Beauty Survives

Mika's bottom lip trembled as he contemplated the disastrous results the disease would leave if it spread to other worlds and infect other species besides Kalandans.

He stole one last, heartfelt look at Pelor and said, "I'll take care of him; standard procedures."

"Thank you, Mika."

She walked to the comm panel and punched the button, "This is Losira; I'm on my way," then left the lab, forcing herself not to take a last heart breaking glance back at the man she loved.

"The craft is landing now, Commander." The scan officer adjusted the screen to show the small scout craft kicking up loose soil as it gently touched down on the surface.

"Activate secondary defensive protocols." Losira ordered. She watched as the hatch of the craft yawned open to allow its passengers to exit. They were thin beings, segments of caprices covering their bodies. Waving around handheld instruments in their clawed appendages, their large yellow eyes perused the readings they were sending. With their antennae twitching about atop their heads, the beings looked insect-like.

"Commander," said Kimel, Joman's replacement as Ops officer when he died four dura-cycles ago, "defense protocol computers have scanned the beings and are ready to send the simuloids."

"And their mother ship?"

Kimel nodded, "One simuloid is on 'stand by', ready to board if necessary."

Losira nodded back, "Activate simuloids; keep the one on 'stand by' until further orders."

"Yes, ma'am." Kimel's hands fluttered across her console to comply.

Losira and the comm center crew watched the screen as four simuloids appeared just out of sight of the equal number of insect beings now approaching the station's camouflaged entrance.

The simuloids were nothing more than projections of simple forms of matter guided by tractor field emitters imbedded in the surrounding rocks and under the topsoil cover. Their bodies were merely sophisticated puppets with invisible strings, guided by the station's main defense computer which thought and spoke for them as well. The ones that could be sent to vessels were integrated with their own internal power source and mobility frame work, since the tractor field emitters couldn't reach beyond a certain point. The boarding simuloid could operate independently from the main computer's control, even at hundreds of sub-cubicans distance, but only for a limited amount of time.

Using molecular re-sequencing, the computer could change the density of their forms to repel any attack and transform their hands into any defensive weapon it felt necessary to guard the station. Its main weapon disrupted certain cells in life forms to render them unconscious so as to more easily disarm and/or return them to wherever they came from. The victims were scanned at the molecular level in order to match the exact chromosome pattern to that of his/her simuloid opponent in order to disrupt their cell patterns and put them to sleep quickly.

But the system wasn't fool-proof; some of the beings it was used upon didn't stun them, it killed them by not disrupting a few cells, but all of them. And since the diversity of life was so wide spread throughout this part of space, the computer couldn't always discern between which life forms were able to withstand the disruption or succumb to it.

It wasn't the fault of the computer, nor its creators and handlers; this sector of space was new to the Kalandans and they had not had time to fully investigate and analyze all of the surrounding worlds and their inhabitants.

Losira deplored the killing of life, as did all Kalandans, but the disease left them no choice. They couldn't allow the deadly organism to spread and, not knowing if others could be affected by it or not, weren't taking any chances.

A member of the insectoid landing party suddenly pointed towards the general direction of the entrance, announcing to the others that a life form reading had appeared on its scanning device, a huge one sending the gage indicator right off the scale then disappearing just as quickly. The defense computer purposely sent out the false reading in order to confuse visitors that weren't welcome, for when the group of simuloids came within sight of the landing party, their instruments gave off no readings of them. No biological readings, no mechanical readings... nothing, as if they weren't really there.

One of the simuloids, a male, approached the group and spoke.

"My fellow travelers," he (it) said, in the clicks, chirps, and whistles of what the computer said was their language after scanning them, "though we wish to welcome you to our station, we cannot allow you to remain here."

A member of their group stepped forward, apparently the leader, and chirped out an introduction and asked, "Why? Is there a danger?"

"There is indeed, my friend," the simuloid answered, "There is a disease on this station that we have not yet been able to combat. We cannot risk others contracting it and carrying it back to worlds to infect others. You must leave at once... please."

Another member of the party stepped up and addressed his superior, "Drone Primus, we have standing orders to take possession of this planetoid," then, turning to the simuloid, "Your small world, your 'station', whatever it is, is in our space. We claim this world in the name of the Crykk'tyr'n Directorate Territories."

"Then you will be claiming a world of the dead," the simuloid responded with a pained look, "and if the disease affects you, you will carry it back to your Directorate and destroy yourselves. You must leave now."

The objecting insectoid motioned to the rest and all raised their weapons to the Kalandan greeters. With a loud click/order, the insectoids fired. But they attacked the simuloids to no avail, for the bright yellow beams of energy bursting forth from their weapons merely bounced off their forms. The lead simuloids sadly shook his head and slowly approached the landing party, the others following suit.

The insectoids kept firing up to the last second. But when one of the simuloids touched the leader of the party on his shoulder(?), the being let out a high pitched squeak. Its whole body stiffened up, and then simply dropped to the ground. Two others followed their leader and the last of the party, the objecting one, stared dumbfounded at his comrades lying at his feet.

"I'm sorry," the lead simuloid said, "but this was necessary for your own safety. Take them back to your craft and leave; they will regain consciousness by the time your mother ship is at least one hundred of your clectirs away from this world. Please... go."

The remaining insectoid's eyes widened as far as they would go when the simuloids flattened out their appearances into something like a two-dimensional image, thinning themselves into one-dimensional straight, vertical lines, and then shrinking into nothing, disappearing as if they were... ghosts?

One by one, the insectoid hurriedly carried his comrades back to their landing craft and, a short while later, blasted the engines to lift the craft off in a cloud of dust and vanishing into the dull lavender sky.

Losira turned to the Ops officer once the simuloids disappeared on the screen and asked, "Did the sim-scanners reveal any damage to the life forms?"

The woman at the controls shook her head, "The life forms' biological structure was too complex to get an accurate reading, Commander. Their cell structure may or may not have been able to tolerate our disruption defense; I don't know if the insectoids were unconscious or injured," she adjusted her controls again, and, "Bio-scanners can't determine whether or not they contracted the disease, either."

Losira cursed under her breath, a particularly vile and tasteless one at that, then turned to her scanning officer, "Status of the craft?"

"They are now coming within range of their mother ship; they'll be docking with it momentarily."

"Keep tracking it until it leaves the outer guard's periphery." As she turned to leave the center, her Ops officer called to her in a hushed and worried voice.

"Losira... do you think they..."

She shook her head, already knowing the rest of the question, "I don't know, Kimel. We can only hope they didn't contract the disease. If they did and take it back to their home worlds..." The rest didn't need to be said; everyone knew what would happen.

Kimel bowed her head, saddened at the thought, and a tear ran down her face as Losira left the center.

That tear was not shed in vain.

Unknown to the Kalandans, the disruption defense did indeed kill the insectoids and their bodies were infected with the deadly organism. By the time their mother ship reached its home port, the entire crew was infected. Over the course of three of their years, the disease spread across their home world and eventually to their colonies, thanks to the unsuspecting crews of other ships. Within ten years time, the entire Crykk'tyr'n race was wiped out, erased from the universe with only the remains of their bodies, cities, and technologies to bare witness and testimony to their once great empire.

Losira waited until she was within the confines of her chambers before she broke down and cried. Not for the Crykk'tyr'ns; she had no way of knowing their fate. But for her beloved, who had created the simuloid process and the technology behind it. The lead simuloid used was in the image of Pelor.

Another season-cycle went by, and over two-thirds of the station's personnel were gone. There wasn't a dura-cycle that went by that the incinerators weren't in use, disposing of corpses... and still they waited for help to arrive from their home planet.

The outpost had only one other visitor since the incident with the Crykk'tyr'ns. A particularly belligerent race of beings that resembled felinoid carnivores landed on the station and claimed it for their own, in an attempt to expand their territory and savage influence. Scanning the invaders' minds revealed that they subjugated other races for their own gain to replenish their home territory's dwindling resources. Dispatching them in the same manner as the Crykk'tyr'ns, the Kalandans found the species also vulnerable to their disruption defenses and the deaths of their comrades only enraged them.

Bombarding the outpost with their ship's primitive particle weapons proved fruitless, thanks to the station's zetherbium outer covering. But when the marauding felinoids decided to smash the planet with one of their auxiliary craft loaded with powerful explosive compounds that would rip away the planetoid's atmosphere, the Kalandans had no choice. Bringing their reactors to full power, they hit the ship with the molecular transport array and sent it back the way it came.

Unfortunately the felinoids, who used their own molecular transporters to escape back to their ship, had been infected like their Crykk'tyr'n counterparts and had taken the disease back to their home territory as well. Within twelve of their years, almost ninety percent of their species was eradicated, the remainder surviving only due to the fact that a cure was found, but found too late to save the bulk of their race.

Over half of their subjugated races survived exposure as well having being immune to the disease, with the exception of one that discovered the cure far more rapidly than their overlords and only suffered less than five percent casualties.

The Kzinti, having lost most of their population, spend the next few ten thousand years or so rebuilding and relearning their culture, becoming less belligerent and more productive. And their underling worlds, no longer under the tyrannical heels of oppression due to the Kzinti's diminished forces, were allowed to flourish and come into their own. Including a strong and vigorous race of humanoids with dark skin and ridged foreheads, who strived to tame and nourish their turbulent world of Qo'noS.

No other ships approached the station since and near the end of the revol, less than eighty Kalandans were left alive. Every attempt to stem the disease met with failure, their scientists and physicians unable to find a cure that some of their visitors had already discovered.

Losira found Mika asleep at his desk, exhausted. He heard her enter the lab and slowly lifted himself off the desktop.

"There's nothing more I can do, Losira," he said, his voice coarse and strained, "We only have so much of the serum left, and I'm certain that it's not helping anymore. It's only a matter of time, now."

"How much longer?"

Mika looked somberly at her and taking her hand said, "Maybe another season-cycle, but not much more than that. Are you going to tell the others?"

"No," Losira answered in a whisper, "They must hang on until the last moment, until help arrives. I won't dash their hopes."

"Help won't get here in time, will it?" Mika asked, though they both knew it wasn't really a question.

Losira simply shook her head, "I don't think so."

Mika just nodded and reached over to pat a recording module, "I've dictated the last of my logs, professional and personal; they're all in here. There's nothing more to do, so... there's nothing more to say." He then rose from his chair and headed for the door, "I'm going to my chambers to lie down; it's getting hot in here. Check in with me from time to time, will you?"

Losira smile slightly and nodded as her old friend sauntered out of the lab.

That was the last time she saw him alive.

* * *

It had been as Mika predicted; almost a full season-cycle passed by when she placed the last of her fellow Kalandans into one of the last remaining incinerators that were still working properly. She cried as she silently said goodbye to Kimel, watching the hatch close and conceal her lifeless body inside the disposal unit. The young Ops officer had held onto life longer than any of them, save herself of course. And once the incinerator signaled the process finished, Kimel was gone... and Losira was alone.

That was two meca-cycles ago. For the dura-cycles that followed Kimel's disposal, Losira simply wandered in a haze attempting to tend to the duties of keeping the station operational. But it was more to keep her busy than anything; the station's main controls were set to tend to the rudimentary systems automatically at reduced power consumption, and there was little else to keep an eye on after that.

And now, with her limbs going numb, her stomach cramping, and her temperature rising, it was her turn to join the others in death. But she wouldn't leave this life, not just yet; there was one final duty to perform.

After applying some coloring to cover the small blemishes of light gray around her eyes and cheeks, Losira forced herself to be calm and gathered the last of her strength before going back into the command center.

Standing off to the side of the doorway that led to the station entrance foyer, she called out to the air, "Computer; activate recording/projection module."

A cube of frosted glass lowered itself out of the ceiling and focused its energies on the only remaining being in the room.

"Scan life form present."

The cube hummed out a warble of soft tones, and a thin line of pale blue light washed up and down Losira's body, scanning her form and recording her mind's impulses. A tiny chime sounded, indicating the scan was complete.

"Hold scan in simuloid stasis."

The cube hummed at her again, and then fell quiet.

Losira walked over to the defenses console and set the controls to their proper sequence if the station was ever unmanned for whatever reason. She walked back to her original position and, taking one last calming breath to steady herself, she said, "Activate log recording."

Again, the cube warbled a tone and she began her final message.

"My fellow Kalandans, welcome."

"A disease has destroyed us; beware of it. After your long journey I'm sorry to give only a recorded welcome, but we who have guarded the outpost for you will be dead by the time you take possession of this planet."

"I am the last of our advanced force left alive. Too late, the physicians discovered the cause of the sickness that kills us. In creating this planet, we have accidentally produced a deadly organism. I have awaited the regular supply ship from home for medical assistance, but I... I doubt now whether it will arrive in time."

"I have set the outpost's controls on automatic; the computer will selectively defend against all life forms, but our own. My fellow Kalandans... I, Losira... wish you well."

Closing her eyes and exhaling slowly, she said to the cube, "End recording and store in protective memory." She knew that the recorded message would automatically play if and when the simuloid was shut down and no longer needed. Again, she called out, "Computer, use stored template and create simuloid."

The cube hummed again, louder this time, and a solid line stretched out in front of her. The line expanded sideways, then again to encompass three dimensions.

"Activate simuloid."

The false being's eyes fluttered, then opened to see the commander of the station. Losira put aside the eerie feeling of staring and addressing... herself; the simuloid was a perfect copy of her own form. The computer would use her image and personality to greet anyone arriving at the station.

"Simuloid, this is a priority directive from the commander of this outpost: you are to guard this station against all life forms. Do not allow any life forms to penetrate the station's interior, except for any Kalandan personnel. The station's reactors can now be powered up to full capacity now that no one is left to injure or incapacitate. Use any means at your disposal to safeguard this outpost, including the molecular transport array. You may duplicate your existing form to defend against multiple opponents, if necessary. Scan all forms that arrive and activate secondary defensive protocols if needed; board any vessels and use the array only when the situation warrants it. Above all, do not kill any life form unless protocol demands it," Losira paused to collect her thoughts and continued, "And finally, when my body ceases to function, you will place it in the incineration unit and dispose of it. Once done... you will be in command of this station until relieved by the Kalandan forces that will arrive in due time to take control. Do you understand?"

The Losira-Sim nodded, "I understand, Commander."

"Good. Now... help me... to my chambers..." And with that, Losira swayed and almost lost her balance. The simuloid reached for her and held her upright, slowly walking her to her quarters.

Once there, the simuloid gently laid Losira down on her bed, her labored breathing becoming more erratic and her skin fading to a dull ash gray.

"Simuloid," Losira huffed out, "my life is nearing its end. Carry out your directive; guard and protect this station. Our forces will... will arrive soon," she held out her hand, and the simulation of herself gently grasped it in her own, "Thank you... Commander..."

Her arm went limp, her hand slipping from the simuloid's hand.

"Computer, scan life form in this chamber."

At Losira-Sim's beckoning, a smaller cube dropped out of the room's ceiling and hummed to life. A pale green line played over the body lying in the bed and, after a moment or two, the light changed from green to red and the cube beeped out one long, subdued tone.

"End scan."

The cube retreated into its cubby hole and deactivated. The simuloid looked at the body with just a hint of sorrow.

Losira was dead.

After disposing of her former commander's body, Losira-Sim returned to the command center and, after checking the controls one last time to make sure they were at the proper settings, she addressed the chamber.

"Computer, power down all non-essential systems. Maintain outer warning guard detection grid, continuous scan. Surface simuloid tracking systems on 'stand-by', until further notice. Secure all entrances to station's interior." She paused for one final look around, then, "Store template of present simuloid in protective memory and save."