Binary Pair Read online

  A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

  Michael-Scott Earle

  Chapter 1

  “Captain, we will pop out of warpdrive in ten minutes,” Z said through the speaker system in my quarters.

  “Great. I’m getting out of the shower. I’ll be right there,” I replied. I had just hit the shower air vacuum, it had blown all of the water off my body and sucked it down the drain to be filtered for reuse.

  “Alright, see you soon,” she said, and then I heard the chime of the audio connection closing.

  I stepped out of the shower and reached for my toothbrush. It was concealed behind a mirrored cabinet, and something dark flashed behind me when I opened the polished door. I spun around with my hands up to block any attack against my face, but there was no one standing behind me that I could see. Nor could I smell anyone.

  “Kasta?” I turned my head toward the open door of my suite. The android woman normally wore strong gardenia perfume, but I guessed she would be able to move around without scent if she didn’t wear any.

  No one answered, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose. I took the four steps to reach the edge of the bathroom door, and I leaned out to see if there was anyone in my room. There was no one there, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me.

  “Persephone?” I asked, even though I felt all kinds of stupid for trying to talk to the ship.

  As expected, the ship didn’t answer me.

  I was suddenly conscious of my naked body, and I looked toward my bedroom. My closet was filled with the tight-fitting flight suits, but I stepped back into the bathroom, grabbed my toothbrush, and then went to work on cleaning my mouth instead of walking across the room. I’d had a lot of alcohol to drink in the last three days. While I hadn’t gotten drunk, my mouth still carried the sour taste of too much booze. I wanted to get rid of the taste more than I cared about any of the women on the ship seeing me naked.

  “Eye yah.” I heard a whisper behind me as soon as I bent my head down to rinse my mouth. I spun around again and saw a flash of dark feathers travel from my bathroom into my room.

  “Hello?” I put set my toothbrush on the counter and then walked back to my room. There was still no one there, and I sighed.

  “Where are you?” I asked.

  “Eye yah?” I heard her whisper behind me. I thought about spinning around to see her, but I stopped myself and kept my eyes focused on the couch at the far end of my suite.

  Then I felt hands circle my waist. Her body was warm as she pressed the front of her chest against my back. The embrace was gentle, caring, and I felt her inhale deeply before she released her breath in a long sigh.

  “Eye yahhhhhh,” she breathed, and with that breath, a warm rush of pleasure descended my spine.

  “We will be at Y-114-a soon,” I whispered. “Mind telling me what we need to do here?”

  “Yahhh,” she said after a few moments.

  “That doesn’t help.” I reached down to where her hands lay on my bare stomach and laid my palms over hers. The skin of her hands was smooth, but it felt as if she was wearing some sort of lace sleeves. I didn’t want to risk looking down at her hands since that might cause her to disappear.

  “Eye yah eye.” Her voice seemed to fill my mind. It almost felt as if Eve was speaking to me, but I could hear Persephone’s voice in my ears.

  Was this really Persephone? How? Was she alive? Eve seemed to think so, and my friend thought the ship had feelings. How was she manifesting herself? Was she some sort of ghost? I never believed in ghosts, so I thought the idea somewhat ridiculous.

  But then again, I’d never believed in weretigers or vampires.

  “Should we be ready to fight?” I asked, but the woman’s arms just tightened a bit around my waist, and she didn’t reply.

  “Uhhh, Captain? You in there?” Z’s voice came across my room half a second after I heard the chime from the com system.

  “Yeah. Sorry. We about to drop out?”

  “Uhhh, yeah. In about a minute,” Z said. Her voice sounded a bit concerned.

  “Be right there.”

  “You just said that.”

  “Sorry. Got distracted,” I said.

  “By what?

  “Never mind,” I replied.

  “Okay.” I heard the beep signaling the closing of the com, and I realized the woman’s arms were no longer around my stomach, nor was her warm body pressed against my naked back. I couldn’t even recall the moment when she disappeared. It was as if she had faded into thin air.

  “Persephone?” I glanced around the room to see if she was still standing behind me. I didn’t see anyone, and I wondered if I was going crazy. First, it was the map of the three planets stuck in-between the two red dwarf suns, then it was her whispering in my ear to show me the city coastline of Y-114-a.

  Now she was making an appearance in my room.

  If it was Persephone, how was she communicating with me? I hadn’t really searched my captain’s quarters, but I hadn’t spotted any sort of hologram projection devices in the roof. It was possible that the ship’s AI was using a technology I wasn’t familiar with.

  What if the strange voice wasn’t Persephone?

  “Adam!” Z’s voice came through my room, and I flinched.

  “Be right there!” I growled back as I jumped into my closet. I yanked the closest flight suit from the hanger, slipped my legs into it, and then punched my arms through the sleeves. I was still zipping out the front of the suit when I walked out the door of the room.

  “Prepare for battle,” I said as I walked onto the bridge, sat in my big leather chair, and buckled my harness. “We don’t know what to expect.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Eve, Kasta, and Paula said. They were already in their seats: Eve in the copilot’s chair to my right and the twins behind me at the gunner and drone stations. Z was in the main pilot’s seat on my left, and the blonde woman frowned at me before she turned back to her controls.

  She had tried to talk to me a few times during the three days we spent with Jatal’s people. I’d told her that I still needed time to think about our relationship. At first, she nodded and didn’t seem to mind, but as the long rhodium miner party stretched to the third day, her mood soured. Now she kept shooting me questioning looks.

  “We are leaving warp in five… four… three… two… one,” Z stated and then the stars popped into view. Persephone displayed a green and blue planet that reminded me a lot of the pictures I had seen of Earth.

  “Well, there is Y-114-a,” Z said. “Now what?”

  As if on cue, Persephone's alarms sounded as the display zoomed in to focus on four starships grouped together on the horizon of the far planet. The ships were highlighted in red, and the side of the screen began to fill with crimson text.

  Destroyer Class Fighter: ZZDCF-8970-AA4

  Manufactured by: Zerda Zan Conglomerate. Centari Jay-413-c

  Branding: Lith Dae Navy. First Fleet. Moreleen arm.

  Hyperdrive: ZZ-Chaser-453. 45 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 105 meters

  Estimated Crew: 44

  Estimated fighter craft: 12

  Estimated drone payload: 6

  Heavy plasma cannons: 2

  Light plasma guns: 2

  Laser arrays: 1

  Frigate Class Transport: ZZFF-3452-CA2

  Manufactured by: Zerda Zan Conglomerate. Centari Jay-413-c

  Branding: Lith Dae Navy. First Fleet. Moreleen arm.

  Hyperdrive: ZZ-Standard-221. 85 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 60 meters

  Estimated Crew: 20

 
Estimated fighter craft: 2

  Estimated drone payload: 4

  Heavy plasma cannons: 1

  Light plasma guns: 1

  Laser arrays: 0

  Frigate Class Transport: ZZFF-3452-BA2

  Manufactured by: Zerda Zan Conglomerate. Centari Jay-413-c

  Branding: Lith Dae Navy. First Fleet. Moreleen arm.

  Hyperdrive: ZZ-Standard-231. 84 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 65 meters

  Estimated Crew: 18

  Estimated fighter craft: 2

  Estimated drone payload: 4

  Heavy plasma cannons: 1

  Light plasma guns: 1

  Laser arrays: 0

  Light Hull Patrol Class: SBAP-SAS3

  Manufactured by: Orange Fox Designs, Borna System-1

  Branding: Lith Dae Navy. First Fleet. Moreleen arm.

  Hyperdrive: FZ-Henry. 44 hours to 1 light year.

  Warpdrive: No

  Foldingdrive: No

  Length: 35 meters

  Estimated Crew: 10

  Estimated fighter craft: 0

  Estimated drone payload: 6

  Heavy plasma cannons: 2

  Light plasma guns: 2

  Laser arrays: 1

  “The destroyer is sending us a communication,” Eve said as the four ships turned slowly to face us.

  “Okay, let’s hear it,” I said.

  Eve nodded once, and then she pressed a finger down on her controls.

  “Persephone, this is Captain Lachie of the Lith Dae Navy, state your business in this system.” It was a woman’s voice, and her words were heavy with annoyance.

  “This is Adam, I’m captain of Persephone,” I said. “We are traders, just looking for a place to buy, sell, and maybe take on some shipping work.”

  “Persephone, scanners seem to think that your ship is military,” the woman said.

  “We’ve got a few heavy cannons for protection. Standard practice in the galaxy,” I said.

  “What are you trading?” she asked.

  “Rhodium,” I answered.

  The other captain didn’t say anything for a few moments, and I wondered if she had lost my transmission, but then her voice came across. “We’ll board you to inspect your supplies.”

  Z turned to me vigorously; shaking her head in the negative.

  “Captain Lachie, this seems highly unusual,” I said as I motioned for Eve to mute the line. She did so, and then nodded to me.

  “Something is off,” I said to my friends. “Is the planet sending any signal out?”

  “Persephone's sensors have not picked up anything.” Eve shrugged.

  “I don’t want those fucks setting foot on Persephone,” Z hissed.

  “We can set up drones at the cargo hold,” one of the twins, Kasta, I thought, said from behind me.

  “If you wish to land on Uraniel, we will be coming aboard and inspecting your ship. If you don’t like it, you can leave the system, Persephone.” Captain Lachie’s voice was a rough growl. I suspected she’d prefer that I pick option C, and try to battle them.

  “We can send a probe drone down to the surface of the planet,” Paula said.

  “They would probably see it,” Z said with a heavy sigh.

  “True, but it is possible they are using their technology to jam a signal from the planet’s surface,” Kasta said.

  “Or they could be part of the planet’s defense force, and they want to inspect every ship before it lands,” I said.

  “Eve, please unmute us.”

  “Yes, Captain,” the vampire replied before she pressed a button on her controls.

  “My apologies, Captain Lachie. We mean no disrespect. The last few places we’ve been have welcomed us with open arms when we told them we had rhodium to trade.”

  “That’s not how we do things here. Will you let us board you, or will you be leaving?” the woman spat.

  “Yes, which ship will you be sending over?” I asked.

  “All four of us will be approaching,” the woman said.

  “That is also unusual. We would prefer that only one of your ships come to dock with us, and we can show what we have in our hold.”

  “We will do a full inspection of your ship, Persephone, not just your hold,” the woman stated aggressively, and I had to take a deep breath.

  Z turned to me again and shook her head. Eve also looked toward me concerned.

  “Sorry, Captain Lachie, that won’t work for us.”

  “Then leave the solar system immediately, and do not return,” the woman replied bluntly.

  “Are you part of the government on the planet? It seems as if people would want traders to visit.”

  “This is your final warning, Persephone. You have ten seconds to leave, or we will attack.

  I motioned for Eve to mute. She nodded as she muted the communication.

  “Think we can take them?” Z grimaced.

  “We took out two of Elaka Nota’s ships a few days ago,” I said.

  “Yeah, but that was two against one. This is four against one. It’s not like we have anything close to a full crew,” the blonde hacker said.

  “Elaka Nota’s ships were better armed. Eve, can you zoom in on the destroyer?”

  “Yes,” she replied, but the ship grew larger on the screen before the dark-haired beauty even moved her hand to the controls.

  “It looks old,” I said as I glanced at the lines on the hull. There were obvious patches of metal in parts of the hull and some of the rivets weren’t clean. The destroyer didn’t look like it was built of scrap metal, but it wasn’t anything close to assembly line new.

  “Plasma fire from old cannons will still hurt,” Z said.

  Then my friend gasped when the four ships blurred and appeared next to us.

  “Dive! Full thrust!” I shouted, and the hacker pushed Persephone's controls forward.

  My stomach dropped for half a second as our black manta ray shaped vessel dove straight down. There was a blast of blue plasma fire around us, but Z spun Persephone like a top and then banked hard to evade all of them.

  “Fire port side at the patrol ship,” I ordered as the small vessel came up on our right side.

  “Firing cannons,” the twins said in unison, and I saw a salvo of red plasma balls fly out of Persephone’s left side. The smaller enemy vessel was moving quickly though, dancing nimbly between the twin’s shots and easily avoiding the plasma balls.

  “Destroyer is on our tail!” Z screeched a second after Persephone's view screen split to show our rear view. Sure enough, the largest of the enemy vessels had followed our dive, and the other two frigates were lined up right behind it.

  “Z, bank hard right, then pull up,” I ordered. “Who’s on the rear cannon?”

  “I am,” Eve said as Persephone banked up.

  “Keep them off us,” I said as I unbuckled my harness. It was going to be risky to jump back to one of the gunner’s chairs, so I waited for a moment where it looked like Z was keeping Persephone level before throwing myself into the station next to Kasta.

  “Focus on the destroyer!” I shouted as I took control of one of the light plasma guns. I set my crosshairs on the small dot of the distant ship, waited half a moment to gauge its movement speed, and squeezed the trigger. My shot had gone as I expected, and the long red streak of plasma hit the front of the destroyer exactly where I thought it would hit. The vessel didn’t have shields, and the front triangle of the ship bent with the hot impact of our shot.

  “I’m diving!” Z said as soon as the destroyer and two frigates opened fire on us with another wave of blue plasma.

  My stomach lurched again, and I heard Kasta sigh next to me. I realized that I was really sitting next to Paula, and I wondered if the other sister felt any g-forces. If the android didn’t, she might make the optimal pilot.

  But first, we had to take out these four assholes.

  “Pulling up!” Z grunted
, and then my stomach tried to press into my spleen. I was trying to line up my shots while Persephone spun, but it was akin to trying to catch a leaf during a tornado. All of my shots completely missed their targets.

  Luckily, the enemy’s blue plasma balls were also missing us, so I didn’t really mind Z’s complex maneuvers.

  “Try to get a shot off now!” The hacker held Persephone in a right turn for a good five seconds so we could get a clean sight on the three ships chasing us. Since they were behind us, all three of our heavy plasma cannons were able to come into play. I lined up my own shot with the hopes that I could hit one of the slower moving red balls of energy when it got close to the Destroyer.

  “Come on,” I growled as I zoomed in on my screen, let out a slow exhale, and then pulled the trigger. The beam of plasma shot out from my gun, raced across the four thousand meters, and then pierced one of the globes. The ball erupted right before it slammed into the destroyer, and the entire front of the ship was sheared off like it was a styrofoam toy broken in half.

  “Yes!” Paula, Kasta, Eve, and I shouted, but then Z spun Persephone downward again, and our celebration was cut short.

  We rocked unusually, and Z let out a string of curse words in a language I didn’t understand.

  “We get hit?” I asked as I tried to get another shot at the two frigates.

  “Yeah, shields soaked up the damage. It’s the patrol boat. The thing is really damn fast, and it's staying right on top of us.” Z turned Persephone again, and I lost complete sight of the two frigates.

  “Flip us around so that we can--”

  “He keeps moving! I’m trying!” she interrupted me.

  “I might be able to get him off us if I launch some of our flying drones,” Kasta said.

  “Do it,” I replied.

  “I’ll deploy four,” she said, and I turned to see the android woman tap her fingers across the controls of her keyboard.

  “Z, take us back around to the frigates while Kasta gets the patrol boat off us.”

  “Aye, Captain,” she grunted, and another wave of g-force slammed into me as the hacker twisted Persephone through space. The forward display of my terminal showed us flying right at the pair of enemy ships, and Z twisted Persephone in a spin to dodge between a curtain of blue plasma balls.