Memoirs of Kitty Siam Ch. 43

I took the time we spent together to assure him that I would do my best to get us back to Angkor safely but first I had to locate Angkor before I could set a course. I got the impression from the look on his face that he did not understand so I explained it and likened our journey in space to that of a ship on the open sea. He started to understand and once I saw the light of understanding in his eyes, he was able to figure out that I had to find out the course to set before we could sail home.

I still had a few hours to go before the calculations would be finished so I set myself up in the Captain's quarters, which were closest to the flight deck. I donated his clothing to Raku and his people to use as they saw fit. Being as fat as he was I was sure that his shirt could make a nice tent for a couple of the smaller women. I kept what I thought we could use then dumped the rest out an airlock since I doubted that the waste reclamation system would be able to handle so much junk.

I found a laundry room and used the sonic scrubbers to clean and sanitize everything from the Captain's cabin that I planned on using. Once the wash cycle was completed I washed the sheets and blankets three more times until I was satisfied that I had gotten everything out of them that the disgusting pig of a Captain could have left behind. Once I had clean bedclothes I made my bed and took a short nap until my internal data port activated and told me that the calculations were complete.

I accessed the route information and the good news was that the navigation computer could make the trip to our destination. The bad news was that it was going to take us thirty-two days and 216 jumps to get there. Since I did not know any place closer I pulled up the plot for our first jump, then before bringing the jump engines on line I made a quick check of our fuel reserves and found that we just had enough fuel to make the trip if there were no unnecessary deviations or additional jumps needed. I do not know why but before I gave the instructions to jump I closed my eyes and whispered, "Great Maker protect us!"

The portal to hyperspace opened and the ship entered without incident. A few minutes after the ship entered hyperspace Sala and Raku entered the flight deck and ask what had happened. I explained that we had just set sail and that they would feel the same sensations 216 times over the next thirty-two days as we made our way to a planet called Anora Prime.

They questioned me about our destination and assumed that it was another continent on Angkor that they had never heard of before. Of course this forced me into an hour-long discussion about planets, countries, continents, and hyperspace. Most of it they did not understand until I once again went back to the boat on the sea reference and compared planets to islands. That they understood, but neither of them asked the question that they should have asked and that was, "Why are we going to Anora Prime instead of Angkor?" No one other than me on board this ship understood this but I suspected that had Diya been here with us, she would have asked that question now that her DNA had been altered to allow a higher level of reasoning.

The ship settled into a comfortable routine as we made our way to Anora. There were a few minor mechanical problems and more than once I found myself demoted to plumber when one or more of the ship's toilets over flowed. Several times we came out of hyperspace close enough to a habitable planet and I was able to take a small landing party down to the surface to gather some fresh fruits and vegetables. We did not have the fuel to take the ship down to the surface as our captors had done on Angkor, but the shuttle served us well until its fuel was exhausted.

A long the way I had many days where nothing had happened and I was able to concentrate on decoding the journal of Enoch. I kept my work with his journal as just a decoding project until I was able to get it all translated into a readable modern version of Annu, but some of the references and comments that he made just popped out and screamed, "READ ME NOW!" Of course I had to read, and was glad that I did but, soon I found myself taking things out of context and went back to my original plan of translating first, and reading later.

During our many jumps in hyperspace I did my best to try to contact the Ksatria Cahaya (KC) or the Potaru Tansa Bushi (PTB). It had been a long while since I was in contact with them and it would be an even longer time as the communications gear on this ship was not compatible with that used by the KC and the PTB. I thought about broadcasting in open space without encryption to see who I could reach but then with the Zetas about the galaxy causing trouble, I did not want to take a chance on a confrontation with them as they had actual weapons and this thing was armed with not much more than a slingshot. We would never stand a chance against a small Saloof fighter, and since those things are short-range craft, confronting them or their carrier would be a very bad idea.

On our final jump we came out of hyperspace a short distance from Anora, and with little fuel to spare. We had just enough to put the ship in orbit and to land on the planet so I needed to make sure we landed in a good spot, as we would not be able to lift off again unless we were lucky enough to find some fuel. Orbiting the planet was free in the sense that there was no fuel cost, and I was able to put us in a high enough orbit that I would not have to keep firing the thrusters to keep our obit from decaying over time.

As we circled the planet I used the ancient scanners to search for life, for threats, and for a safe landing zone. There was plenty of life on Anora but most of the flora and fauna type. I could not find any large clusters of higher life forms that would indicate a city or village, though I found some structures that appeared to be an abandoned village. I fine tuned my scan and determined that there was an abandoned village close by what appeared to be a huge stone structure at the base of a mountain range. What drew my attention to the stone structure was that there was a slight energy signature coming from the stone.

I located a field large enough to land the ship that was about a mile or so from the stone structure. I wanted to go by myself to check out the structure but the elders insisted that we all go together as my traveling companions were close to an epidemic of cabin fever having been cooped up for so long on the ship. I have to admit that they handled everything quite well including my revelation that our fuel had been expended and that the ship would not fly again.

I explained to the leaders that I believed that there was a portal here on Anora that we could use to take us back to Angkor. This prompted many questions about portals and wormholes and such though they did not use those terms, but I did and just like describing hyperspace travel to them, my words fell on deaf ears. I was comforted when one of the younger women spoke up and told the elders, and me "Priestess saved our lives so if we have to live here, I am alright with that." I was surprised when the elders and Alphas agreed with her, and finally after a month in space I truly felt appreciated.

As we began our trek towards what I hoped would be a temple we passed many black oddly shaped black obelisks. Some were standing upright in the ground and others were lying over on their sides. As we passed the first of many I warned my shipmates to not touch the obelisks, as there was a potential for injury or death associated with them. It was then that Attu spoke up and recalled seeing similar obelisks on Angkor when he was younger and his father would take him hunting. Just like the obelisks that I came across on Angkor, these ones were ancient. I continued to use the word "obelisk" in conversation but I knew full well that they were the same plague carrying rockets that I had found on Angkor. I decided not to try to explain this to my fellow travelers.

Along the way to the stone structure in the distance we passed through a village that resembled the one on Rontara that had also been abandoned. This one had been abandoned for a lot longer than the one on Rontara. As we walked through the village the men began to make comments about each structure and would make remarks about what would be necessary to make the houses and shops functional again. The rammed earth was still intact. The years and the elements had taken their toll but most of the walls and foundations were salvageable. The roofs and doors had rotted away but since the roofs were of thatch construction and the doors were simple wood, it would take little time to make this village home if necessary. Upon hearing one of the elders mention this, Raku stopped our movement and started assigning people to clear the houses and to start gathering what they could to start the reconstruction.

After the men began splitting up into work teams he detailed the women to spread out and forage for food in the open fields and just beyond the tree line. He cautioned them not to go too far into the jungle beyond as there was no telling what sort of wildlife they could come across in the deeper part of the jungle. I added that if they run into a big brown cat wearing a gold collar that most likely its friendly and that I should be notified at once. I got a few quizzical looks from my comment, but I also got a lot of head nods as the women set off to forage.

I was glad to hear Raku make these assignments as it was becoming difficult to keep the entire group together and moving at an efficient pace. Once the people set about their assigned tasks, Raku tasked Attu and a few other men to accompany me to my final destination. I assured him that I did not need a security detail, but he suggested that their muscle power might be needed to move a fallen object or open a stubborn door that I might find in my path.

As we walked I began to admire Raku for jumping into action and taking command of the situation. Though he was not the official Alpha of the group, it seemed that the other Alphas were deferring to his judgment and easily accepting the assignments that he was giving out to the rest of the Angkorians. Attu was not the authoritarian that Raku was but he seemed to be taking a position at Raku's second in command. The more I watched Raku and Attu, the more I thought that either of them would make a good village chief someday and from the looks of things we had two great guys to help get this new village of ours up and running.

We made it to the stone structure and it was just as it had appeared in my Epsilon particle induced dream. This temple was built of simple stone instead of the nice polished marble and granite that I had found on other planets that had been colonized by the Annunaki. The roof of the temple had collapsed on top of the alter but the obelisk and the wall behind the alter which contained the alter's electronics was still intact. As the men began clearing the debris from around the alter I searched for the security pad. I remembered that it was on the western wall and as I looked around to get my bearings I found a wall covered with ivy that over the years turned into thick vines.

It took a bit of effort to pull the vines free from the wall and after about thirty minutes of work I found the rectangle I was looking for. I used my hand to clear away the dirt from the panel and once it was clean I pressed the palm of my hand to the device. I felt the familiar tingle that told me that the device was functioning and that my DNA had been read but there was no reaction from any of the temple's installed systems other than the familiar, "Greetings Princess Maew, Welcome to Anora Prime." I came to the realization that just like in my dream it would take two Annunaki to open the passage that led under the temple. I also began to ponder what could be under the temple that would require a higher level of security to enter than their Central Command facility on Angkor.

Attu and the men were doing a great job of moving the debris away from the alter area. I knew that I could not get under the temple at the moment so my goal was to at least get the medical scanner and healing beam to function. The more I could see the easier it was for me to pinpoint the vintage and model of the installed systems. I was thankful now that I had downloaded the schematics for the most popular temple and shrine configurations that the Annunaki had used on their colony worlds. A quick search of my internal PDA had me looking at the correct schematics in a few seconds.

The wall behind the alter was slightly damaged and I knew that I would have to take a look at the electronics behind the wall. Thankfully there were no statues there that had to be moved like in the village of Pa'u. I was lucky that several men that had assisted in removing the stone cover from the shrine were among the group that was assisting me with the debris removal. I gathered them up along with Attu and told them what I needed to do to get the healing system working. As I described the work that needed to be done, two of the young monks with us listened in but did not volunteer to help. They were a bit surprised when Attu tasked them to join the work party.

The temple was in no condition to host the nightly prayers and as we noticed that the light was beginning to fade Attu suggested that we break for dinner and evening prayers and continue our work in the morning. I knew that I did not need rest due to my genetic makeup but I knew that the others in our new village did need rest and food so I agreed to stop for the day and join the rest for prayers and evening meal.

When we got back to the village we found that Raku and his work parties had done a good job of fixing up a few buildings to use as temporary shelter, and the woman had found enough fruits and vegetables to satisfy the needs of everyone. The men got off to a slower start, as they were not prepared for construction work. A group of men were sent back to the ship where they found a cache of tools that came in quite handy. Along with the tools the men brought back some of the weapons that our captors had used on us. Mostly all they had were stun rifles and a few pellet-firing pistols. The men knew enough to pull the trigger but not how to aim the weapons. Before going back to the temple I gave a few of the men a crash course in how to aim and fire the weapons. They were the first group of guards that Attu would post throughout the evening to watch over the sleeping villagers. I knew that if and when Neko arrived she would go to the temple so I decided that I would spend the majority of my time there. That was also where I could do the most good for my people. After all, a good Priestess has to tend to her flock.

I was unable to sleep so I spent the night going over the temple configuration so that I would be ready to dive right into the electronics once the men removed the stone cover. Remembering back to my dream I remembered that once Neko and I had identified our selves, the healing beam and the shield projector worked in concert to protect the crew of the Shinawatra from the deadly black mist. I knew from my experience with these systems that this was a secondary system that would activate if the terminal built into the alter became disabled. From what I remember, the sensor in the obelisk was still functioning and the system still had power. The documentation on this system said that the backup functions were limited and would only provide basic life support service on the most serious injuries. For minor injuries and illnesses, an emergency medical kit would have to be used.

So far the villagers were only experiencing minor strains, sprains, cuts, and abrasions. There had been no life threatening injuries since we landed, but that did not mean that in time there would be none. I thought long and hard about what could be wrong and what I could do to repair the damage and finally I was feeling sleepy some where around what would have been midnight. With no pillow or blanket for comfort I slipped out of my flight suit before I reverted to my feline form. I found a clean spot that the work parties had made earlier in the day and that is where I curled up and went to sleep.

In the morning as the sun began to rise I awoke to the sound of the morning prayers echoing from the main street of the village. I knew soon that I would have workers arriving to help me with the temple repairs. This was going to be a long day so when I transitioned to human form I decided to make myself comfortable. We were located in a tropical region so beige cargo shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt seemed to be a good choice for the day along with my most comfortable hiking boots. As the men and some of the villagers arrived they took notice of my choice of clothing and a few remarked that I was dressed similar to our captors. I mostly blew off their comments and responded that I had taken these from the ship before we left, as my fight suit was much too uncomfortable in this hot humid environment. Over the duration of our time here my flock would come to see me in many different outfits that were strange to them but it was rare that they would question their Priestess... especially in the presence of Raku or Attu.

During the next week I spent most of my time at the temple and Sala was kind enough to bring me food or send someone in her place to make sure that I ate. The stone cover came off the back of the wall easy enough once the vines that were holding it in place were removed. While the electronics were exposed the men made quick work of building a sturdy wood and thatch roof over the alter. We found ourselves living in a tropical region that produced a short rain shower or thunderstorm every afternoon. Attu working as my foreman was quick to have a thatch roof constructed once I described how bad it would be for the rain to come in contact with the exposed electronics.

The hard part of the temple restoration was left to me. I had to find a way to replace the monitor, keyboard and the associated electronics that were built into what once was the alter. It was easy enough for the men to prop up a stone slab on two other pieces of rock to form an alter, the trick was getting a drawer under the alter that would support the keyboard and display panel if I could repair the ones that were damaged in the roof's collapse.

All attempts to make repairs on the alter's electronics were futile so my thoughts turned to what would work as a substitute. I made my way back to the ship that had brought us here and searched the numerous controls and display panels for something that could work as a substitute and as I searched the ship I could find nothing that would work... that is until I remembered the flight control console in the shuttle. It was basically the same height and width of the alter and had an angled display panel that swept away from the large flat surface that was the top of the console. It took some work and a lot of heavy lifting from my beefy male workers but we got the console out of the shuttle and back to the temple.

I did not trust the men to work on the sensitive areas of the console so once they put it in place it was my job to secure it to the floor and run the wiring through the sub floor and up into the back of the wall behind the alter. Once I got the wiring in place, two of the men who were stonemasons made a very nice sandstone alter top that was mounted to two thick stone uprights. Over my objections five of the men stood up on the alter and jumped up and down to show me how sturdy the alter was. In all of their excitement they forgot that they were in a place of worship until Attu chased them off the alter. One of the monks that had observed their behavior ordered them to do two hours of penance in front of the alter that their foolishness defiled.