Daughter Moon

By hg47

Kali, a skilled computer hacker on Daughter Moon, is womaneuvered into taking charge of the suicide mission to rescue the time traveler in trouble down upon Mother Earth.

Lunar’s resources are no match for Earth’s lifeless eNet computer complex which has evicted huwomanity from Mother Earth. But the time traveler who makes periodic unstable appearances (Goddess Kronos, the focus of the Moonie Religion) has a defensive 5K Field stronger than anything Lunar or Earth have. If the time traveler can be rescued and her 5K Field duplicated, huwomankind will be able to defeat eNet and reclaim Mother Earth.

Brought into the top secret meeting as a technical advisor, Kali makes the mistake of speaking up and giving her honest opinion of her leaders’ hopelessly incompetent plan. She is goaded into offering up an alternate plan of her own which she thinks just might be possible. Instead of getting demoted and kicked out, Kali is chilled to find herself in absolute command of the rescue, where she will go down to Mother Earth herself with her own picked team.

Kali’s team succeeds in rescuing the time traveler. Unfortunately Goddess Kronos is a boy. The only male in the solar system. “We can’t bring that testosterone infected creature back to Daughter Moon!” More difficult than rescuing the boy from eNet may be keeping him alive on Daughter Moon, which Kali must do, since his technology resists analysis. Another problem: one of the astronauts has already fallen in love with the boy.

DAUGHTER MOON is Old School hard Science Fiction at 122,840 words, with Matriarchy as the twist. All the Usual Suspects: Alien Invasion, teleportation, space battles, nanotechnology, virtual reality; a nobody suddenly given incredible powers; a struggle for the survival of our race and the future of the Universe; a Love more powerful and decisive than any technology.

[How did the future space-based civilization become dominated by women? Terrorism + Insurance Rates + Advances in Cloning. One terrorist can kill everyone in a 30,000 population space station. The male/female ratio of terrorists is 50 to 1. Sexual-profiling. Space habitats where males had no access to high security areas were empirically safer, with drastically reduced insurance rates, which made them economically more viable. Within a thousand years the verdict was clear: boys were just too dangerous to allow to be born. (Anyway, who needs ’em? We have TomBoys!)]

• Language: English
• Publisher: hg47
• Release date: Oct 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301851386

hg47

@hg47 - Writer. Reader. Reviewer. If you like science fiction, DAUGHTER MOON is the best thing I've ever written, or ever will write. I know my limits. It's not as good as THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE, or DUNE, or even the flawed masterpiece STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. Sucks to be me. I rank it 4th on the Ultimate Sci-Fi Scale. (They say that novelists are even more egotistical than Hollywood Directors.) If you like romance, you may enjoy A WALK IN THE RAIN. I will always be more than a little in love with Courtney in that novel. This is a mainstream, very adult, epic length romance. At one point, the heroine was raped; I was crying while writing that scene, spitting tears all over my monitor and keyboard. Don't tell anyone. I was briefly infamous in the mid Nineties, when my publisher Longstreet Press sent out 150 blue bras to reviewers for the launch of my experimental novel BLUES DELUXE, which essentially defined me as a boob. I use my Twitter handle for my writer's name now. Two years ago I momentarily went viral, when my #TwitterArt sequence of planes crashing into the Twin Towers got more than 10,000 ReTweets in a 24 hour period. No clue how that happened. Wish I did. I pay the bills working in plastics extrusion. I run the graveyard shift where I work, although with this Super Recession things are so slow that it's turning into a part-time gig. Look at the free samples for my novels; you will find out real quick if my style of writing works for you. I apologize for my incompetent Sales Pitch Pages. Cheers! Harv Griffin @hg47

Book preview

01

Place: DAUGHTER MOON - DateLine: 4196 A.K.

The bed woke Kali up with a soft caress, dressed her in her favorite comfy robe, and gently deposited her, standing vertically, in one-sixth gravity.

I’m awake, Kali snapped. The bed stopped holding her steady. But why am I awake forty-six minutes early?

WARNING, you are about to be teleported into the Queen’s Palace.

Kali moved her hands out to her normal working position. Through gesture recognition, nanotechnology, and teleportation, the Churn computer placed her floating left-handed keyboard under her left hand, positioned her right-handed 5-joystick finger-controller under her right hand, and displayed her default Systems Controller status information via shielded 3D holographic monitor. Kali’s eye-laser mouse was always active.

She quickly wrote a one-shot addendum to Churn’s software, which would initially deny teleportation for Kali’s #ID due to life-threatening extenuating circumstances, and then reset the search.

A soft chime sounded. The door to Kali’s personal dwelling dilated, and a somber Leslie Ann entered.

Peaceful morn— Leslie Ann started to say, but Kali cut her off and put her to work.

"Leslie Ann. Psyche is with the Lunar City detectives investigating . . . something. I haven’t broken the classification code yet. Warn Psyche’s coach that Psyche is about to be teleported into the Queen’s Palace."

The Queen’s Palace! Leslie Ann said, invigorated. Oh, won’t Psyche love that? I’m so happy for her.

You have permission to be happy for yourself as well, because you and I are also invited to the Palace. Kali tried to keep a straight face. Leslie Ann was not a search/teleport target.

What? No.

Absolutely. You’re invited too. Think you can find something for us to wear? Oh, you look fine, but I definitely need something. And my hair is a wreck! Think you can wash and set it for me, please? Don’t just stand there, girl, you’ve got about one minute to get us both ready to face the Queen.

Yes, Mistress! Leslie Ann said, with a sharp mock-salute, before she sprang into action.

In this instance, there had been No Official Advance Notice. Only Kali’s devious programming tricks had saved her from preemptive teleportation.

It was probably Gail Sudie, the Queen’s own Personal Systems Controller, who had somehow designed a way to teleport people by surprise, without their advance notice. How embarrassing for Psyche. (And this, Your Highness, the girl in the frowzy bathrobe and ratty slippers, is my SysCo.)

Kali opened her mind to the Direct Interface news. Nothing seemed pertinent, just a lot of religious ceremonies and events related to the upcoming Kronos Appearance. So Kali tapped into the Royal Security and Classified Military transmissions.

As Kali waited, wondering if her code-breaking algorithms would succeed in time, she could feel her hair being washed—probably by Leslie Ann’s coach—and see, out of the corner of her right eye, Leslie Ann parading & posing in front of an active-mirror display which had suddenly appeared. It was showing 360-degree views of Leslie Ann’s photosphere-bright yellow dwarf-star miniskirt outfit complete with clusters of black sunspots in eleven-second cycle, her blonde hair done up in a solar prominence.

However, Leslie didn’t like that dress. In a flash it was gone like a supernova.

Kali’s Churn Agent Interface was urgently trying to get her attention. To Hell with that, Kali only had seconds, so she abandoned all but one of her queries into the military database.

Leslie Ann was now agonizing over a full-length Flame gown that actually appeared to be burning fire covering her lush body: cool blue flames hugging her neck, red-hot flames usually covering her breasts, fluttering orange and yellow fire hips, all down along her white-hot legs to her Bunsen burner tipped high-heel shoes.

TOP SECRET: Ninety-eight Registered Telepaths in Lunar City suddenly dead of unknown causes.

That’s what Psyche must be investigating!

Kali turned away from her holographic monitor in complete confusion. As she did so, her work tools all vanished.

Leslie Ann was now modeling a conservative thunderstorm gray business suit/dress with lightning flashes streaking down her legs, and 1G rain splashing her silvery galoshes.

Kali held out her arms to Leslie Ann. Give us a hug.

Leslie Ann was voluptuous compared to Kali, who was thin and had caramel skin.

What do you think? Leslie Ann asked, gliding over.

It’s wonderful!

"Oh, you. Leslie pushed her, playfully. Do you like your dress?"

It’s perfect! Kali drew the other girl into her arms, and they hugged.

"Silly. You have to look at it to answer that question."

Leslie Ann automatically started to draw away from the hug, but Kali was holding her exceptionally tight, with both arms wrapped around her, so that when the Universe slid sideways to teleport Kali, both girls curved instantly into the Queen’s Palace.

02

While a stunt like preemptive teleportation could never repress the irrepressible Kali, the assemblage within the Queen’s Council Chambers awaiting her arrival accomplished exactly that.

There was, of course, Her Most Royal and Imperial Highness and Majesty, Ishtar XVI, by Grace of Goddess, Queen of the Empire of Women, leaning forward upon her levitating throne of gold and jewels, frowning down at Kali.

Ishtar’s loyal SysCo, Gail Sudie, was standing beside her Queen on the resplendent dais, furiously angry with Kali.

Five Star Astronaut-General Sheela, Supreme Allied Military Commander of the Solar System (except Earth), with her Flag Lieutenant aide-de-camp, were both in privately screened holographic communication with outside sources, and seemed not to particularly notice Kali’s arrival . . . but General Sheela’s presence was a signal to Kali that Something Big was in the works.

In addition, there stood Medusa, the Moonie High Priestess, near the far edge of the dais, instead of upon it, glowering in her hooded crimson robe at Kali. Delete Big and insert GIGANTIC.

Psyche was there, as Churn’s highest ranking Systems Administrator should be, but the old girl looked a bit out of her depth among these heavy-weight power planets; like tiny Mercury trying to be noticed by Jupiter, Saturn & Neptune.

Among these heavenly bodies Kali felt like a dirty little snowball (a comet).

Everyone was standing except the Queen, and only Gail Sudie was allowed upon the dais.

Kali released Leslie Ann, who whispered very quietly, almost without moving her lips, You naughty girl, and then pirouetted into a cute little curtsy for the Queen.

Kali gave an abbreviated bow.

Gail Sudie spat out a fervent: TWitch!

Possibly in response, Leslie Ann’s dress CRASHED with the sound & light flash of sharp close lightning and a distant rumble of thunder.

Your Highness, Psyche said, this is my SysCo, Kali; and our SysAs, Leslie Ann.

Get rid of Miss Cloudburst, the Queen told Psyche.

Before Kali could object, she heard, from behind her,

Countermand.

The Queen looked as if she had been slapped. Indeed, everyone in the room took special note.

Kali turned to see a very old Professional Antagonist behind her, wearing the traditional off-white soft peasant cloth of matching palazzo pants and simple over-blouse tied with a black cloth belt. She was entirely unassuming . . . and potentially the most dangerous person here. Leslie Ann would stay.

At that moment, Kali realized the full enormity of this encounter. The Queen’s Council Chamber was white and austere, emphasizing space, and in violent contrast to the remainder of the Palace, which, with its database of 65,536 rooms and a memory of 256 rooms (simultaneous maximum), was a monorail wreck of wealth. (Kali had written some of the programming for the connecting architecture, and so was familiar with the visuals of ostentatious interior decoration.)

The Council Members, however, were not present: the entire representative government of the Solar System was out-of-the-loop on this one!

Kali watched the Queen. The Queen’s right hand held a shining scepter of precious stones set in rare metal, and she wore an awesome illuminated crown, which extended a full meter above her head. In her left hand, resting in the lap of her Royal raiment, Queen Ishtar held a bejeweled ball. Her Aristocratic skin, black as night, gleamed with fragrant oils.

The High Priestess stamped her foot in anger. The Daughters demand the Magic Flight Return to Mother Earth! She had been glowering at Kali, but then she turned to the Queen. Kronos will not be denied!

Queen Ishtar responded formally, What cannot be denied must be. I do not deny Kronos this.

High Priestess Medusa nearly shouted, Kronos will not be delayed!

Again, the Queen responded formally, What cannot be delayed must begin. I do not delay Kronos this.

Very well, Medusa sneered sarcastically. You do not deny. You do not delay. What does not delay, must guide, else lose all light from Mother Earth. Reveal your guidance.

As it should be, the Queen intoned, so shall it be. Then, in a very different voice, almost flippant, General. Please explain our plan.

General Sheela terminated her outside communication.

Sheela was a large woman, in every dimension. She was like a big She-bear. Her eyes were hard and her voice carried the authority of life and death decisions. "I speak from the military viewpoint. I believe, as we all do, that Kronos shall one day stabilize in existence, defeat the evil eNet, and return us to Mother Earth. However, I do not just accept this on faith. I view things from the technical angle. I think in terms of strategy and tactics, capabilities and weaknesses, weapons of attack and means of defense. If I seem to speak blasphemy, please allow me to complete my statements, and fully explain them from a technical basis. I believe you will find that I am a loyal and useful Moonie.

ENet possesses a defensive 5K Field which is far more stable than ours. For military reasons, the stability of the 5K Field is decisive in most conflicts, and usually outweighs all other factors. Moon’s Churn cannot compete on even terms with Earth’s eNet; Churn has long-range strategic superiority, which can occasionally be used to great advantage, but in any immediate tactical encounter, eNet is superior. ENet is twice as fast as Churn in processing speed, which gives them better Field control.

This statement created gasps of disbelief within the Chambers, but Kali had been unable to stop herself from laughing outright.

Excuse me, General, Kali said, feeling Leslie Ann’s hand softly touching her shoulder. With difficulty, she said no more. ENet was 1,100 times faster than Churn in direct computation speed, although it was true that eNet was only about 17 times faster in effective computing speed.

The General blinked several times and looked from Leslie Ann to Kali before continuing. "As I was saying . . . We control space, we have the high ground, because all of eNet’s assets must first fight their way out of Earth’s 1G gravity well. Upon the planet Earth, our isolated military platforms are quickly defeated because we are unable to maintain the stability of our defensive 5K Fields.

"The Queen proposes that we obtain a superior 5K Field; specifically, the Field that Kronos uses to protect herself. We know that Time Travel is possible, because Kronos, herself, is doing it. We do not know how she is doing it. The traditional Moonie view is that she is a Goddess . . . and this is explanation enough. ENet has attempted to destroy her protective 5K Field at each of her recent appearances, without any success. We have monitored their attacks and determined that each would have been more than sufficient to unbalance and destroy one of our Fields. We do not know how she is controlling her 5K Field with such precision.

I know that the religious meaning of the appearances of Kronos is to give us hope, proof that salvation is soon at hand. Scientifically, her appearances can be analyzed thusly . . . The angle of incidence between her time wavefront and the surface of our time is too great, creating angle modulation of the interfering time wavefronts. These phase-modulated timewaves are usually out of phase with our reality, and her . . .

Kali could discern that the General was parroting a scientific explanation given her second-by-second from her coach. Sheela understood nothing of what she was saying. Why doesn’t she just say, ‘Like a flat spinning stone skipping along the surface of a Nature Pond?’ Some of us might understand that.

That was the problem with coaches. Kali knew that much of her own personal success was indirectly due to the success of Psyche, her work-family’s leader, who had pounded to the top through aggressive determination and by religiously following the politically perfect advice of her coach. The coach was perfect, the advice was invariably dead-on, the suggested actions always achieved optimum results, and the warnings always avoided real danger.

Kali, while still in her teens, had disabled her own coach nine years ago. Whose life is this anyway? My mistakes are the essential me!

Kali looked at the Queen, who seemed bored, listening to the General drone on. Kali couldn’t understand what all this talk of 5K Fields and Kronos and timefield refraction had to do with the murder of Lunar City’s entire community of telepaths.

General Sheela was saying, Systems Administrator Psyche has developed the technology to stabilize the next appearance of Kronos, to tilt her angle of refraction to perpendicular, and pull her permanently into our timeframe. Regardless of the religious ramifications, from a purely technical viewpoint, once we possess her superior 5K Field and duplicate it, we can easily defeat eNet once and for all and reclaim the planet Earth for all women—

Kali could restrain herself no longer. She interrupted, But what about the murdered telepaths?! There was Leslie Ann’s warning touch on her shoulder again.

What murdered telepaths? Queen Ishtar asked a moment later.

Heaven help us, Kali said.

Did someone die? the Queen asked.

Kali noticed Psyche’s hand signal to SHUT UP, so Kali silently indicated with an arm motion that Psyche would answer.

Psyche said, "Your Highness, my Systems Controller is suffering from temporary dissociative reaction due to a particularly violent Direct Interface Lifetime, this morning. Please excuse her if she makes an occasional faux pas. I greatly value her expertise, and beg that she be allowed to remain."

Very well, the Queen graciously agreed. General Sheela, please give the pertinent details of our plan, so that we may have an end of this meeting, which grows wearisome.

Kali had long heard rumors that Queen Ishtar was a lightweight who had been cut out of the power control loop. Nevertheless, it was quite a shock to see just how far her subordinates had duped the Queen.

General Sheela said, There is another factor, Your Highness. ENet has constructed an inverted time lock and a temporal trap. They seem to have abandoned hope of destroying Kronos, and seem intent upon preventing her appearance. These devices, operating in tandem, shortened the last predicted appearance of Kronos from an estimated forty-seven seconds to about 1/1000th of a second. It seems blasphemous to suggest this, but Kronos may actually need us to rescue her.

High Priestess Medusa said, Do you mean, General, that the Moonies may be required to actively participate in our own salvation? That it is not enough for us to passively believe, that we must also actively behave in accordance with our beliefs?

Thank you, Medusa, General Sheela said. That is what I mean.

Kronos on Moon skis! Kali swore under her breath. These two were operating from a prepared script! But what was the point? What was their game?

General Sheela said, From Lagrange-1 we will direct an incursion team of Churn Analogues into the Holy Ground. The temporal trap and time lock will be destroyed. Kronos will be pulled into this time permanently. The incursion team will withdraw, bringing Kronos back to Daughter Moon. Does this plan meet with your approval?

The High Priestess was nodding her approval. The Queen said, Plan is approved. Proceed, General Sheela. Keep me informed. This meeting is at an end.

One moment, Your Highness, the Professional Antagonist spoke. Her voice was not particularly loud, nor rushed, but the fact that she had spoken at all seemed to freeze all motion in the room.

Queen Ishtar drew her breath in quickly . . . and held it for a long moment. Yes, PA Dryad?

A few questions. PA Dryad stepped lightly to the foreground.

It is your right. The Queen did not seem happy.

Churn Systems Administrator Psyche, PA Dryad said. We are contemplating the initiation of direct conflict between Moon’s Churn and Earth’s eNet. Is this a good way to proceed? Psyche almost jumped, but the PA’s question was spoken in a relaxed way.

Psyche immediately said, General Sheela has given us an excellent plan of action.

(Your coach knows that’s the politically perfect thing to say, thought Kali.)

The Professional Antagonist seemed to accept that. And you, Churn Systems Controller Gail Sudie. We are considering the start of what may one day become total war between Churn and eNet. Do you approve of this plan of action?

Gail Sudie paused for so long that she must have been listening to conflicting advice. The Queen turned to give her a hard commanding look. Gail Sudie gulped, and said, Every plan has positive points to recommend it, and negative points to be considered. I believe the goal a good one: To actively participate in our own salvation.

The Professional Antagonist thought about that for a moment. And you, Churn Systems Assistant Leslie Ann. Can Churn protect us against an angered eNet once we violate their territory and frustrate their objectives? What think you of all this?

I haven’t a clue, Leslie Ann said, sweetly. Talk to Kali.

PA Dryad smiled slightly. And why should I listen to someone suffering from temporary dissociative reaction?

Leslie Ann giggled. There’s nothing wrong with Kali. See this dress? Strictly 5’s and above. I’m a 19. I shouldn’t even be wearing it. But Kali fixed it so I can wear any dress I want. She knows what Churn can do, and what it can’t do. In fact, she can make Churn do what it can’t do!

Thanks, girlfriend, Kali said, talk me down to a 50, why don’t you?

Oh, this nice PA wouldn’t let anything bad happen, Leslie Ann said.

The Professional Antagonist gave the Queen a look. There will be no disciplinary action taken. Understood?

An angry Queen nodded agreement.

Professional Antagonist Dryad turned to Kali and said, Kali, let us discuss Leslie Ann’s dress.

Both military personnel groaned at this totally irrelevant diversion, but they were helpless. They were all helpless. The Queen, the most powerful person in the Solar System, was helpless.

"Her dress?" Kali asked.

Yes. I’m curious. Why only 5’s and above?

You’re serious? Kali asked. You really want to know about her dress?

Yes. If you can tell me.

Kali moved her hands in front of her: Churn instantly responded by gesture recognition. In a flash Kali had keyboard and 5-finger-joysticks controller on her fingers and was viewing a shielded holographic monitor.

All right, Kali said. It’s a question of energy consumption. That’s a 7000-megawatt dress.

Is that a lot?

Enough so that only 5’s and above are allowed to burn up that much energy.

Can you explain exactly why 7000-megawatts are required for Leslie Ann’s dress?

Yes. The thunderstorm she’s wearing, the clouds, the lightning flashing down her legs and the sound effects are no big deal. But the 1G rain is a serious engineering problem. For all of us, when we have experienced rain, it has been during a Direct Interface Lifetime, in subjective conditions of 1-Gravity. Lunar rain, at 1/6th Gravity, just doesn’t look real. Therefore, her dress has a hollow cylindrical 5K spin-2 graviton Field, to make the rain fall at 1G without weighing her down a metric ton. If it’s engineered right, she shouldn’t feel a bit heavier. That’s almost 6990-megawatts right there. The other 10-megawatts or so is mostly rain choreography.

Leslie Ann was by now strolling, twirling, and posing like a DI model on a runway.

Notice how the floor right under her is totally soaked, just splashing with rain, but how as soon as she walks away, the floor is instantly dry? In addition, even though there’s always rain splashing down, there’s never any runoff. Puddles never develop. Nobody else ever gets splashed. That eats up a good bit of nanotechnology too. Hell, the Queen’s levitating throne over there is only 350-megawatts. If this is a test, and you’re grading me on a curve, I hope you’re grading me on Leslie Ann’s curves.

The old Professional Antagonist looked at Kali long and hard, long enough to make Kali uncomfortable. And you, Churn Systems Controller Kali. Can Churn protect us against an angered eNet once we violate their territory and frustrate their objectives? What is your opinion?

Oh, no you don’t! I like my Level-9 access; I’m not getting busted back to 50 again.

You may speak freely, SysCo Kali. Your Churn Level Access-9 is secure. She spoke in such a deceptively soft voice.

Kali glanced around the Council Chambers at all the power people glaring at her. I’ve got enough enemies.

The future life or death of the extended family of women means nothing to you?

Kali relented a little. I wouldn’t worry. ENet isn’t going to be very angry.

PA Dryad gave Kali an odd questioning look.

Silence.

Kali relented a tiny bit more. Not if we’re just sending down Churn Analogues.

And why, exactly, is that?

Kali relented a smidgen more. Because they’ll survive about twenty seconds. We may violate eNet’s territory a bit, but we won’t be frustrating any of eNet’s objectives.

What do you mean?

Kali decided to take the hit. If we seriously want to rescue Kronos, we’ve got to send a team of astronauts down there, and an expert on Churn has got to go with them.

Could such a mission to rescue Kronos succeed, if it were properly planned with full knowledge of Churn’s limitations and proficiencies?

Possibly, Kali answered after a few moments online, dancing through the information maze.

And what would eNet’s likely response be, should we succeed in our mission of rescuing Kronos?

Kali was suddenly smiling at her foolish self. She had been so determined to say nothing, and the PA was adroitly womaneuvering her into saying everything. Unpredictable. I could list various scenarios, but it would all be guesswork. However, if we are able to duplicate the 5K Field which Kronos uses, it won’t matter.

Would you like to be in charge of this mission, and go down with the astronauts to Earth?

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Kali objected, an instant before Queen Ishtar shouted: PA Dryad! Cease! This is totally unacceptable! High Priestess Medusa was calm in reassessing things, but the military personnel were just about jumping up and down in anger. Psyche was on tiptoes of excitement herself, probably considering how this might affect her own good fortunes, while Leslie Ann carelessly rained on the Queen’s parade (dais).

It’s damn near a suicide mission, Kali said.

Ah, come on, Professional Antagonist Dryad cajoled, with a twinkle in her eyes, and a waltz in her voice. "To lead the military mission that rescues Kronos, to go down to Mother Earth and stand in 1-Gravity as a woman should, to face down the evil eNet and return flushed with success, come on, say yes! Say you’ll do it! Come on, SysCo Kali. She winked, and added with a naughty smirk on her face and a rough ancient gravelly voice, It’ll Be FUN!"

Kali’s heart was beating hard, and there was fire in her bloodstream as she confronted her destiny. All right, she said. All Right!

The Professional Antagonist winked once more at Kali, and then turned formally to the Queen. Her voice was now cloaked in her official function. On my authority as a Lunar Level Thirty-Slash-One Churn Access Professional Antagonist, this date, this time, I do hereby exercise my right of single-use Churn Level-1 Access to achieve the following. One: Reassignment of Churn Systems Controller Kali’s Level Access from Level-9 to Level-1 until such time as Kronos is rescued and we have duplicated her 5K defensive Field, or until such time as these objectives are determined by Professional Antagonist Review Panel to be impossible, whereupon SysCo Kali’s Churn Level access shall revert to Level-9. Two: Official designation and sanction of SysCo Kali as Leader of Priority One mission to rescue Kronos and duplicate her 5K Field. Three: Reversion of my own Churn Level Access to Level-100. Four: Awomen.

Awomen, the High Priestess seconded.

As of that moment, Professional Antagonist Dryad was stripped for life of all her Churn Access powers (to be from now on as powerless as any 4-year-old girl), and Systems Controller Kali was from that moment—temporarily—the most powerful person in the Solar System.

Heaven help us, Kali said.

Kali, the person here who most fully understood the meaning of Level-1 Access, was chilled, not exalted. For all practical purposes, Kali was now a Goddess, with almost no limits on her behavior. She could not go rampaging and killing and maiming throughout Lunar City on a drunken whim—no, a killing rampage would require darn good reasons. But should she decide this second that Lunar City would relocate to the far side of the Moon, Churn would immediately go to work and set about getting everyone packed.

Queen Ishtar sarcastically said, Shall I vacate the Palace? Are you moving right in?

Kali said, Of course not, Your Majesty. She tried to speak humbly and appropriately. My duties and obligations are carefully proscribed.

The Queen teleported away, with a dark look of hatred, taking her SysCo with her.

5-Star General Sheela approached Kali, and stood stiffly to attention. I place myself and my command under your authority and await instructions.

Kali held out both arms for a handclasp. Kali and the General clasped hands, and the General relaxed somewhat.

The General was almost a full head taller than Kali, with at least twice the mass. The two continued to hold hands. We work together on this, General Sheela. I am only interested in the mission. When is the next Kronos appearance?

Ninety-four hours.

Give me three hours to organize my thoughts and do some research. Then we’ll get together and make some decisions.

Yes, Mistress.

Kali released her hands, and the General teleported away, taking her aide with her.

The Moonie High Priestess approached Kali next. We pray for victory in your battles with eNet, and your safe return. May the forces of Good triumph and quash the sickness of Evil!

Kali couldn’t resist: Prayers should be for preventing war, not fighting it.

High Priestess Medusa gazed intently into Kali’s face. She started to turn away, but instead, on impulse, handed Kali a small disc. Please view this in private, offline from Churn. Then, without waiting for a response, she turned and said, Come, Dryad. The High Priestess teleported herself and the PA away, which left only Kali and her work family.

Kali held out her arms to Psyche and Leslie Ann. Give us a hug.

03

At T-minus-1 hour, Kali gathered her Incursion Team around her for some final instructions. Kali felt like a useless weakling among the other four supremely conditioned hard bodies (especially under this 1G acceleration). Worse, three of the others—Napaea, Aeromancer, and Virgin—were cute, attractive blondes . . . so in addition to feeling like an unworthy piece of cargo among these professional astronauts, she also felt like just another monkey-faced brunette.

But the five were a tight group of close working friends, with the highest respect for each other. They had been through a Churn (Linked) Direct Interface Half-Lifetime together and shared a thousand simulated 1G Training Missions against eNet to accustom them to Mother Earth’s gravity.

Kali knew she was accepted into the group, but she might have been surprised to know the extent to which she was esteemed. An astronaut has to be something of a Jill of all Trades, to be able to take over another’s job at a moment’s notice. Kali had proven her ability to do any task with some degree of skill.

Furthermore, of the three skills most highly valued among astronauts, Kali could hold her own with the best of them. At piloting, she was second in ability only to Aeromancer (who could effortlessly make any ship swim like a fish). At navigation Kali was tops, the best of the bunch. Moreover, in sustained high-G forces, Kali was never the first to lose consciousness.

Also, the astronauts privately agreed that Kali was a pretty little thing.

They had spent DI years experimenting with different arrangements of authority and responsibility within the group to find the best way of functioning together.

Napaea, Overall Mission Commander & in charge of eNet Attack: this fireball-forward Nordic blonde had a mind fully equal to Kali’s, and was the most experienced astronaut.

Sylph, Time-Refraction & 2nd In Command: this willing giant of a woman, the other brunette, would pull Kronos permanently into time-sync and back-up any of the other astronauts as necessary.

Aeromancer, Pilot & 5K Field Control: this supremely confident straight-haired strawberry blonde could quadruple the lifetime of any 5K defensive Field with her fine adjustments made almost presciently.

Virgin, eNet Defensive Measures: this deceptively-soft angel-haired friendly ash-blonde had only two speeds—so glidingly slow she was like flower petals unfolding, or so blazingingly fast that no one could keep up or match her pace of thought and movement.

Kali was Co-Pilot, Navigator, and would be in Ground Tactical Command once they reached the surface.

The professional astronauts knew that VIP Churn Expert Kali was going with them on this secret mission, and that was that. They were not supposed to know her exact degree of power and authority . . . but they probably did anyway. Kali deliberately kept her invasion of Mother Earth to rescue Goddess Kronos a non-military incursion, hand-picking astronauts herself rather than using Royal Marines.

A member of the African Aristocracy really should have accompanied the pale skinned astronauts on this mission, and been in nominal command. Kali knew that two had actually volunteered: a Moonie Countess and an Outer Microworld Duchess. However, the House of Ladies had deemed it: Unbefitting the status and dignity of a Peer of the Realm. Kali figured this was blue blood double-talk for: Too Dangerous.

Their spaceship would shortly separate into seven different entry vehicles, each of which would slam into Mother Earth’s atmosphere on different courses, and different missions, raising havoc on military and computer installations. And this ship, Kali’s ship, was joined by a fleet of 114 other Moonie spaceships that would not enter Earth’s atmosphere, but would immediately engage and destroy any eNet military platform that attacked Kali’s ship.

The young women stood in a silent circle, holding hands for a few moments, feet standing against the constant 1G acceleration of the fusion drive.

Space is the place, Kali said.

Space, all the others seconded.

Kali spoke to her team. May I please have your personal com units?

Certainly, Napaea said, at once giving Kali a button-sized attachment to her uniform. The others immediately surrendered their communication units also. Kali added hers to the handful, and gave them all back to Napaea. Please destroy these.

Kali brought out a tiny case and issued new button-sized com units to the others. These were encrypted four ways by a method Kali had just now created. First, the message was digitally encrypted to beyond military specifications (which should be enough right there to defeat eNet). Second, the transmissions were broadcast in 1/4000th of a second fragments through a band of 4000 different frequencies. The coded sequence of the frequencies never repeated. It flipped from upper sideband to lower sideband according to a third code. Lastly, many of the fragments were broadcast time-backwards and/or pulse-inverted according to a fourth code.

Kali said, I’ll eat the computer that can listen in on these babies.

A holographic 3D projection appeared in the center of the circle for all the young women to see. It showed an overview of the Solar System.

Kali said, Perhaps eNet can stop me, but they can’t stop my virus. This is a false color current view of our Solar System provided by Churn. And this, not to scale, is a vast ionized plume, 2,200,000 kilometers in diameter at its longest axis, located above the plane of our Solar System at 48.53 AU from the Sun, exactly perpendicular to the Sun and the plane of the System. Further away than Neptune.

An antimatter explosion? Napaea asked.

"Exactly. This . . . plume . . . is a goddessawful potpourri of subatomic particles and gamma rays, obviously the result of matter/antimatter annihilation. That is all the information I can get from Churn on this, which suggests to me that this event has been Classified by the Solar System Secret Service. I should have access to this information, but I don’t. I was more successful with eNet. My . . . well, I call it my Secret Agent Virus . . . my Secret Agent Virus reported to me the following."

The holographic view of the Solar System now showed a time-elapsed view. Two flashes; a bright pinpoint flash above the plane of the system, coinciding with a pinpoint flash precisely mirroring it below the plane of the system, a developing false-color cloud above the system, and multiple launches from the asteroid belt toward Jupiter . . . the enlarged scale detail inset indicated 1000 eNet spaceship launches under constant 1G acceleration.

Goddess! Virgin said.

Kali said, The two explosions were 60,000-megaton matter/antimatter eNet mines which were placed and maintained on station at what they call the ‘closest transfer limit.’ I’m not sure what that means. Something detonated both mines, simultaneously, which is hard to believe. Even harder to believe is that no cloud developed following the bottom detonation. When protons and antiprotons annihilate, there’s an awful downstream interaction of pions. But it’s as if 99.99% of the energy from the lower explosion was just sucked out of our universe. The timing of the detonations is also informative: it coincides exactly with the moment all the telepaths in our Solar System died.

But why are they going to Jupiter? Sylph asked.

Gravity assist, Aeromancer answered. The detour is actually quicker.

Sylph nodded her understanding.

The time lapse tracks on the holographic projection showed the ships swinging around Jupiter along the planet’s rotation around the sun to pick up speed, and then swinging up and above the plane of the Solar System toward the cloud.

"But they must be all through-out the asteroid belt!" Virgin said. Her voice was shaky.

Yes, Kali said. And that must be why the 4S has classified this information.

Why do you say that? Sylph asked. Just because—

Virgin said, It can’t be a coincidence!

Napaea told Sylph, The eNet assets which were launched from the asteroid belt were positioned to take advantage of Jupiter’s location. I can’t believe that they only have hidden assets along that tiny arc.

Kali said, Yes. Well. We thought we controlled the high ground of space. We don’t. Or, at least, our control is far more vulnerable than we thought.

Aeromancer was pointing at the false color cloud. You haven’t said it. Say it. She looked at Kali. Say it!

Kali said, We might be talking about a First Contact situation with an alien civilization.

And eNet shoots first and asks no questions! Aeromancer almost screamed. Probably blew them the hell out of space!

Possibly. Kali thought about it. The penetration of my Secret Agent Virus is at a low level, so I don’t have all of their information. But some event occurred at both points, and eNet is sending a fleet of ships to the upper point to investigate.

Sylph suddenly said, "Kali, why are you telling us all this? This is classified information, we don’t need to know this, and it’s distracting! We have a mission to perform. We should be focusing on the mission, and only the mission."

Kali took a deep breath. This relates to our mission. Look at this. She held out the disc that the Moonie High Priestess had given her, and a more powerful holographic image displaced the view of the Solar System. These are prophetic images from Our Prophet Lady Cajalco.

First was an image of the sun going nova, vaporizing the inner planets. Second was an image of a huge wild spinning wreck of a spaceship firing some kind of beam at Daughter Moon, and then the Moon fragmenting apart into thousands of splintering pieces flying everywhere. Thirdly, an object was seen flying toward Mother Earth with incredible speed, the force of impact so powerful that the entire Moon/Earth system was destroyed.

Kali said, "I don’t know precisely what to make of these images, because they’re mutually exclusive. They can’t all occur. Lady Cajalco received these images