Project - Prometheus Ch. 20

"So rather than just fumbling in the dark, you can direct where I need to go?" Alex wondered.

"Better than that. I can provide you with a road map of where you need to go, which narrows the search area considerably," Korsa finished.

"Awesome! So we should be able to find what we're looking for that much faster!" Kasumi said delightedly.

"I'm sorry, 'we'?" Alex queried.

"Yes, yes, we. You don't think you're going off for a jaunt into your memories without some help, now are you?" Kasumi asked him.

"Uh... well..." Alex stuttered.

"It's not like we're going to go rooting through your mind about stuff Alex. We're here to help you locate the memory you need, so we can all get answers about our powers. Something which everyone here desperately needs!" Natalya assured him. Alex smirked and leaned over to kiss her, before giving Kasumi a kiss too.

"All right, then. It looks like the three of us are going under. The Spock can accommodate all three of us, yeah?" he asked hesitantly.

"The Spock was built to handle the neural loads of seven people, so yeah, three shouldn't be an issue," Korsa said dismissively as she started the machine up.

"Before I go under, I am leaving full command of the Perseus to you, Lieutenant Commander. Until I regain consciousness, at least. I also have additional orders for Commander Sunara, Lieutenant Patel and Warrant Officer Taal'ani," Alex stated.

"Jaesa, are you recording?" Kasumi called out.

"Always Captain. Record of this exchange is being made, so orders will be received and followed," the AI said from a nearby console. Alex finished his delegation of orders before he sat on the bed connected to the Spock.

"I'm sure that I'll have zero issues with the ladies following your instructions, sir. Even though Inari was the Captain of the Darkstrider, I was the ship's 'mom'. Anything anyone did had to be run by me first, being the oldest of the lot," Korsa said.

"Something which she always reminded us of," Natalya remarked off handedly.

"Even women do stupid shit Nats, and it's my job to be sure that you all stay in one piece. Even if I had to browbeat you four sometimes to do it," Korsa chuckled.

Natalya stuck her tongue out at her mother's back, but sucked it back at the moment Korsa turned her head. Everyone else was snickering, and Korsa gave her daughter the evil eye, before turning back to the Spock. She went through the startup sequence with little trouble and brought the machine up to full power, as she explained a few things about how mindscapes worked. Shazza assisted her wherever she could and soon, the machine was online and ready to accept them.

"Ok, a few things you three need to know before we get into the mindscape. First, as much fun as it would be to dally in there as much as you like, there is a time limit for how long you stay under. Time flows differently inside your mind. An hour can seem like a day, or a day can seem like an hour. That kind of thing," Korsa explained.

"So any perception of time is not trustworthy then?" Kas asked.

"Nope. You have to be careful with how much time you spend on what you're looking through, which brings me to the next point. When you're in a memory, reliving the whole thing has to happen. There is no fast forward or rewind button with memories and trying to do so would likely wind up damaging the memory and the person whose mindscape you're in," Korsa went on.

"OK then. We have to be careful with the memories we select then," Natalya stated.

"It all sounds like sensible precautions. Was there anything else, doctor?" Alex wondered.

"Because of the lack of time we have, be selective about the memories you choose. Narrow down the search parameters so you can look through the memories that matter most," Korsa finished.

"OK then, who's first in?" Natalya wondered.

Korsa had Alex lay down first, as it was his mind that was being delved into, so a baseline could be established. Korsa helped him with the head lattice and helped him drift off into the meditative state he needed to be in. The moment he was under, Korsa brought the baseline up and established the additional link ups. Shazza helped Natalya and Kasumi reach their meditative state.

"One last thing before I put you all under; you have a time limit of eight hours. So, if you're getting too close to the end point and haven't woken up, I will start an emergency wake up procedure. Doesn't matter what's going on, what you're discovering, I will yank you all out. I don't want to risk any permanent brain damage on any of you," Korsa iterated.

"Got it, mama. We're ready," Natalya called out. Korsa nodded and hit the final sequence, watching the prompt flare across her screen.

Baseline established and connecting neural pathways.

Pathways connected.

All three patients stable.

Korsa stood there and watched as three of the most important people in her life linked their minds as one. She could only hope that they found the answers they were looking for. She knew how much of a maze the mind could be, having navigated hers and Shazza's already. The big woman munched on a bagel breakfast sandwich as she minded the Spock's systems.

"They'll be all right Korsa," Shazza told her, noting the worried look on the older woman's face.

"I know. It's just... I wish I could in there with them and help," she said.

"Trust your daughter. She'll have no issue in dealing with this. After all, you raised her," Shazza said as she poured herself some coffee. Korsa smiled at this and took a deep breath, relaxing and taking comfort in what Shazza had stated. Nat would be all right, and she'd come back to her.

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Natalya blinked as she looked about the landscape she found herself in. As she craned her head around, she saw that she was in a lush green countryside. She shook herself as she looked closer at the people that bustled around their homes and noted how small they were. Nat then laughed as she knew exactly where she was at that moment.

She was in Hobbiton, a proper re-creation of it! Natalya glanced around and looked at Bag End, which was maybe a dozen steps from her. She walked to it and saw that the door was open, so she let herself in. She wondered if she'd see Bilbo Baggins mucking about the place as she took in the ambiance. Looking to her left, she saw both Alex and Kasumi, sitting cozy armchairs by the crackling fire, chatting like they had all the time in the world.

"Well, it took you long enough," Kasumi chuckled.

"Sorry. Wasn't expecting to find a re-creation of Middle Earth in this place!" she said, a little awed by the detail of it.

"When we have some free time, maybe we'll come back and have ourselves a little us time in here," Alex said with a smile.

"Definitely!" Natalya said and Kasumi nodded in agreement.

"But first, we have some memories to search through. Join hands and stay with me," Alex told the women.

Having been briefed by Korsa about how the power of the mind was absolute here, Alex focused his will. He closed his eyes and thought of the one place where he wanted to go, to where all of his memories were stored; the Nexus of Memories. He kept his focus on the direction they were headed, looking to get there right away. Alex could feel a shift beneath his feet as his will stayed focused, and then it stopped.

"Oh, wow!" he heard Kasumi breathe.

Alex opened his eyes and couldn't agree with her assessment more. The entire place they had been in was gone, replaced with where they stood now. It was what looked like a giant solar system, but with thousands of planets! Only each planet flashed and flickered with images from Alex's past, which marked them as his memories.

"I suppose that this is your Nexus of Memories?" Nat wondered.

"Yeah! Korsa did say that every person's Nexus would be different. How it's molded into the image of what that person is like in some ways," Alex whispered.

"Looks to me like you always had your eyes on the stars," Kasumi said with a smile.

"As a boy, I had always wanted to go out and see the galaxy. Travel from world to world and see all the exciting and exotic places that were out there. It was one of the main draws to Project Prometheus when I applied," Alex admitted.

Several of the memory spheres drifted close to them, almost beckoning to each of them. Alex held out his hand instinctively, and a memory flew into it. It hovered an inch above his palm, floating there, begging Alex to touch it and walk into it. The big man was almost tempted to do so, as he looked at it. Especially when he saw that it was the memory of his eighteenth birthday, which was a favorite memory of his.

He then remembered why they were there and willed the memory away. It flew back, seeming almost sorrowful, but it just kept on, knowing that Alex would revisit it soon. He turned back to the women who came with him and saw they were similarly enraptured with his memories. Gently, Alex cleared his throat, and they looked at him, blushing as they sent the memories they held away.

"Sorry Alex. It's not every day that your girlfriends get such an intimate look at who you are in here," Natalya said, tapping his head as she stood in front of him.

"Maybe, if you're good, I'll bring you both back here," he promised.

"Really?!?" Kasumi asked, her voice rising an octave.

"Really. Maybe after that, we can have a look in your heads?" he asked. Kasumi blushed fiercely, but nodded, as did Natalya.

"We can go with that. Just be careful what you wish for," Natalya told him. Alex chuckled before he brought his focus back to the memories swirling around them.

"OK, so we need to search my memories for with Analisa in them. I doubt she would have told me anything when we were kids, so that leaves times where we were grown," Alex stated.

"Maybe a few when you were teenagers? She might have left a few clues there?" Kasumi asked, thinking a little more broadly.

"Good call, Kas. Let's join hands again, so our focus is amplified about what we're looking for. We can't be overly specific, or we could overlook something important," he told them.

Nodding, the women closed their eyes and focused, as did Alex. They suddenly felt a swirling sensation, as the surrounding memories shifted and changed. The trio opened their eyes when the swirling stopped and looked around. Many of the memories that had surrounded them were now in the outer reaches, as other ones were now much closer.

The three of them looked at each memory around them, and there were two prominent figures within each. The first figure was Alex, while the other was a black woman, whom Alex recognized as Analisa. He reached out, and a memory floated over to him and he held it aloft, letting it hover above his hand.

"Well, that narrowed things down, but how do we figure out which ones to search?" Kasumi asked.

"There were thousands of memories surrounding us at first Kas. Now, there are maybe dozens by the looks of it. We might be able to look through them all?" Natalya wondered.

"We should have enough to manage that. Because we are in no real danger here, we should split up, each one of us taking a memory, to see if we find anything," Alex suggested.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Alex?" Natalya asked.

"If anything goes wrong, Korsa can pull us out. She's standing by on the other side, in case anything does go wrong," Alex reminded them.

"All right, but if anything happens in these memories, I'm blaming you," Natalya told him.

"Hey! I'm not responsible for dream me!" Alex told her.

"Yes, you are," Natalya told him with a smirk. Kasumi stood with her friend and crossed her arms, letting him know where she stood. He let out an exasperated sigh before conceding.

"Fine. But I think we should all go at around the same time, then wait for the others when we come out of the memories. We have no idea how long each one will last," he cautioned.

"Sound plan. You ready Kas?" Natalya asked as she held out her hand, a memory sphere flying into it.

"Yup," the redhead said as she too, called a memory to her. The three of them stood there, each one holding a memory sphere.

"All right, then. On three. One... two... three!"

As one, they all clenched their hands, their fingertips touching the memory spheres. Slowly, like each one of them was made of mist, they were all sucked into their chosen memories. The memories then stayed in the center of the room which Alex Kasumi and Natalya had occupied, rotating around each other, as Alex's past was explored.

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Inari, Priya, Taal'ani and Luminia were inbound to the Ahl'kanin settlement, ready to get the day's work under way. Luminia had been back and forth from Talemkha and the Perseus nearly a dozen times by now. Yet, it still awed her, watching them enter Talemkha so easily. According to both Inari and Priya, it was the farthest thing from, but they made it look as such.

They cleared lower orbit and broke into the upper atmosphere, making their descent towards the settlement. Lumi got up from her seat and walked to a nearby window, looking over the planet below. She heard some huffing and grunting nearby as she stared. Turning around to the source of the noise, Luminia noticed Taal'ani looking dour and grumpy.

"What's wrong, Taal'ani?" she asked.

"It's nothing. I mean, I know I've got orders, but I'd rather be back on the Perseus, finishing up the Darkstrider," she groaned.

"Jaesa said that she'd handle it. Don't worry so much Talon, they'll handle the computer hookups just fine," Priya said gently.

"Still, I would like to see what's going on with the systems," she groused.

"Would you like a live video feed of the work that is happening on the Darkstrider, Warrant Officer Taal'ani?" Jaesa asked, materializing on a nearby holo emitter.

"I very much would like that! Thank you, Jaesa!" Talon replied happily.

"I am linking the feed to a tablet on board the Hermes. Should be to right next to Lieutenant Patel," she said. Priya found the tablet in question and handed it to Taal'ani, who accepted it enthusiastically. She waited for maybe a minute, before the feed came through and she saw what the Sentries were doing.

"Ok, yes, yes, it's looking good! Hold up, that connector right there, check the pins on it. It might not be compatible with the system I have rigged up," Taal'ani said, looking at the feed. The Sentry in question she was speaking to obeyed and showed her the connector.

"Just a sec... ok, you can connect it. It won't fry the circuits," Talon went on.

She kept babbling orders as they landed, the other women shaking their head while smiling. Inari smiled as they closed in on the settlement. She was glad that Jaesa had thought to load the generators early that morning. With everyone running around with the various things that needed to be done, it was a relief that they had an AI with them, minding the things everyone else forgot.

The thump that reverberated through the ship let everyone know they had touched down. They all stood up and marched out, as Inari let Priya take over salvage ops for the day. The other three women unloaded the ship of their cargo walked out. They found a waiting cart, ready to take them down to the dome.

They looked around the whole settlement, most of which was just simple blocks of ice now. All the metal that had been used in the construction of the lodges that had once dotted this area was now gone. The Artucian were very efficient in taking things down and rebuilding once they knew how. They had taken most of the metal down below to the dome where they had built their own smelters.

They traveled down through the ice cave, following the route down. Inari had noticed that some old homes, which had chunks of metal lodged in the ice, were slowly being pried out. Most of the work was being done by the Sentry-Bots, but the Artucian were still there, directing the machines as they needed to.

Although they were an alien race, they had quickly proven themselves trustworthy allies. Now that the whole issue of Vahltiem and the clan warriors that had followed him was settled, they could focus on rebuilding as a people, rather than falling apart because of internal politics.

Inari sighed at this, wondering when humanity would finally see their way past the pettiness, as they had centuries before. Hopefully, the new Unified Systems Alliance would be the initiative that brought those days back. That was her wish, but wishes, and hopes were nothing without action behind them. She then snapped out her daydream and focused back on the task at hand.

The group arrived at the dome with little issue and stopped in front on the entryway. They walked in the double doors and stepped into a much warmer climate. The women looked around and saw the greenery that had been brought down was taking root. With new buds on the saplings and some small new growths, the dome was doing what they designed it to do; allow life to flourish.

"Greetings Commander Sunara. I trust that you are here to join us in plumbing the depths of the Ark?" Valessa asked as she walked up, bowing before the soldier.

"Greeting, High Chieftaness. Yes, we are here to assist with that and we have the generators that will help with that," Inari stated. Taal'ani unveiled them to the assembled group of Artucian, who all nodded at this.

"Regretfully, we cannot stay to watch the Ark come to life as it should. We, the Assembly of Chiefs, need to return to our own lands," Chief Harhdok said to them.

"Though we may not be here to see it directly, we will know of what transpires here, without having to wait for messengers to brave the icy tundra," Chieftaness Khaltani stated.

"How so?" Inari wondered.

"We have been given these... communicators, so we may stay in touch with the High Chieftaness," she answered, showing them a basic planetary comms device.

"I'm guessing that the Keepers showed you how these work?" the Commander wondered.

"They have. I must say, the technologies you have at your fingertips, are truly marvelous!" the chieftaness breathed, awe shrouding her voice.

"That they are. Well, assembly of Chiefs of the Artucian people, I, on behalf of the crew of the Perseus, bid you all safe journey. I hope you all one day reclaim that which was lost to you," Inari stated solemnly.

"With what they gifted to us this day, we will," Hahrdok said, glancing over to several makeshift sleds.

The sleds in question were new, having been created from the salvaged metal of the wrecks. On these sleds were an assortment of metal tools, which could dig and cut through the ice. Inari smiled, thinking how quickly the Artucian had come along in such a short time.

The rest of the Assembly bid them farewell, with Luminia making promises to continue her work as their people's ambassador. Soon, they were all heading up the slope to the surface, getting an early start. Once they were gone, Valessa turned to the crew, a look of pure excitement in her eyes.

"Are you all ready to go?" she asked.

"Select who you wish to bring along and we will be on our way," Inari told her with a smile.

Valessa did so, selecting only a minimal amount of guards, only four. One of those four included her consort, Sohl'kris, which left Inari smiling. Since she had announced him as her consort, Valessa had always been keeping him close to her. Considering that he was her chosen mate, she couldn't blame the woman. That he was a handsome man who had drawn the attention of many other women was also something to consider.

Once Valessa had picked out her entourage, they were ready to go and headed back outside the dome. The group included the young Keeper that Taal'ani had been hanging out with. Inari shook her head, as the catgirl's attitude perked up once Tahral was along for the ride. She shook her head, remembering when she was that giggly and head over heels for a guy. Inari could only hope that it would end better for Taal'ani than it did for her.