 The clock was ticking.\u00a0 He had to keep moving.\u00a0 He had to get this whole ship inspected.<\/p>\n Everywhere he looked, this ship was bigger than he expected.\u00a0 Unlike all the rest of the surplus military craft he had looked at so far, this ship was very nicely appointed.\u00a0 There were carpets, and what looked like real wood trim.\u00a0 He knew that it wasn\u2019t real wood, but it looked like it. It felt like it. The galley was more like a kitchen in a fine home. \u00a0\u00a0There were four staterooms on A-Deck, and cabins for twelve on B-Deck behind the mess and lounge.\u00a0 There was room enough in the cargo hold on C-Deck to make a little money there too.\u00a0 For some strange reason, everywhere he looked, this ship looked bigger than it should be, but bigger than he expected was a good thing.<\/p>\n The last two cabins on B-Deck were full of consoles and scientific looking equipment.\u00a0 Two androids stood silent in the equipment bay.\u00a0 There were spare parts on the shelves in stores.\u00a0 The fuel tanks were three-quarters full.\u00a0 The contractors have not been here to strip this ship yet.\u00a0 So, that was why there was yellow caution tape across the shipway.<\/em>\u00a0 That was it.\u00a0 He had seen enough. \u00a0He quickly made his way back to the bridge and recalled the asking price for the ship from its tablet.\u00a0 Sure enough, it was what Fleet was asking for scout-class ships.<\/p>\n \u201cIs this the correct Captain\u2019s Tablet for this ship?\u201d Dallas asked the artificial copilot.<\/p>\n She examined it and confirmed, \u201cYes, Captain.\u00a0 It is the correct Captain\u2019s Tablet for this ship.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas quickly called Gerry.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll take it,\u201d he told Gerry, the clerk, over ship\u2019s com.<\/p>\n Gerry put the sale details up on Dallas\u2019 display for confirmation.\u00a0 Dallas checked it all over one more time very carefully.\u00a0 It was indeed the correct price that he was expecting.<\/p>\n \u201cAll sales are final,\u201d Gerry reminded him as he read.<\/p>\n \u201cAll sales are final, exactly as the ship was given to me to inspect; is that correct?\u201d Dallas pressed.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, that is exactly correct,\u201d Gerry confirmed. \u201cI will have to record your acceptance.\u00a0 Read the script on the bottom of your screen.\u00a0 Insert your full name and the transponder ID for the ship you are buying.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas quickly checked the Captain\u2019s Tablet one more time for the ship\u2019s transponder ID.\u00a0 It was displayed as USS7747M.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u00a0 I will take this ship.\u00a0 You can start recording.\u201d<\/p>\n A red dot flashed on the screen indicating that recording was now on.<\/p>\n \u201cI Captain Dallas Alton Blake do accept this war surplus scout-class ship designated USS7747M exactly the way it was given to me to inspect, per the terms and conditions of the contract given me by Union Fleet Material Command,\u201d he agreed.\u00a0 They both waited almost a minute for the bank and the Union Fleet Material Command approvals to clear\u2026 and it was done.<\/p>\n \u201cCongratulations Captain Blake, you are now the proud owner of your ship,\u201d Gerry told him as he sent the clear title to Dallas. \u201cYou have 24 hours to re-register the ship with Fleet and make way.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s your hat and coat.\u00a0 What\u2019s your hurry?\u00a0 Well, there you go.<\/p>\n Dallas quickly scurried out into the shipway to pull down the last remnants of that yellow tape that might still give him away.\u00a0 That is when he suddenly realized that, from the bridge, it was well over 170 paces to the aft airlock.\u00a0 That couldn\u2019t be right.\u00a0 That would make this ship 140 meters long: the length of a frigate-class ship.\u00a0 A scout-class ship is only 60 meters long, about 70 paces or so.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t his imagination.\u00a0 This ship was definitely bigger than it should be.\u00a0 Bigger than it should be was a good thing, though.<\/p>\n He was just finishing pulling down the last remnants of that yellow tape when Android Mike suddenly appeared with a big red \u2018SOLD\u2019 sign.\u00a0 Dallas scrambled to hide those remnants under his shirt while android Mike affixed the sign to the post next to the shipway.\u00a0 Dallas waved.\u00a0 Mike waved.\u00a0 Dallas tried to put on his most innocent look as he re-boarded his new ship.<\/p>\n This time, he consciously counted the paces from the aft airlock to the bridge.\u00a0 It, sure enough was 170 paces.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t imagining anything.\u00a0 This ship was bigger than it should be.\u00a0 Oh, well.\u00a0 It was his ship now and their loss.\u00a0 How many times had he said that Fleet couldn\u2019t find its ass with both hands?\u00a0 Well, this was just one more example of exactly that.<\/p>\n Provisions and topping off the fuel were the top items on his list.\u00a0 He worked in silence, on the bridge to get provisions and fuel delivered while he re-registered the ship over the network. There were endless Fleet forms for the simplest of tasks.\u00a0 He was awash in those damned pilgrim rules and regulations that made him crazy.\u00a0 That would be if the solitude of flying this ship all alone didn\u2019t get to him first.<\/p>\n \u201cMariah,\u201d again, he heard as barely a whisper as he tried to concentrate on the tasks at hand.<\/p>\n \u201cStop that!\u201d he said in a loud, commanding voice.\u00a0 With so many important things to get done to make way, he had no time for this crap.<\/p>\n He filled in the registration form and attached a copy of the new clear ship\u2019s title.\u00a0 Ship\u2019s name was optional.\u00a0 He left that blank for now.\u00a0 The memories of his wife and daughter were so painful that he couldn\u2019t speak their names, let alone name this ship after them.\u00a0 As far as Fleet was concerned, all he needed was a registry number for the transponder.\u00a0 The lack of a name would match the hole in his heart, a silent remembrance.<\/p>\n While he was waiting for the new registration, he went back to the equipment bay.\u00a0 He went back to those two androids.\u00a0 They were a major plus he would never have expected and certainly could not have afforded.\u00a0 It took him all of ten seconds to get the female android up and running.<\/p>\n \u201cHello,\u201d she said. \u201cI am Jane.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Jane.\u00a0 What are your directives?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI take care of household tasks and cooking.\u201d\u00a0 She connected to the ship\u2019s main server. \u201cMay I make some suggestions to the provisions order?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure,\u201d he was always open to doing things better.\u00a0 She highlighted her changes in red. They were all of what a real cook needed to do a proper job of feeding a hungry crew.\u00a0 He hit the approval box on the form.\u00a0 There was no time to nitpick here over details.<\/p>\n \u201cJane, I could really use your help in getting this ship cleaned up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will get right to that, Cap.\u201d\u00a0 She went right to work.\u00a0 To Dallas\u2019 surprise, Jane ran a whole crew of task-bots that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and went about their jobs cleaning — even more equipment that the salvage company did not strip off his ship.\u00a0 Jane mostly just supervised the cleaning, so she made her way to the galley.\u00a0 All of her pots and pans and cooking gadgets were still where she had left them.\u00a0 All of the dinnerware and silverware was still in its place.\u00a0 She checked laundry and found that all intact too.<\/p>\n \u201cCaptain, household is ready for voyage,\u201d she reported.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat.\u00a0 Thanks, Jane.\u201d \u00a0One good piece of news.<\/p>\n In the meantime, he had been working on the male android.\u00a0 While the female droid looked just fine, the male android looked like a conglomeration of parts.\u00a0 Even so, it looked like it should all work, so Dallas turned the android on.<\/p>\n \u201cGood morning, sir.\u00a0 I am Henry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou look a lot more like a hack-job to me, Henry.\u00a0 I am going to call you \u2018Hack\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 I will answer to \u2018Hack\u2019,\u201d he repeated, but mumbled, \u201cbut my name is Henry.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas laughed.\u00a0 He slapped Hack on the shoulder. \u201cGood for you, Hack, my man.\u00a0 I don\u2019t take no shit from people either.\u00a0 How do you like that? An android with an attitude.\u00a0 Maybe you know who Mariah is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe is Mariah,\u201d he answered with some authority.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, yeah, I know.\u00a0 So how come everybody on this ship knows who Mariah is but me?\u00a0 All right Hack, what are your directives?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI maintain the ship.\u00a0 I adapt my structure as need to accomplish that task.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike I just told Jane, I can sure use all the help I can get.\u00a0 What input do you need to get that done?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJessica tells me what she needs and sets the priorities.\u00a0 Then she posts my task list.\u00a0 When you approve the work, I get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJessica?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir, the ship\u2019s copilot.\u00a0 Her duties include ship operations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat works for me,\u201d Dallas decided as he made his way back to the bridge.<\/p>\n To make this ship his own, he needed to connect his mindlink into the ship\u2019s network.\u00a0 He executed the [Connect] command to suddenly come face to face with Jessica, the ship\u2019s copilot and systems operations manager.\u00a0 Her avatar was a very sexy looking brunette, hi-res 3D and fully animated.\u00a0 She was a brick house to say the least.\u00a0 Jess\u2019 artificial intelligence was way better than any military he had ever seen, but then again, he was only a fighter pilot.\u00a0 It might be the norm for this class of ship.\u00a0 What did he know?<\/p>\n [Captain?!] Jessica asked, totally caught by surprise.<\/p>\n [Hello, Jess.\u00a0 Yes, I wear a mindlink.\u00a0 Wow, you are one hot looking sketch for a copilot.]<\/p>\n Jess smiled and blushed.\u00a0 She liked him already.<\/p>\n [Can you please put Hack\u2019s task list up for me?]<\/p>\n [Hack?]<\/p>\n [Yeah, yeah, I know.\u00a0 His name is Henry, but I call him Hack.]<\/p>\n Jess chuckled. [Hack,] she repeated and chuckled again.<\/p>\n Jessica looked over her new captain standing on the bridge.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t look at all like any captain she had ever seen before.\u00a0 They were mostly good men, but of average height and build.\u00a0 Dallas was built like a tough marine, with big strong shoulders and chest.\u00a0 Every bit of him was lean, mean, fighting machine.\u00a0 He looked like he could chew up nails and spit people dead, but in his steel gray eyes she also saw a gentle man.\u00a0 His classic manly face with just the hint of a bent nose seemed to fit the man well. \u00a0I am going to call you Captain Hunk, she thought to herself.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to give this girl some nasty dreams, she hoped.<\/p>\n He reviewed Hack\u2019s task list and approved it.\u00a0 Hack went right to work, updating the task list as he ticked each one off.\u00a0 Jane brought Dallas a nice cup of java while he worked.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t used to nice, and the java was good too. \u00a0Everything was going just fine until the provisions delivery showed up.<\/p>\n \u201cProvisions delivery!\u201d the android face on his display announced.\u00a0 The hatch was opened, and the android started handing Hack the boxes and bags\u2026 and a case of wine.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t order any wine.\u00a0 Damned la-de-frikin-da pilgrims drink wine.\u00a0 Jane, did you order the wine?\u201d he wanted to know.<\/p>\n \u201cUh, no,\u201d Jane replied but didn\u2019t sound too sure about it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd where is my red beer?\u00a0 My Kara Lager?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on the cart,\u201d the android reported, \u201cbut you cancelled it, so I will take it back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no, no.\u00a0 I never cancelled it! \u00a0Let me see that order.\u201d\u00a0 The android handed the tablet to him.\u00a0 There was the wine, and wouldn\u2019t you know; it was Mariah that cancelled his damned beer!<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 There is a bit of a misunderstanding.\u00a0 I will take the beer.\u00a0 Please put it back on my order.\u201d\u00a0 The android retrieved his beer from the cart.<\/p>\n \u201cHack?\u00a0 Hack?\u00a0 You take this beer and put it into the cooler yourself!\u00a0 Do you hear me?\u00a0 I want the damned beer in the cooler.\u201d\u00a0 Dallas handed Hack the cases.<\/p>\n By now, Dallas wanted to find Mariah, whoever the hell she was, and strangle her, but it wasn\u2019t over yet.\u00a0 His registration arrived just hours before he had to make way.\u00a0 To his surprise, they designated his ship as XSS7747M, \u2018X\u2019 usually denoted experimental.\u00a0 Then he saw the name that he had left blank now read \u2018Five Moons!\u2019\u00a0 Damn her!\u00a0 Damn Her!<\/p>\n Okay, he didn\u2019t have the time to get this fixed right now.\u00a0 All he could do for now was to set the transponder for the designation XSS7747M just as he planned in the first place.\u00a0 But when he went to reset the transponder ID, he found it blank.\u00a0 Blank?\u00a0 It should never be blank!\u00a0 It was seriously illegal to fly a ship with no transponder ID.<\/p>\n \u201cJane!\u00a0 Bring me a cold beer, please,\u201d he requested.\u00a0 He really wasn\u2019t much of a drinker.\u00a0 He did like a cold beer every now and then, but he was making a point of it now.<\/p>\n He raised his glass.\u00a0 \u201cThis one is for you, Mariah, my love.\u201d\u00a0 Power flickered.\u00a0 Hack flinched and looked around like the ship was about to implode.<\/p>\n \u201cBit of a temper, love?\u00a0 You really need to deal with that.\u201d\u00a0 He took another sip of his beer.<\/p>\n [Jessica, before we leave port, I need you to download all of the latest star charts and databases from Fleet,] Dallas told her.<\/p>\n [That will take 22 minutes,] she warned him as if that was forever.<\/p>\n [It\u2019s very important, Jess.]<\/p>\n [It is already in progress.\u00a0 Can I ask you why it\u2019s so important?] She batted her eyelashes at him.<\/p>\n [It\u2019s a long story.\u00a0 Can you please ask me later when I have more time?]<\/p>\n [I will do that.\u00a0 I love a good story,] Jess told him with her best dreamy eyes.\u00a0 As far as she was concerned, he could talk to her for hours.<\/p>\n With one-hour left, Dallas prepared to make way.\u00a0 When the docking airlock was closed and locked, the onshore power and network cables released.\u00a0 Finally, he released the docking clamps.<\/p>\n [Captain,] Jess told him, [you are so tired.\u00a0 I have a course laid in.\u00a0 I am an excellent pilot.\u00a0 You can go to bed if you would like.\u00a0 I can handle this myself.]<\/p>\n [Thank you, Jess, but I will sit right here and just enjoy the pleasure of owning my own new ship for a while as we make way the very first time.]<\/p>\n Dallas eased it out of space dock slowly.\u00a0 It was a lot more sluggish than his fighter was.\u00a0 After he was out into open space, he did let Jessica take the controls.\u00a0 Jessica was right.\u00a0 She was a crackerjack pilot.\u00a0 She put the first three jumps into open space behind them before she found Dallas asleep in his chair.\u00a0 Her avatar appeared next to him and caressed his face.<\/p>\n [Mariah,] Mariah whispered her name at him through his mindlink.<\/p>\n [Stop that, Mariah!] Jess scolded her. [You stop that right now!]<\/p>\n But that woke him up.\u00a0 Half-awake, he still managed to find his new stateroom.\u00a0 He was pleasantly surprised to find that Jane actually had his bed made up for him.\u00a0 He crawled into the sack and was sound asleep in seconds.<\/p>\n Sometime during the night, he got up to go to the bathroom.\u00a0 He was sitting there not awake, not asleep when a naked woman walked right by his door.\u00a0 It was one of those lost-in-time moments.\u00a0 He sat there, now wide-awake.\u00a0 Did that just happen?\u00a0 He stuck his head out of the bathroom and looked around\u2026 nothing.\u00a0 He went back to bed and felt around in the dark, hoping that it was not a hallucination but no such luck.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n At 07:00 Dallas got up, got dressed, and headed for the galley.<\/p>\n \u201cNo Cap,\u201d Jane shooed him out of her galley. \u201cYou go sit in the mess.\u00a0 I am making breakfast burritos for you and java.\u201d\u00a0 He had never been shooed out of anywhere by an android before.\u00a0 That was a first.<\/p>\n \u201cThat sounds good,\u201d though he had to admit. \u201cYou weren\u2019t walking around the ship naked last night, were you?\u201d<\/p>\n She just gave him a funny look.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, yeah, I know. \u00a0You\u2019re an android.\u00a0 What the hell was I thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n She handed him his java.\u00a0 He went to the mess and sat down in one of the comfortable wooden chairs at the antique looking wooden table.\u00a0 Jane delivered his breakfast.\u00a0 The damned burritos were good.\u00a0 They were even better with the hot sauce Jane had added to his order.<\/p>\n Dallas was an outworlder to the very core of him, only too happy to leave the hustle and bustle pilgrim world in his jump wake.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not working hard to stay alive, then you are surely headed for your own doom.\u00a0 Hack or not, Dallas had to learn every square centimeter of this ship.\u00a0 He had to know how to do everything himself.<\/p>\n He first looked into the other staterooms.\u00a0 They were all so big inside that he did several double takes at their doorways just trying to figure out why the rooms looked so large inside but small outside.\u00a0 They were each a suite with walk-in closet and bathroom with real water showers.\u00a0 They had large beds, a nice desk, and a huge wall-sized 3D display.<\/p>\n So, this is how the mucky-muck travel in Fleet, he thought to himself.\u00a0 Well, now I do, too.<\/p>\n He expected the cabins on B-Deck to be a lot smaller, but they really weren\u2019t.\u00a0 Again, he did double takes in their doorways.\u00a0 Again, the rooms looked a whole bunch bigger inside than they did from the passageway.\u00a0 He might have thought that it was some kind of optical illusion until he remembered that this ship was a lot longer than it should be, too.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t question success,\u201d he reminded himself as he finally moved on.<\/p>\n He next went into what appeared to be the computer bay.\u00a0 A Master\u2019s Degree in Starship Engineering did not help him at all with the advanced artificial intelligence it took to run one.<\/p>\n [Set Mode Assist Level 1,] he commanded.\u00a0 As he looked around now, his mindlink display overlaid information onto his visual field of view.\u00a0 It used the ship\u2019s own database to label everything he saw.\u00a0 There was a module labeled \u2018AIU Jessica.\u2019\u00a0 \u2018AIU\u2019 was an IT term for Jessica\u2019s artificial intelligence unit.\u00a0 All of the other modules were labeled too.\u00a0 It all looked familiar even though this artificial intelligence stuff was all at the limits of his understanding.<\/p>\n [Mariah,] he now heard quite clearly through his mindlink.\u00a0 He looked quickly to his left.\u00a0 As his visual field scanned past a wall panel, a blank label briefly flashed in his display.\u00a0 He moved his head back and forth until he located the blank label and then the panel.\u00a0 If he looked at it real hard, he could just barely make out the outline of it.\u00a0 There were no fasteners, so he pushed on it in various places, but nothing happened.\u00a0 Hm?<\/p>\n Next, he thought to himself, this is a Fleet vessel, so it has Fleet security and Fleet encryption keys.\u00a0 Under the operator\u2019s console was the safe.\u00a0 Its key codes were in the Captain\u2019s Tablet.\u00a0 In the safe was a single key wafer, but to what?\u00a0 He pulled the Captain\u2019s Tablet out of his pocket once again and looked at the whole list of Captain\u2019s Codes.\u00a0 The Captain had to have access to every single system on the ship without exception.\u00a0 There were long alphanumeric strings of characters for all sorts of equipment and systems.\u00a0 It was all labeled except for the last one.\u00a0 That was just a picture of a pattern of lines and dots with numbers, but the outline looked familiar.<\/p>\n He used that image in his mindlink, lining up the picture with that mysterious blank panel in his display.\u00a0 Unconsciously he traced the numbered dots with his finger when suddenly the plate opened.\u00a0 Behind it was some sort of alien computer hardware.\u00a0 The writing on it was like nothing he had ever seen before.\u00a0 It had only one feature that he did recognize — a receptacle for a key.\u00a0 He made one more attempt to have the ship\u2019s computer identify what he was looking at now that he could see this hardware, but to no avail.\u00a0 He threw caution to the wind and inserted the key\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cOh, oh, that feels sooo good,\u201d a woman\u2019s voice behind him startled him.\u00a0 He turned.<\/p>\n \u201cGeez!\u00a0 You damned near gave me a seizure!\u201d he about yelled at her.<\/p>\n The very shapely young woman stretched like she didn\u2019t even hear him.\u00a0 When she opened her big hazel eyes, they sparkled.\u00a0 Her long dark blond hair flowed with her every move.\u00a0 Her perfect proportions and beautiful soft features belied the tigress underneath.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the hell are you doing on my ship?\u201d he asked her.<\/p>\n \u201cYour ship, like hell.\u00a0 What the hell are you doing on my ship?\u201d she returned the question.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is my damned ship.\u00a0 I bought it.\u00a0 I have the damned title, so it\u2019s my damned ship,\u201d he growled at her, but she refused to be intimidated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my damned ship,\u201d she replied as she turned and walked away from him.<\/p>\n He followed after her into his own stateroom.<\/p>\n \u201cHey!\u00a0 Where is my stuff?\u00a0 Why is all this crap here?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cHey! My stuff isn\u2019t crap,\u201d he objected as he caught up with her.<\/p>\n She held up a couple of his shirts before she closed her argument, \u201cLooks like crap to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want a stateroom, you can damned well take the one across the passageway from mine\u2026 that is, until I dump your bony ass the hell off my ship at the next port I come to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d she told him defiantly, \u201cand I have a very nice ass.\u201d<\/p>\n He wanted so much to agree with her on that point, but now was not the time.\u00a0 Jane suddenly appeared from down the passageway apparently with armfuls of Mariah\u2019s things, Hack following closely behind equally loaded.<\/p>\n \u201cOver there!\u00a0 Over there!\u201d Dallas told them, pointing to the other stateroom.<\/p>\n Mariah glared defiantly at him with her arms crossed, refusing to move, but he would not budge one millimeter.<\/p>\n \u201cStateroom two,\u201d he repeated.\u00a0 Jane and Hack followed his orders or Mariah would not have budged.\u00a0 They were nose to \u2026 chin or neck.\u00a0 He was bigger.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n It took a couple seconds for all of this to sink in.\u00a0 Mariah stomped off, following Jane and Hack in a huff.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd for the record — I am the damned captain and you will NOT countermand my orders!\u201d<\/p>\n She still wasn\u2019t listening to him.\u00a0 In total frustration, he went fitting and fuming to the bridge.<\/p>\n [Jane, please bring me a beer,] he requested.\u00a0 A few minutes later, Jane brought him his beer, with a great big smile.\u00a0 She winked at him and left.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was that all about?\u201d he wondered out loud.<\/p>\n \u201cI will not have you drinking beer on my ship!\u201d Mariah fumed at him as she approached.<\/p>\n He took a long slow sip of his beer as he finally got a good full view of her. \u201cMariah?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d she answered with an intense look.\u00a0 He imagined she was sizing him up for an attack.<\/p>\n \u201cHow is this your ship?\u201d he asked as calmly as he could manage. \u201cPlease explain.\u201d<\/p>\n She started to get all wound up again, so he grabbed her and kissed her a good one full on the lips.\u00a0 While she was still startled by that, he returned to his question very calmly, like that kiss never happened. \u201cHow is this your ship?\u201d he repeated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has always been my ship,\u201d she explained as if he should understand that.<\/p>\n He was now forced to put this puzzle together in very small pieces.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that unit behind the panel in the computer bay?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs my think tank,\u201d she explained. \u201cI am\u2026 artificial, well techno actually.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cArtificial, I know.\u00a0 What is techno?\u201d he asked. \u201cPlease explain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTechno.\u00a0 You know.\u00a0 An avatar is just a picture, a hologram, but my persona is as real as it gets.\u00a0 I am materialized by the atomic force field projectors all over this ship.\u00a0 I can dematerialize and reappear anywhere there is a field projector on the network.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, you are not just an image then,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n She hit him in the shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cOw!\u00a0 Hey!\u00a0 Don\u2019t do that!\u00a0 There is no hitting the captain on my ship!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am absolutely drop-dead perfect all the way down to the atomic level.\u00a0 A human doctor could examine me and never be able to tell that I was not flesh-and-blood biological.\u201d<\/p>\n He took in a deep breath while this puzzle finally came together and let out a long sigh.<\/p>\n \u201cThen what the hell was all of this damned whispering and shenanigans about?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n She looked around for a second as though searching for an answer to that herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI was neither here nor there.\u00a0 A part of me was stuck in RAM somewhere in the network when those dirty bastards shut me down.\u00a0 I was very angry they were shutting me down.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas took in another deep breath and let it out slowly.\u00a0 Now he couldn\u2019t just boot her bony ass off at the next port although every part of him screamed \u2018get rid of the bitch.\u2019\u00a0 That was no longer an option, so he would have to figure out how this was going to work.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I have to ask you to please not be walking through my room naked at night.\u00a0 After all, I am only human, and half asleep I might not be as respectful as I should be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is\u2026 was\u2026 my room\u2026 I really walked through your room stark naked?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI guarantee that woke me up for sure, but I must remind you that I am only human.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, that will certainly never happen again,\u201d she regained her spunk.<\/p>\n \u201cSuch a shame.\u00a0 It was indeed a beautiful sight,\u201d he teased her.\u00a0 She walked away trying to regain her dignity while unable to suppress the smile she would not let him see.<\/p>\n I am a leaf on the wind, he thought to himself.\u00a0 It was how a father taught his son to calm his mind in the midst of chaos. \u201cIf you are the only one thinking clearly when all of those around are not, then you will survive.\u201d\u00a0 His father loved him.\u00a0 He made a man out of his son.\u00a0 He made his son an outworlder to the very core of him.<\/p>\n \u201cA job,\u201d he said when his mind was crystal clear once more. \u201cI have to find us a job.\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas went into his captain\u2019s office to work and gather back what little sanity he had left.\u00a0 A captain\u2019s office was a luxury not usually found until you hit the frigate-class vessels.\u00a0 He took some pride now in nailing this find before someone else snatched it up\u2026 but then again, one of the extras was Mariah.\u00a0 He grimaced just thinking about that.<\/p>\n [Jess?] he queried her.<\/p>\n Her lovely avatar came up in his display. [Morning, Cap.]<\/p>\n [Why isn\u2019t everybody onboard this ship as nice as you are?]<\/p>\n [Thank you.\u00a0 How can I serve?] She gave him her best dreamy eyes.<\/p>\n [You keep looking at me like that will give me evil thoughts,] he told her in jest.<\/p>\n [Just send in your avatar,] she purred, [and we\u2019ll see just how evil we can get.]<\/p>\n He was back to questioning his own sanity, but Jessica was serious.<\/p>\n [I need some help finding this guy,] he told her. [His name is Kip Trang. \u00a0I know he mustered out of Fleet the same time I did, on Etron, but I think he said he was headed for home.]<\/p>\n [And what world would that be?]<\/p>\n [One of the outworlds out past Aurora, from what I remember.]<\/p>\n [Can I ask Mariah to help me?]<\/p>\n [It never occurred to me that she was actually capable of doing anything useful\u2026 other than making me crazy, although I must say she does an excellent job of that.]<\/p>\n [She is extremely smart and very resourceful,] Jess spoke up for her friend.<\/p>\n [Okay.\u00a0 I guess we\u2019ll just see how that works,] he told her and left it at that.<\/p>\n That seemed to go just fine until he went to the mess for lunch.\u00a0 This time Jane didn\u2019t have to shoo him out of her galley.\u00a0 The good smells alone got him to shut up and just go sit down.\u00a0 Jane brought him out a hot bowl of good smelling Minestrone soup and a couple tuna salad sandwiches.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t what he would have ordered nor certainly been able to make for himself, but it was good.<\/p>\n He was wolfing that down as Mariah came in and sat down.\u00a0 He discovered that the sandwiches were even better if he dunked them into the soup first.\u00a0 She watched him for a few seconds with a funny look of disdain.<\/p>\n \u201cA bit hungry, are we?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is good.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t realize how hungry I was.\u00a0 Jane, can you please make me another sandwich?\u00a0 These are great.\u201d<\/p>\n Mariah gathered herself up for what was really on her mind.<\/p>\n \u201cJust where do you think you are taking my ship?\u201d she asked him as calmly as she could manage.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t know yet,\u201d he said between bites. Then he put down the piece of sandwich he was working on. \u201cI spent almost everything I had to buy this ship.\u00a0 I have a little bit left to get us by.\u00a0 I intend to work my way back home from one world to the next, working whatever odd jobs I can find us.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019ll transport some cargos.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when you get home?\u00a0 What happens then?\u201d\u00a0 The edge of panic was in her voice.<\/p>\n He suddenly got all serious. \u201cI really don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Since the war\u2026 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know why I want to go home, but right now, I do.\u00a0 I will promise you this; I have never once left a man behind and I never will.\u00a0 I promise you that whatever it takes to do right by you, I will do.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why those people shut you down, but I promise you that I won\u2019t.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t want that hanging over my head, and I won\u2019t do that to you.\u201d<\/p>\n She didn\u2019t expect that, any of that.\u00a0 For a moment, she was speechless.\u00a0 That never happened to her before.\u00a0 She came all prepared for a battle and was defeated by a single act of kindness.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d she managed as Jane brought her lunch.\u00a0 She hid real feelings behind the act of eating, not looking at him.\u00a0 She wanted to cry but wouldn\u2019t allow it. \u00a0Damn him for making me like him, she thought.<\/p>\n It took her the whole time to regain her composure while he ate.<\/p>\n \u201cPanara-5,\u201d she said to him as he finished and got up to leave. \u201cYour friend is on Panara-5.\u201d<\/p>\n [Jess?]<\/p>\n [Yes, I know, Panara-5,] she said. [I already have that course laid in.]<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d he said to Mariah with a very nice smile.<\/p>\n \u201cI forwarded him this ship\u2019s quantum-com address,\u201d Mariah added.<\/p>\n [Eleven days, twelve hours,] Jess reported back.<\/p>\n Dallas had eleven days to learn everything he could about his new ship.\u00a0 Ever the pilot, he went to the bridge to start.\u00a0 Jess had the course all plotted out for him and was ticking off the jumps.\u00a0 He looked at the data and looked again. Jess was moving them along way faster than this ship should be able to move.<\/p>\n [Jess, why are we going C22.781?]\u00a0 That was very fast, and he expected burned a lot of extra fuel.<\/p>\n [Mariah calculated a fuel speed crossover for this course and had me cut our speed back to conserve fuel,] she told him. [Our normal cruise is C30; flank is almost C35, but that would really hit the fuel tanks hard.]<\/p>\n His fighter was the fastest thing in Union space during the war.\u00a0 It cruised at C25 and topped out at just under C30, but it sucked the fuel tanks dry doing that.\u00a0 This ship was full of surprises, but he had to remember that Mariah was one of those surprises too.<\/p>\n One surprise that he would not tolerate was not knowing everything about his ship. While there was plenty in the manuals about running the ship there was nothing about its design.<\/p>\n [Jess, tell me about the engine configuration of this ship, please,] he requested.<\/p>\n [That is classified information,] she told him.<\/p>\n Say what?\u00a0 Union Fleet sold him a classified, experimental ship?\u00a0 Oh, come on now.\u00a0 That made no sense at all.\u00a0 Since when did Fleet sell its secret technology as war surplus?\u00a0 Then he remembered that the ship had no transponder ID and that it was yellow taped off for the salvage contractors.\u00a0 They were going to scrap it.\u00a0 Well, that didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 Now he owned it.<\/p>\n [I am the captain and as this is no longer a Fleet vessel.\u00a0 So, I authorize you to tell me.]<\/p>\n [The engines are configured as a tesseract,] she told him hesitantly and stopped there.<\/p>\n [Really?\u00a0 A four-dimensional hypercube?\u00a0 I\u2019ve never heard of anything at all even like that.\u00a0 Every other starship I ever heard of was configured as a four-dimensional tetrahedron.]\u00a0 Then he remembered that the fusion reactors looked too small to him as well.<\/p>\n [How are the engines powered?] he asked her.<\/p>\n [Each of the eight engines has its own integral fusion reactor,] she informed him.<\/p>\n [Which is why I found nothing in the manuals about plasma conduits,] he concluded.<\/p>\n [Yes, that is exactly correct, but the real secret is that the engines use tetraquarks to isolate a single quantum of time for the jump.\u00a0 That is hugely more efficient,] she told him.<\/p>\n [Tetraquarks?\u00a0 Eleven-dimensional, time-space quarks?\u00a0 Where are the manuals and engineering drawings on all of this?]<\/p>\n [All of the research servers were removed by the scientists when they left the vessel.]<\/p>\n [Oh, crap.\u00a0 How will I ever figure this all out?]\u00a0 He was more thinking out loud than complaining.<\/p>\n [That\u2019s exactly what Mariah said,] Jess confided in him, [so she made her own copies.]<\/p>\n [Good Lord, the woman is diabolical,] he could not help but comment.<\/p>\n [Sometimes in a good way,] Jess defended her friend.\u00a0 This time she was right.<\/p>\n [Mariah, I really need your help,] Dallas requested through the network.<\/p>\n [How can I help?] said the spider to the fly.<\/p>\n [I need to know how my ship runs to the lowest detail.\u00a0 I need to see what you have on how the engines and reactors all work.]<\/p>\n Sure, why not, Mariah figured. \u00a0Go ahead.\u00a0 Let this outworld bumpkin read it.\u00a0 What difference will it make?\u00a0 It will be like giving a novel to a roratan and expecting a book report.\u00a0 This ought to be good for a laugh, she chuckled to herself.<\/p>\n [Sure, no problem.\u00a0 Let me set up the auxiliary library server for your access.\u00a0 If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.]<\/p>\n What evil is this woman plotting?\u00a0 I must be a crazy man to even ask for her help.\u00a0 What the hell was I thinking?\u00a0 But when he looked, i<\/em>t was all right there, in the auxiliary library server.\u00a0 Now that he had access, he could see it.\u00a0 This woman kept secrets.<\/p>\n Dallas started his propulsion system studies at the beginning and quickly ran into endless pages of complex multi-dimensional calculations.\u00a0 Unlike a scientist though, an engineer only needs to know the end result, so he could read through all that mathematical gibberish to get to the heart of the matter.\u00a0 He only needed to know how to apply it, how it made his engines run.\u00a0 Even so, it was a heavy read no doubt but one that he required of himself to endure.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n [What\u2019s wrong?] Jess asked Mariah when she saw her long face.<\/p>\n [I can\u2019t believe it!\u00a0 The damned roratan is reading the novel,] she said in utter frustration.<\/p>\n [Huh?]<\/p>\n [Yeah.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I said.]<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n A bad night of tossing and turning sleep left him hurting and half-awake at 07:00.\u00a0 He took a hot steamy shower.\u00a0 Yes, a real water shower.\u00a0 How do you like that?\u00a0 This ship had real water showers just like the big boys.\u00a0 As hurting as he still was, he made his way into the mess.\u00a0 Jane brought him his java.\u00a0 It tasted good.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you hurting, Captain?\u201d Jane asked him.\u00a0 She put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 I guess I must be war surplus too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to go to Medlab.\u00a0 Doctor will fix you right up,\u201d she whispered in his ear.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was Union doctors that left me like this,\u201d he complained but got up and went to where he thought he remembered seeing \u2018Medlab\u2019 on a placard on the door.\u00a0 It was dark inside when he opened the door, but the lights came right on.\u00a0 When he took a step towards the patient table, the doctor avatar appeared in her white coat, with a stethoscope around her neck.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat seems to be the problem?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n \u201cOld war wounds are aching me real bad,\u201d he told her.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease take off your shirt and lay on your stomach on the table.\u00a0 Relax while I scan you.\u201d<\/p>\n The Medlab scanner came alive.\u00a0 It showed his carbon fiber bone replacements and titanium knee.\u00a0 It highlighted his partially artificial back and neck.<\/p>\n Human\/Captain Blake\u2026<\/p>\n Artificial Bones and Joints\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 Nominal, Inflammation = 6.8, Pain = 7.1<\/p>\n Treatment in progress\u2026<\/p>\n An arm servoed out to scan the painful areas.\u00a0 As the minutes passed the pain subsided.\u00a0 A noise caused Dallas to look back at the door.\u00a0 Mariah was standing at the door wide eyed as though the devil himself had caught up with her\u2026 and good luck to the devil trying to deal with Mariah.\u00a0 The Medlab wand servoed back into place, and the light turned green as his treatment finished.\u00a0 Dallas sat up to put his shirt back on.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d he asked before he had a chance to think about it.\u00a0 She was seized in fear but held fast, refusing to step across the threshold into the room.<\/p>\n Dallas came over to her.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Mariah?\u201d\u00a0 He put his arms around her.<\/p>\n Her panic subsided but no words were coming out.\u00a0 She put her arms around him, her head on his chest.\u00a0 Dallas wondered if this was yet another one of those moments lost in time when she finally straightened herself back out and composed herself.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you okay?\u201d she asked him.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, thank you, I am fine.\u00a0 I guess I am just war surplus.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned and left.\u00a0 He followed her back to the mess to get some breakfast.\u00a0 Mariah just sat down to her oatmeal and tea like nothing just happened.<\/p>\n I am not the crazy one here, he thought to himself.<\/p>\n As much as Medlab had fixed his pain, it would take some time for the rest of him to catch up to feeling better.\u00a0 Even so, he could not afford to give himself a break.\u00a0 Space doesn\u2019t wait for you to get ready.\u00a0 She doesn\u2019t give many second chances.\u00a0 He studied the engineering drawings of his ship.\u00a0 He looked at each and every system.\u00a0 He had to know where to find all of the detailed information before there was an emergency.\u00a0 Mariah seemed to know and mostly left him alone.<\/p>\n Dallas dropped his studies in frustration after a few hours and went to the equipment bay to find Hack.\u00a0 He found Hack busy working on a small pump.\u00a0 Dallas called up Hack\u2019s task list and took the next item for himself.\u00a0 Tearing yet another fuel pump apart was way more his form of learning.\u00a0 Outworlders are like that, definitely hands-on learners.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s the problem,\u201d he mumbled as he worked. \u201cDamn thing is cross threaded.\u201d\u00a0 That got Hack\u2019s attention.\u00a0 He put down what he was working on and came over to see.<\/p>\n \u201cHow did you determine that?\u201d Hack asked.<\/p>\n \u201cBy the feel of it,\u201d Dallas explained.\u00a0 Dallas handed it to him and had Hack feel how it screwed together and apart.\u00a0 Then he carefully started the threads by hand and handed it back to Hack.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I feel the difference\u2026 but I followed the procedure.\u00a0 Why was it cross-threaded?\u201d<\/p>\n Dallas looked at the procedure and scratched his head.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause this was all written by some lame-ass pilgrim who never got his hands dirty,\u201d Dallas concluded. \u201cCome here, Hack, my man.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you.\u00a0 First you put the two parts together. \u00a0And then you rotate them in the \u2018unscrew\u2019 direction slowly until you feel the little bump.\u201d\u00a0 He demonstrated.\u00a0 \u201cHere, you try it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, the little bump,\u201d Hack said when he felt it.<\/p>\n \u201cNow slowly turn it in the \u2018screw\u2019 direction.\u00a0 Feel the threads engage.\u00a0 Keep turning.\u00a0 Feel that?\u00a0 See how it feels.\u00a0 It should thread as smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom,\u201d he told Hack.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, as smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom,\u201d Hack agreed.\u00a0 Dallas could have sworn that Hack smiled.\u00a0 Dallas gave Hack a funny look.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you holding out on me?\u201d<\/p>\n It was almost 17:00 and time for dinner, so Dallas had to go wash up.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n \u201c18:00 is really a much more appropriate time for dinner,\u201d Mariah groused to Jane as she arrived in the mess for dinner.<\/p>\n \u201cCaptain set 17:00 as dinnertime,\u201d Jane reminded her.<\/p>\n Dallas finished washing and took his usual seat in the mess.\u00a0 Jane brought him his cold water.\u00a0 Mariah sat down and smiled at him.\u00a0 Mentally he checked his back for knife wounds and drank some more water, expecting it to leak out of some of those fresh knife wounds.\u00a0 Jane brought out some great smelling stew with freshly made bread.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t eaten this well since\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cCaptain,\u201d Mariah started out simply. \u201cCould I ask you\u2026,\u201d but ran out of steam searching for words that were publicly acceptable while adequately expressing what she wanted.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want me to put dinnertime back to 18:00,\u201d he answered her unasked question.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, that would be nice,\u201d she agreed, assuming she had won.<\/p>\n \u201cSome years ago, I would have yelled at you for even asking me to live like some lame-ass pilgrim, but the war taught me better.\u00a0 I served with a lot of fine men and women that were pilgrims.\u00a0 They fought like us and died like us.\u00a0 I respect that.\u00a0 So, I will meet you halfway.\u00a0 Jane, set dinnertime for 17:30.\u00a0 We are always open to what works best for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n She wanted to scream at him, \u2018I am not some lame-ass pilgrim!\u2019 but thought better of losing what concession she did get out of him, choosing instead to smile and say, \u201cThat would seem appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Bullshit!\u00a0 Bullshit!\u00a0 Bullshit! She screamed at him mentally.<\/p>\n The captain finished his dinner and went back to work with Hack, but Mariah was upset with indirectly being called a lame-ass pilgrim by this outworld bumpkin.\u00a0 Mariah went to the bridge.\u00a0 Sitting herself down at her Science Officer\u2019s Station, she reached out over the quantum-com network.\u00a0 She queried Union Fleet on Etron using her old access codes.\u00a0 They all still worked.<\/p>\n [What are you doing?] Jess asked her. [Are we snooping?]<\/p>\n [Not really,] Mariah answered her as she hit pay dirt.<\/p>\n [Let me see.\u00a0 Let me see,] Jess prodded her as the encrypted file downloaded.<\/p>\n Mariah applied her keys.\u00a0 His file said, \u2018Honorable Discharge.\u2019 \u00a0It also listed two Distinguished Service Crosses and a Bronze Star.\u00a0 It showed that he started his service as a grunt in the Union Mobile Expeditionary Forces, but he quickly rose through the ranks.\u00a0 In fact, Captain Dallas Alton Blake earned a master\u2019s degree in Starship Engineering as well as a second master\u2019s degree from the War College of Union Fleet.\u00a0 There was another box filled in with \u2018Sole Survivor.\u2019\u00a0 Mariah clicked on the box to get more information.\u00a0 The note read: Lost his entire family 5767.6.11, Planet NRZ4361-4 to Mercenary Forces. RIP.\u00a0 It listed a wife and daughter first amongst the family he lost.<\/p>\n [Oh,] was all that Mariah could say to that.<\/p>\n [Well, so much for your \u2018outworld bumpkin\u2019, Mariah,] Jess chided her. [Maybe now you can cut the poor guy some slack.\u00a0 Besides, I like him.\u00a0 He is a little rough around the edges, but he has a big heart \u2026 and such a hunk.]<\/p>\n [He is an educated man,] Mariah was thinking, [so I should be able to reason with him.]<\/p>\n [You mean \u2018control him,\u2019 but I think you like him.]<\/p>\n [What makes you say that?!]\u00a0 Jessica\u2019s comment got her blood boiling.<\/p>\n [Because you fight with him so much.\u00a0 Shame. \u00a0Such a waste of all that passion,] Jess teased her.<\/p>\n [Waste of passion?!\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so!]\u00a0 And with that, Mariah stormed off.<\/p>\n [I do,] Jess commented in her wake.<\/p>\n Mariah caught up with Dallas in the equipment bay.\u00a0 He was working with Hack on some more \u2018issues\u2019 from Hack\u2019s task list.\u00a0 She just approached and watched for a bit.\u00a0 Hack was busy updating a number of procedures via his network link.\u00a0 She read through the revisions to see what was going on.\u00a0 Everything was going just fine until she ran into the sentence that included \u2018as smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018As smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom?\u2019\u00a0 What kind of engineering description is that?\u201d she asked out loud.<\/p>\n It took a couple seconds for Dallas to realize what she was talking about.<\/p>\n \u201cOh!\u00a0 Yeah, we solved your threaded-connection issue.\u00a0 Right, Hack?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 We solved the threaded-connection issue.\u00a0 I am now able to execute a threaded connection without cross-threading it with a one hundred percent certainty.\u00a0 Captain has solved eleven other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018As smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom?\u2019 \u00a0\u2018As smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom?\u2019\u00a0 Henry couldn\u2019t possibly know what you mean by that!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would beg to differ.\u00a0 I think maybe my man, Hack, here is holding out on us, but he sure knows exactly what I meant.\u00a0 It must be a guy thing.\u201d\u00a0 Dallas smiled at her.<\/p>\n \u201cA guy thing? A guy thing? In case you haven\u2019t noticed, he\u2019s an android!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay then, don\u2019t believe me.\u00a0 You ask him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHenry, do you know what this means: \u2018as smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Hack told her. \u201cI know exactly what \u2018as smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom\u2019 means.\u201d<\/p>\n Mariah was speechless.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, there you go,\u201d Dallas told her with a laugh, but he also knew very well how android logic worked.\u00a0 By telling Hack that what he was feeling was \u2018as smooth as a woman\u2019s bottom\u2019 he was giving Hack a frame of reference.\u00a0 Hack only had to know that description applied to what he was feeling on the threaded connection.\u00a0 To Hack it was not a comparison, but a description.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay then, we are reviewing the engineering procedures,\u201d Dallas concluded. \u201cCan I explain anything else to you while we are at it?\u201d<\/p>\n She was scrambling now, but every bit up to that challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right\u2026 \u2018If it doesn\u2019t move when you hit it with a hammer, get a bigger hammer?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPretty much self-explanatory,\u201d Dallas said with his arms crossed, shaking his head. \u201cHack, can you explain that one to her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 It is an example of how to adapt when the current tool is not adequately performing the job because it is too small.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course,\u201d Dallas added, \u201cyou can always take that literally too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd \u2018cheater\u2019 she found quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, using a piece of pipe to gain leverage on a wrench.\u00a0 Humans use this technique all the time.\u00a0 We can\u2019t just go put on stronger arms like Hack here can, but it takes him time to do that.\u00a0 When it is more time efficient, Hack can just use a cheater and get the job done quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n So, an outworld bumpkin he surely was not.\u00a0 He was using the best he could find of both pilgrim organization and technology, and outworld ingenuity, but he would tell you fast and quick that is exactly how an outworlder is taught to survive, by adapting, using the best of whatever works.<\/p>\n Mariah\u2019s self-righteous pilgrim attitude was crushed, not because he thought he was right, but because he actually was right.\u00a0 Her pilgrim world was filled with conforming to the rules and regulations.\u00a0 It was full of rigid training and structured learning.\u00a0 She had to admit, his way worked.\u00a0 But credit goes where credit is due.\u00a0 She could adapt too.\u00a0 She would show him.\u00a0 She would become the master of his ways\u2026 if she could just figure out how. \u00a0To Mariah\u2019s dismay, there was no instruction manual on how to become an outworlder.<\/p>\n The next morning, Dallas made himself comfortable on the bridge in the Captain\u2019s chair and actually put on the shoulder harness. He next commanded, [Battle Stations] and waited.\u00a0 \u2018Red Alert\u2019 lit up on all of the displays.\u00a0 The androids went to their assigned stations and buckled in.\u00a0 Mariah came scrambling in last looking all flustered.\u00a0 She took her seat at the Science Officer\u2019s Station with some heavy sighing to denote her being inconvenienced by all of this.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u00a0 We can start with this,\u201d he said calmly.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is just a drill?\u201d Mariah asked now, miffed at being disturbed for this.<\/p>\n \u201cBattle Stations is never \u2018just a drill.\u2019\u00a0 If you don\u2019t take it deadly serious even just once, it could be the last day for all of us.\u00a0 Now let\u2019s see how prepared we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the next hour, Dallas ran his new ship through all the maneuvers he used as a fighter pilot teaching them to Jess at the same time.\u00a0 The ship was certainly not as maneuverable as a fighter, but he was very impressed with how quickly Jess picked up new skills.<\/p>\n [Jess, I am very impressed,] he told her. [You really are a very good pilot.]<\/p>\n [Thank you, Cap,] she replied all aglow.<\/p>\n [I only wish this ship was as good as you are.\u00a0 It will take a little learning on my part to adjust.]<\/p>\n Next, Dallas ran the standard maneuvers for a scout, just out of curiosity. \u00a0He was pleasantly surprised that it did better than he expected, even for a scout.\u00a0 So, his ship that was bigger than he expected actually did maneuver better than most scout-class ships.\u00a0 That was a very pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n Next in line were the shields.\u00a0 He launched a test bat.\u00a0 It would fly against him and fire at his shields.\u00a0 Again, some good, some not so good.\u00a0 That\u2019s when he noticed Mariah.\u00a0 She was hanging her head and looking morose.<\/p>\n [Okay.\u00a0 I have seen enough for now.\u00a0 Cancel Red Alert.\u00a0 Stand down.]<\/p>\n \u201cMariah love, what\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing?\u00a0 The war is over.\u201d\u00a0 Was he some paranoid nut case or what?<\/p>\n \u201cSo it would appear,\u201d he said cryptically.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it would appear?\u00a0 What the hell does that mean?\u00a0 Either it is, or it is not.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be both.\u00a0 The mercenaries surrendered at Zari-Kuut.\u00a0 That was it, done, finished.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe greatest impediment to enlightenment is the illusion of knowledge.\u00a0 After the war, by all of the proper rules and regulations, all parties returned to a peaceful and orderly state\u2026 and my ass sucks purple putty balls, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d really like to see that,\u201d Mariah quipped under her breath but concerned now that she was right; the man was a paranoid nut case.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile all of the nice peace treaties were being signed and formal declarations were being declared, my fellow fighter pilots and I all saw with our own eyes that for as many of the God-awful mercenaries as were sent to penal colonies, even more simply scattered to the four winds.\u00a0 For as much as we complained to Fleet, they told us that nothing could be done.\u00a0 Once the mercenaries had scattered, there was no rounding them back up.\u00a0 There was too much joy over the victory to see that it really wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 My mother always warned me that too much joy comes to grief.\u00a0 My fear is that it will.\u00a0 My plan is to be prepared.\u00a0 My hope is that it doesn\u2019t find us.\u201d<\/p>\n He gave her pilgrim mind some time to absorb what she had just been told.<\/p>\n \u201cSpace doesn\u2019t wait for you to get ready,\u201d he tried to explain to Mariah. \u201cShe comes at you fast and hard and shows no mercy.\u00a0 I need you up to speed with me on this.\u00a0 I need you to cover my back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a lesson in how to be an outworlder?\u201d Mariah asked in earnest.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you choose to see it that way, then yes, it is.\u00a0 I took the best of \u2018pilgrim\u2019 that I found and made it a part of me.\u00a0 Adapt, improvise, and overcome.\u00a0 Take the best of \u2018outworlder\u2019 and make it a part of you.\u00a0 I know that you can do it.\u00a0 You are one smart cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can \u2018outworld\u2019 the ass off of you,\u201d she told him defiantly.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d really like to see that,\u201d he mumbled under his breath, but he really meant it.<\/p>\n \u201cScience Officer you say?\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had a Science Officer before,\u201d He was thinking now.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a damned good Science Officer,\u201d she stated defiantly.<\/p>\n \u201cOkay then, Damned Good Science Officer, here is what I need: I need to be able to angle these shields, and I need them to adapt to different modulations automatically.\u00a0 Can you please work on that while I go work on our pulse-cannons?\u201d\u00a0 He sent his old fighter\u2019s shield equations and specs to her console and left her to her work.<\/p>\n \u201cI can \u2018outworld\u2019 the ass off these shields,\u201d she told her console as she began.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n My original Book on Double Dragon Publishing<\/strong><\/p>\n Original Kindle Version (eBook) by Double Dragon Publishing<\/b> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWe come in peace\u201d is what we told the anoza when human explorers first encountered them, but you would have to ask the anoza how that worked for them. They would tell you fast and quick that humans were cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in our hearts. It didn\u2019t take … Continue reading Five Moons: Resurrection<\/span> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Resurrection-no-2-Amazon-20210721.jpg\")
<\/a>Number 2 on Amazon July 21, 2021<\/p>\nPlease enjoy the SAMPLE CHAPTERS below.<\/h4>\n
You can find my books at these fine retailers.<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/amazon_1.jpg\")
<\/a>Five Moons: Resurrection on Amazon as an eBook, Paperback, Hard Cover, or AudioBook<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Book-Icon.png\"){kind=icon}
<\/a>\u00a0Paperback Version at Amazon<\/a><\/h4>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Smashwords.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/h5>\n
APPLE BOOKS<\/a><\/h5>\n
BARNES & NOBLE<\/a><\/h5>\n
GARDINERS<\/a><\/h5>\n
KOBO<\/a><\/h5>\n
SCRIBD<\/a><\/h5>\n
Now available in Audio Book format on Audible.com<\/a>, Amazon.com<\/a>, and the Apple iTunes Store.<\/strong><\/h6>\n
![\"Five](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Five-Moons-Resurrection-Audio-Cover-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Readers](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Readers-Favorite-5star-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Reader’s Favorite Rated Five Moons: Resurrection a Five Star Read!<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n“I have always been a fan of good space opera. Five Moons: Resurrection by Bill Parker is very good space opera. The author has created a superb cast of characters, human and non-human, with entertaining and witty interactions. The plot, while standard space opera, has enough new elements to make it quite enjoyable. The dialogue is first rate, particularly between the non-humans. This story actually contains it all; drama, adventure, romance, and danger. I look forward to reading the next installment of the adventures of Captain Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons. Well done.”
\nRead their entire review: Readers’ Favorites review of Five Moons: Resurrection<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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![\"Five](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/5MoonsBook1-510-.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h2>\n
\u00a0SAMPLE CHAPTERS
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/a>Prologue<\/h1>\n
Chapter One: Resurrection<\/h1>\n
![\"Double](\"https:\/\/www.fivemoons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DDP_logo.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/a>
\nISBN-10:<\/b> 1-77115-260-5
\nISBN-13:<\/b>\u00a09781771152600
\nGenre:<\/b> Science Fiction\/Fiction\/Adventure
\neBook Length:<\/b> 160 Pages
\nPublished:<\/b> January 2016
\nASIN:<\/b> B01A94D0WQ<\/p>\n\n
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