ΔV Pt. 05

"Captain Zlata Lyudmila Markova," she said. "Commanding officer of the Russian Federation forces in the extrasolar system. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Captain DuPoint?"

"Cut the crap, Markova," DuPont snapped. "We're in a polar orbit -- we know what you're doing in Russia."

"We are not doing anything in Russia," Markova said, her voice studiously neutral. She was nearly accent free - in fact, she sounded almost American. "We are currently orbiting an extrasolar planet that merely looks like Earth."

"We still know what you're doing," DuPont said, scowling.

"Do you?" Markova asked, dryly.

"We have detailed orbital surveillance that shows you delivering material and supplies to the natives of this planet," DuPont said, his voice growing more heated.

"Our high command had the foresight to send us with a significant number of trade goods," Markova said, blandly.

DuPont nodded to Lucas. Lucas gulped. He just had to say what he had said before. He stepped forward. "Uh, analysis of the weight, uh, the size of the compartment, as well as signatures picked up from the surface, including light flashes, the way that the trade goods were distributed immediately after you left, it is extremely evident t-that you, uh, you have sold, or, er, given weapons to the natives of this planet." He gulped. "I mean, they marched out an army formation -- or at least, it looked like one from orbit, and distributed the weaponry!"

"You're arming the natives," DuPont took up the slack as he stepped forward. "Natives that, according to everything we've seen, are centuries behind us in terms of technology. The United Nations charter-"

"Does not apply in this solar system," Markova said, her voice cold. "And even if it did, Captain DuPont, we have observed your shuttle's movement over the northern continent of the western hemisphere..." She said, her voice so precise, so detached. Lucas almost admired her for clearly making an effort to remind everyone in the room that this was not Earth. "You are also interacting with the natives. We do not see any reason to police your activity. You should not feel any need to stick your nose in where it is not wanted."

"We're not selling AK-47s to knights on horseback for the oil fields of Siberia," DuPont said, his eyebrow twitching. "If you don't cease these activities immediately-"

"You'll what?" Markova asked. "We have a fleet. You have a single ship, American. The orbital gauge won't stop that. Good day."

The line cut off.

"W...Was that wise?" Lucas whispered. "Just telling her what we know?"

DuPont sighed, his anger fading. "She had to know that we knew. Now she knows that we know -- meaning she has to relay that back to the Russian high command." He looked at Lucas. "Start working on an org chart for the logistic chain it'll take to bring a major fleet here. And..." He chewed his lower lip. "I want you and Mann to work on bringing more of our people down -- once we secure a landing site that is worthy of the name."

What he didn't say hung in the air: Because the Enterprise may have to try taking on the Russians, if we're ordered too.

Lucas nodded. He turned to go, then paused. "Sir," he said, quietly. "That will mean a general war in the SOL system."

"I know that," DuPont said, his hands clenching. "She knows it. She has to know that, the Russians have to know that. But this Earth, this second Earth, it's..." He shook his head. He didn't need to lay out the treasure trove underneath them -- the mysteries and the dangers they had already run into were only adding to the wealth that was waiting down there. Lucas rubbed his face -- and as he left with Dr. Mann, he could hear the bridge crew beginning to discuss the 'Trevor situation.' That made his stomach knot in worry.

Dr. Mann shook his head. "This is a terrible day," he said, quietly. "I hoped to never see it."

"A general war," Lucas said. "M-Maybe it'll stay in space? In this system?"

"Maybe," Dr. Mann said, his voice quiet. "My family, my old family, has roots in Kashmir. During the Troubles, they fled, because the region became an open shooting ground between the Russians, the Indians and the Chinese. Why? It was a fine place to plant nuclear warheads. Short ranged nuclear warheads." He fixed his eyes on Lucas. "You work in Logistics. Tell me: How many nuclear warheads orbit Earth now? How many ships bear them? How many-"

Lucas held up his hand. "You don't need to lay it out for me. Dr. Mann. I know how bad it its. But there's nothing I can do about it!"

Dr. Mann frowned. "I don't know."

Lucas sighed.

When he sat down at his desk, those three words echoed in his head. He looked at the spreadsheets he had whipped up, at the chokepoints that were created by the infrastructure of the SOL system and the lack of infrastructure in the SOL-2 system. Everything that had once been important and vital had been thrown out the window -- who cared about Ganymede or Mars or Ceres when there was a whole second Earth for the taking? An Earth with technology that apparently included castles, sailing ships, rocket propelled guided munitions and whatever had happened to Helen...

Lucas jerked his head up, then started to put in requests for information. A request for why he wanted the information came back. Lucas laid out the supposition he had. This put him in touch with the sensor staff on the bridge -- and the confirmation was made within minutes. Lucas practically ran to the senior staff meeting room. The whole of the senior bridge officers were still there, and Captain DuPont had his hands clasped behind his back. "You've uncovered something?" he asked. "Lieutenant Fiore says you uncovered something big."

Lucas nodded, then tapped at his handheld tablet, bringing up the image he had isolated, then flicked it to try and bring it onto the conference room screen. But the tablet's program immediately got confused and instead started to play a random file from his music list. He fiddled with it, scowled, muted the music, slammed the tablet onto the table, and said: "Helen, uh, Ensign Trevor got teleported nearly five thousand kilometers instantaneously. She was on Florida, then the next time we picked her up, it was in California. In the Bay Area, right?" He paused. "That means the natives have this capacity. If they have it, we can get it. If we can get it, then the entire orbital situation changes completely. We have enough munitions that all we need to do is to put a nuke on each Russian ship and..." He nodded. "Boom."

Captain DuPont nodded, slowly.

"I like the way you think," one of the senior officers -- Lucas recognized her as the missile commander.

Captain DuPont frowned. "We've been informed that Ensign Trevor, in a stunning display of incompetence, has managed to get herself caught up in some kind of...native political power struggle by shooting a local leader dead."

Lucas pursed his lips. Thanks to he and Helen spending a good chunk of three months watching cheesy sci-fi movies together, he could immediately think of half a dozen TV episodes that this was exactly like.

"Apparently, she's got to win a swordfight," DuPont said, frowning.

Lucas blinked. "I know how to sword fight."

Everyone looked at him.

Lucas looked around. "I...I mean, I took a fencing course. In Uni." He coughed. "Mostly foil. It was years ago, though."

Captain DuPont nodded.

Lucas was mentally kicking himself the whole way down. The shuttle creaked and groaned and finished emerging through the cloud layer -- and Lucas' self recrimination faded to nothingness as he looked out the window and saw the vastness of California underneath him. It was California as it had been -- California as it might have been. There was the occasional village that he could see through the thick greenery, and the occasional hint of some large structure lurking between the trees. But the trees were what dominated the landscape. Endless, rolling forests, a vast carpet of greenery that breathed in carbon and sighed out a vast profusion of oxygen. The ocean was further away than he expected, and there was no pyramidal shape of the San Fransisco arcology -- instead, the shuttle started towards a large clearing that was set out before a huge castle, with a small collection of people standing before it.

They watched as the shuttle bumped and jounced on the rough ground -- its engines screaming and its airfoils roaring as they caught the air. But the shuttle was a combat shuttle, designed to make hard landings all across the Earth for suborbital conflicts. He handled coasting to a stop in this clearing with aplomb.

When the door opened, Lucas stepped out and saw that Helen was in the knot of people. She had been dressed in an ornate set of armor that looked gaudy and impractical as hell -- all curving loops of carved wood, resting across her space suit. But despite being of alien manufacture, it fit to her body perfectly. Her helmet was off and her rainbow dyed hair ruffled in the wind that blew across the clearing. Next to her, looking as if she had never been more excited in her life, was Dr. Rachna.

And then to her other side, was the horrifying monstrosity from beyond the stars.

It was almost seven feet tall, with a spindly, narrow chested build and long arms. Its head was bald and its eyes were pits of pure blackness, while its face terminated in the long arms of a writhing squid, twitching and wriggling in a constant pattern of movement that was almost hypnotic. Thick dripping ropes of slime slipped between the tentacles, smearing and plopping onto the ground as it stood there, dressed in a black set of robes that were decorated with what looked like human bone and other macabre items.

Lucas screamed. He clutched at his chest and fell backwards into the marines who were escorting him.

[Ah, I can see what she meant,] a cold, amused voice echoed in his head.

Lucas screamed even louder.

Helen, by then, had reached him. "Lucas! Lucas!" she said, her eyes catching his. "Calm the fuck down or I will punch you."

Lucas nodded, hurriedly. He started to breathe in big, gulping gasps of air, trying to control his hammering heart. "I heard it," he whispered. "In my head."

[It?]

"Him," Helen said, then glared back at the tall, alien figure. "Librarian, get out of his head."

The creature -- Librarian? - sighed. "I, for the last time, am not in his head, I'm not in your head, I do not enter into minds unless I am invited," he said. His voice sounded like the fluting and bellowing of dolphins and seals, mixed together in a sound synthesizer and then overlaid with human words -- giving him a strange, exotic cadence. It made Lucas' skin rise with prickly goose-flesh. He managed to repress the immediate shudder that followed. Instead, he let Helen walk him forward so that he and Librarian could speak without either side needing to bellow across the wind swept green field.

As he walked forward, Lucas was able to tear his eyes from the obvious alien -- and saw the others that were standing nearby were also alien. But...not. They looked human, until they moved. Until their fluid grace was made apparent. Until the wind blew their hair aside and showed their pointed ears.

"T-They really are elves," Lucas whispered.

"Yuuuuup," Helen said as they came to a stop.

"I..." Lucas gulped. "I was sent to give, uh, Helen some help. Uh, I know how to fight. With a sword." Kind of. Sort of. God, I'm going to die, we're going to die if they realize Plan B.

Librarian cocked his head. "Plan B would be an extraordinarily bad idea, if you ever want anyone in the Feylands to speak to you again."

Lucas froze.

"Librarian!" Helen hissed.

"If you don't want me to hear your stray thoughts, you could perhaps not think them so loudly," Librarian said, his voice droll. It was amazing how fast that Lucas could stop being stunned by the fact he was speaking to a seven foot tall squid faced monster from another planet. Now, he was on to being stunned by questions like: How the hell did two sentient races evolve on a single planet? How on earth did one end up looking almost human and the other look like he should be serving Cthulu?

Librarian chuckled. "To answer one of your questions, Mr. Sibusiso," he said, quietly. "The Brain Fiends, my people, were crafted by the God of Secrets to ensure none shall ever be kept too darkly or too deeply. We find secrets, then share them with one another, so that they will forever be known. We are keepers of lore, knowers of things..." He inclined his head. "Our race's name came from those who would prefer such secrets be forgotten..."

Lucas blinked, slowly. "Y-You're not a librarian," he whispered. "You're a Library!"

Librarian shrugged. "I prefer the interpretation of Librarian. I share thoughts more readily than some of my kind -- it is a skill."

Helen coughed. "Guys? Sword fighting? Stabby stabby? We can leave the 20 questions until after I'm not about to get slitted up by my squire..." She glanced at an elf with bright red hair who was watching the proceedings with a wicked little smirk. Lucas saw that smirk and saw the look in her eyes and realized something: Ambition transcended worlds and species. He had seen that kind of expression on people who were ready to climb over anyone and anything to get their promotion, their juicy new assignment, their plum title.

"Right," Librarian said, his voice calm. "You wish to provide the, ah, pointers to Helen?"

"I mean...yeah," Lucas said, nodding. "Do you have a foil I can-"

Librarian reached out and touched Lucas' forehead with a single, cold fingertip.

The entire world around him bled of color, then blurred and faded. Suddenly, Lucas was standing in an infinite black space, endless and limitless. Lucas gaped as Librarian withdrew his fingertip -- then thrust his hand out again. A moment later, a blur of colors -- blues and greens and browns -- formed in the space to Lucas' left. As if he was looking through an optical telescope and gently twiddling the dial, the blur focused, resolved, and finally became the clear, defined lines of Helen Trevor.

She swung her head around so wildly that Lucas was shocked she didn't pull something. "Where the fuck are we?"

"You are now in a shared mindscape," Librarian said, his voice calm. "Here, we can transfer the skills that Lucas has into your mind -- for a short time. Such skills will not take, unless you actually begin to practice them yourself."

"...whoa..." Helen whispered.

"Now," Librarian said, looking at Lucas. "You simply need to think of your expertise sword fighting."

"Right," Lucas said, gulping. It had been back in MIT. His brow furrowed as the black space surrounding him blurred with smeary fingers of color, lines that reached down and up and inwards, spreading outwards like paint being dropped into clear water. The color resolved, inch by inch, into the thing he remembered most clearly from his time as a fencer: The locker room after a match, where the adrenaline rush would smash into him like a freight train. It was strange, he would remember the lead up to the match, he would lead everything after the match, but the matches had always been a wild blur of instinct.

The locker room resolved. There were the lockers. The seats. The showers.

"Now, to the-" Librarian started.

Lucas' brain thought, for a single stray second: What would Helen look like in the shower?

Helen appeared in the shower.

Naked.

Looking exactly as she had when he had first seen her, before the dye pill had worn off. So, she was sky blue -- save for her nipples, which were so dark blue that they were nearly purple. Her sex was hairless and as she stood under the shower, water sluiced past her, leaving her skin glittering and gleaming. Her hands caressed through her hair, her elbows bent to the sides as if to show off her breasts even more. The real Helen floated beside Lucas -- and was looking at him with a very wicked grin.

"Ah, so, the stories about humans are true," Librarian said, his voice dry. "You really are always thinking about sex."

"No, sometimes," Helen said, her voice playful and mocking. "Sometimes, they think of me getting railed hardcore doggy style by their massive black cocks. Don't think of that, Lucas!"

Lucas felt as if his entire body was about to burst into flames. But, like asking a man to not think about an elephant, Helen had neatly injected the idea into his brain. And so, the showering Helen moved from the shower to the bench. Her hands gripped it, her ass thrust into the air, and she moaned, gasping as Lucas slammed into her from behind. He had no idea if it was what he looked like, if it was just what Helen imagined he looked like: His cock slammed into her again and again and again, his balls bouncing against her belly as his hands gripped her shoulders. He looked calm and confident -- casual and skilled. Like a fucking Adonis.

"There we goooo," Helen purred.

"...wow..." Librarian said. There was no wry amusement this time. He just sounded honestly downright impressed.

"Swords!" Lucas practically screamed. He closed his eyes and forced his mind to lurch towards the actual moments of training -- and with the effort he threw into it, he was shocked by how sudden and how detailed the memories were. His body ached in a strange, flickering, rapid fire flow of sensations. It was like his memories of his exertions were playing through him at a hundred times normal speed, pain migrating through him and flaring when he recalled the painful blow that had almost dislocated his knee, or the time he had rolled wrong. Then the pain and sensations faded as the real world snapped into life around him.

The elves were watching impassively. The marines were all looking nervous.

[There we go,] the Librarian's voice was almost too controlled. A strange melange of emotions and feelings echoed through those words -- barely noticed in the confusion of Lucas' mind trying to adapt to being in the real world again. [Do you know the blade?]

Helen nodded hurriedly. "Yup!"

Librarian nodded, then turned and stalked off.

Helen glanced at Lucas. She smiled, ever so slightly. "You know it's kinda flattering how hot you made me," she said, her voice playful. "Plus, you thinking of me naked isn't shocking or anything."

Lucas blushed. He was rather glad he was so dark skinned, honestly. It was coming in handy right now.

Helen squeezed his shoulder. "If I survive this batshit planet," she said. "I will be sweaty."

Lucas blinked and snapped his head around to look at her.

Helen grinned, her voice playful. "I may need someone to scrub my back. Especially someone who gave me the super useful combat skills that saved my life." She winked at him, then sighed and started to follow Librarian.

Lucas blinked again. His mouth opened. His mouth closed. And finally, he stammered. "R-Right..."

Helen marched towards her upcoming duel.

***

Annie felt as if she was glowing pretty much constantly. She was shocked that she was able to sleep at night without lighting up the room like an electric torch. Of course, uh, she wasn't sleeping many nights. Many nights, she was getting her brains fucked out by Dale. And oh, that might have had something to do with why she felt like she was perpetually glowing -- every day, she woke up and felt languid and happy and...glowy. She could remember the feel of Dale inside of her. The heat of his seed, filling her to the brim. And the warmth of his arms around her -- the muscular strength of him. The maleness of him. His scent. Ahh.

If it had just been astounding sex, though, she wasn't sure if she would be glowing quite so brightly.