Schemes of the Unknown Unknown Ch. 10

The several thousand passengers and crew of a colossal space ship that was travelling through the most distant reaches of space all shared the misconception that the Interplanetary Space Ship Intrepid was on a mission directed from the Moon and that Nadezhda Kerensky was the captain. However, only one human on the space ship knew the truth. And that person was, of course, Captain Kerensky.

But what use was this knowledge when the captain couldn't share it with anyone?

Hers was a very peculiar imprisonment. She could roam the ship freely. She could get into contact with whoever she liked by whatever means she chose. In almost every way her freedom was no more circumscribed than it had been before Beatrice had revealed to her that the Intrepid was and always had been under the control of a machine civilisation that circled a red dwarf star just over four light years away.

There were two ways by which the captain was prevented from imparting what she knew to anyone else. The first was the simple fact that no one would believe her. There was no visible evidence of the Proxima Centauri space fleet and Beatrice most certainly did not resemble an android. No one who might suspect that an alien intelligence had taken control of the Intrepid's mission would believe that the source of it was Paul Morris' wife. There was literally no one less likely than the wife of the ship's most ineffectual and least respected passenger. No one would expect it moreover of a woman principally known for her irrepressible carnal appetite and whose husband was the man aboard the ship most blissfully unaware of her marital infidelity.

The second reason for Nadezhda's enforced silence was more difficult to overcome. There was a very literal cause for the captain not being able to be honest and open. Whenever she tried to articulate the situation, the words simply could not come out. It was as if the very act of thinking about revealing the truth prevented her from doing so. It was the same when she tried to write the words down by keyboard or other writing device. The words simply could not be written. To an observer, it was as if the captain was stuttering or had been suddenly paralysed.

It is imperative on every captain to maintain the respect of her crew so it wasn't often that Nadezhda tried to explain what she knew. Any such attempt would make her appear either foolish or deranged. The senior officers might suppose that she was suffering from a condition that made her unsuitable to continue as captain of the Space Ship Intrepid. Nadezhda Kerensky had no choice but to pursue the mission exactly as she would if it hadn't been compromised by a fleet of alien robots.

Beatrice continued to be a frequent visitor to Nadezhda's apartment where she made more or less the same demands on her as she did before. The Intrepid was travelling as before through the vast extent of the Oort Cloud where there were millions of kilometres between the widely dispersed celestial bodies. There was literally nothing to navigate around until the space ship arrived at the Anomaly.

"We should continue to make love," said Beatrice less than a month after she revealed her true self to the captain.

"Make love?" Nadezhda asked. She was astonished by Beatrice's directness and unsubtlety. How could she make love with her jailor?

"Yes. You've not had sex with anyone since last time we made love together."

"How do you know that?"

"I know about everything you do on the ship," said Beatrice. "The only thing I don't know is what you're thinking."

"That must be a lie. What about this thing that prevents me from speaking or writing about you?"

"It's not a mind-reading device. Its purpose is very specific. It doesn't contain a transmitter."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You don't have any reason to disbelieve me," said Beatrice. "I'll say it again. I think we should make love."

"Why do you ask me that?"

"Because I know that you want to make love to me."

"What about you?"

"I would like to make love to you as well."

"How can I make love with an android?"

"It wasn't a problem before. I don't see why it should be a problem now."

"I'm not sure."

"I shall take my clothes off and lie in your bed. If you want to make love with me then I shall be more than obliging."

This was more temptation than Nadezhda could resist. It was the truth. In a physical sense Beatrice was no less the woman she used to love. Even now she was aware that Beatrice was a machine—indeed a machine of superior intelligence—it was difficult to reconcile that insight with the simple physical presence of a woman with such beautiful skin, such tender lips and such a welcoming vagina.

Furthermore, Beatrice was absolutely right that Nadezhda hadn't made love to anyone for a long time. She'd only had two lovers on the Intrepid. One was Beatrice who she now knew was unusual in a very intimidating way and the other was Colonel Vashti whose peculiarity was of a very different nature. Ever since Beatrice revealed her true identity, Nadezhda had become reluctant to see her hermaphrodite lover. When Nadezhda was with Beatrice she could say what she liked with no restraint. With the crew and passengers she could disguise her thoughts and feelings behind her role as captain. But what would stop her from trying to tell the truth about her predicament when she was with Vashti? If she tried to do so, how much pain would she suffer? Would it be the stabbing, totally unbearable pain that she could relieve only by biting her tongue or driving her nails deep into her flesh? A pain that could be relieved only by the agony of a greater pain.

Captain Kerensky might not be neglecting her duties, but she was neglecting her friends. A captain's lot was normally a lonely one. The people with whom she most often came into contact were her senior officers. She respected them all, but not one of them was her lover. They came from all over the Solar System, none of them from Saturn and most of them were men. Moreover, Nadezhda couldn't assume that the women officers were remotely inclined towards an intimate relationship with another woman. Regrettably, most colonies and communities throughout the Solar System were predominantly heterosexual.

The captain's other interactions were with Mission Control on the Moon and with the passengers and crew of the ship. It had become increasingly difficult to communicate with Mission Control. Any transmission she received was already well over a month old by the time she received it. Anything she said would have to wait another two or three months until she received a response. There was nothing that could be done to hasten the speed of light.

Beatrice and Vashti were the only two women on board the ship with whom Nadezhda had an intimate relationship. Beatrice was as much her captor as she was still her lover and confidante. Colonel Vashti was fully occupied with the care and custody of the Holy Coalition crusaders and, in any case, the colonel had never been a frequent visitor to Nadezhda's quarters.

Nevertheless, now was surely the time for Nadezhda to become reacquainted with her former lover. The captain couldn't, of course, just stroll into the military quarters and find out whether she was in her room. It would attract far too much attention. Not all soldiers on the space ship came from parts of the Solar System sympathetic to the idea of a fellow soldier having a sexual relationship with the ship's captain. This was especially so given the colonel's fame for sexual licence and her unusual physical characteristics. Consequently, Nadezhda sent Vashti an encoded electronic message from a private mail account and arranged to meet the colonel in one of the unoccupied villas on what was now the outermost habitable level. The reason for such discretion wasn't to evade Beatrice's attention. Nadezhda assumed that the android monitored all her transactions to prevent her from compromising Proxima Centauri's mission. Nadezhda was fully aware that Beatrice had also made love to Vashti on several occasions so she was unlikely to be jealous. The captain was merely protecting her privacy from the passengers and crew whose respect she needed to retain.

There was no prelude and very little introduction to the lovemaking that took place when Nadezhda kept her appointment at the villa. Vashti had already stripped off her clothes. Her penis was fully erect and waiting for the captain, who threw herself onto her bronzed lover and let her tear off every individual item of clothing one by one. It was when Nadezhda was dripping with so much passion that some leaked down the inside of her pale thigh that Vashti retracted her fingers from the captain's vagina and replaced this intrusion with her throbbing penis. Sweat poured over two bodies that were pitching each other back and forth against the walls, onto the floor, out into the garden, onto the lawn and well within sight of the deer and antelope wandering about.

"Are you well, darling?" asked Vashti when the two lovers finally pulled themselves apart.

Nadezhda nodded her head with a broad grin fixed on her face. She panted heavily from her recent exertions. Perspiration streamed over her shaven head and dripped from her chin onto a bosom whose nipples were as erect as Vashti's cock had been just a moment before.

"Is Beatrice treating you well?" Vashti asked.

From most women with whom she'd just been making passionate love this question would suggest at least a vestigial degree of jealousy, but Nadezhda knew it implied nothing of the sort. What Vashti wouldn't know, of course, was how the relationship between the captain and Paul's wife had changed; how it had in a sense been reversed.

"Fine," said Nadezhda noncommittally.

"Are you sure, sweetheart? You don't seem your usual self."

"I don't?"

"I was just wondering how it was with Beatrice. She can be a bit of a handful at times. She hasn't been making you do things you wouldn't want to do otherwise?"

"What? You mean sexually? Or in some other way?"

"I don't know, sweetheart. You tell me."

"It's just... it's that..." began Nadezhda. "I mean... what I want to say... it's... the truth is..."

There was a struggle going on in Nadezhda's head. On the one hand, she wanted to reply to Vashti's very reasonable question with truthful answers. On the other hand, she was fully aware of what would happen if she did.

"What's wrong, Naddy? Is Beatrice hurting you in some way?"

"No, it's not that," Nadezhda was able to say. "It's... it's..."

"Please, darling. I only want to help. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I... I..." said Nadezhda, as a fresh surge of perspiration pasted her face.

"What is it, Naddy? Don't be frightened. Just tell me what the problem is."

The pain in Nadezhda's head became sharper and sharper. It was as painful as anything she had ever suffered and every fresh attempt she made to give an answer didn't get beyond a single word. Nadezhda wanted to say: "I'm being held captive by an android." She wanted to say: "The mission has been hijacked." What she most wanted to say was: "Beatrice isn't what you think she is."

Then the pain became too much and she abruptly collapsed, taking her consciousness with her.

After this period of clarity, Nadezhda had a series of disjointed memories that appeared to be happening to someone else as Colonel Vashti lifted her up in her phenomenally strong arms and carried her along a series of corridors to the medical ward where her next coherent memory was of the Chief Medical Officer probing her pupils with a small torch.

Nadezhda swivelled her eyes to see Dr. Benoit Yoritomo accompanied by Colonel Vashti and a male nurse. She was pleased to see that she was once again dressed in her uniform. Captain Kerensky was very mindful of the dignity associated with her rank.

"I see you've regained consciousness, captain," said the doctor. "I can see no reason why you fainted. I don't detect any unusual cerebral activity. There's no evidence of epilepsy or a stroke. Doyouhave any idea what happened?"

"No, not at all, doctor," lied the captain who knew the painful consequences of attempting to articulate anything more forthcoming.

"The colonel says that you fainted away unexpectedly while you were talking to her," said the doctor. "Is that your recollection, captain?"

"Yes, doctor."

"Has anything like this ever happened to you before, captain?"

"No. Do you have a theory as to what happened, doctor?"

"Not really, captain. There are occasional instances of synaptic lapse amongst people who've lived an active life beyond seventy or eighty years. Modern science hasn't solved all the problems associated with life extension. But I'm puzzled from what I've been told about the incident and the lack of any apparent cerebral evidence."

"What should I do, doctor?"

"Just contact me immediately if you experience a future occurrence of fainting or losing consciousness, captain. I'm not saying youwillhave a recurrence, but if you do we should examine you as soon as we possibly can."

"I'm sorry for having troubled you, doctor."

"Not at all, captain. How do you feel now?"

"Much better."

"Well, to be on the safe side, captain, I recommend you rest a little bit longer. The cause could just be the stress you've suffered since the attack on the ship."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that incident, doctor. How are the other patients you've been treating?"

"The Holy Coalition fanatics you mean, captain? As soon as I patch one up and return him to the outermost level then another two come in. There have been more serious injuries since we repelled the attack than on the day it happened. These peoplereallyhate each other."

"Well, clearly not as much as they hated the Intrepid or its mission, doctor," commented Colonel Vashti. "They have to remain isolated for the ship's safety."

"If it were an option, colonel, I'd recommend restraining them rather more forcefully."

"There are many interplanetary conventions to which we have to adhere, doctor," said Captain Kerensky. "It might seem that we're just giving the Holy Coalition the licence to kill each other, but the freedom we allow them is the statutorily agreed necessary minimum."

"You have visitors, captain," announced the nurse.

"Visitors?" wondered Nadezhda as she raised her head in the expectation of seeing the Chief and Second Officers. It was neither of these. It was the rather unwelcome presence of Beatrice accompanied by her husband, Paul.

"We saw you being carried away by the colonel and wondered whether you were well, captain," said Beatrice who crouched down by the bedside at eye level with the captain and smiled warmly. "You look like you've fainted."

"I didn't know you were so strong," Paul said admiringly to the colonel. "It was like the captain didn't weigh anything."

"I exercise regularly," said Colonel Vashti.

"Howareyou, captain?" asked Beatrice who squeezed Nadezhda's hand while Paul looked on idly. Nadezhda could see that he'd only been brought along to defuse tension. Nobody could say anything of much significance while Paul was there since he was so blissfully unaware of his wife's many extramarital affairs.

Nadezhda also guessed that the real reason the couple had come to see her was that Beatrice wanted to remind the captain just who was really in charge of the Intrepid. She had no doubt that Beatrice knew about her planned rendezvous with Vashti and had almost certainly been watching the two women make love together. She wouldn't have been upset about the lovemaking which, after all, was something she'd actually suggested to the captain. Beatrice's real concern was the captain's attempt to speak to Vashti.

"I'm fine," said Nadezhda. "It must have been a kind of turn."

"You don't have any idea what's wrong with the captain do you?" Colonel Vashti asked Beatrice in a casual sort of way.

"Of course not, colonel. I'm not a doctor. You might as well ask Paul that question. What doyouthink happened to the captain?"

"I don't know," said Paul who was startled that he'd even been addressed. His attention had wandered towards a patient in the room next door whose skin was being repaired by grafting robots from the savage wounds that had been inflicted on him. "I didn't see anything. All we saw was the colonel carry the captain along the path in this direction."

"But it was you who saw the captain first, wasn't it?" said Beatrice.

"There wasn't much else going on," said Paul. "We were sitting in the garden just after we'd... just after we'd..."

"Yes, Paul," said Beatrice with a smile.

"...And the colonel was striding along carrying the captain in her arms," said Paul. "I didn't even know it was the captain. The first thing I noticed was that she wasn't wearing any clothes. I thought that was pretty interesting."

"I'm sure it was," said the doctor with a hint of disapproval.

"So you don't know what was wrong with the captain, Paul?"

"Of course not."

"And what about you, colonel? Was there anything unusual about the captain that you noticed?"

Nadezhda could see that Colonel Vashti was being challenged in a blunt way that was only possible given the relationship between the two women, but she wasn't sure what Beatrice thought she would achieve by putting the colonel on the spot.

She noticed some subtle eye contact between Vashti and Beatrice which seemed to allude to Paul rather than Nadezhda. She imagined that this was to advise that they guard their words for Paul's benefit.

"It happened very suddenly," said the colonel. "As I've already explained to the doctor, the captain was fine at first, then she became tongue-tied and after that she lost consciousness."

"I wonder what made that happen, colonel," said Beatrice. "What made you 'tongue-tied' I wonder, captain?" Nadezhda fully understood the import of the query, but it was expressed in a way that seemed merely naive and slightly foolish. "I just hope you get better."

"I think the captain is already sufficiently well," said the doctor. "I've recommended her a short period of rest. If she fainted because of fatigue from overwork then she needs a respite. The fortune of everyone on this ship depends on our captain's good health."

"I suppose it does," said Paul to whom this notion seemed quite novel. "That's what captains are for, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, Paul," said Beatrice. "We better follow the doctor's advice and let the captain rest. We don't want to do anything to risk the mission's success, do we?"