Mark McGinnis - The Simpleton

How’s that? You’ll be able to sleep okay like that?

Sure… I think so. Hey, thank you for all you’ve done. I’m sorry. This is my fault. I knew at the time I was taking a big risk. The orb… Bob… warned me.

Cuddy gave Brian a couple of pats on his chest. We’ll get it figured out, I promise.

“Cuddy… is that you?”

Cuddy stood and moved over to Jackie’s top berth. “Yeah… I’m only now going to bed. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Cuddy,” Jackie said sleepily and turned onto her side.

Jackie woke, less than four hours later. The cabin was dark and she heard soft snores coming from either Tony or Kyle. She slowly sat up and stretched. She badly wanted a hot shower, but first she needed to pee. Throwing the covers aside she stood, somewhat surprised no one else was up yet. But that was probably a good thing, since she was only wearing panties and her oversized plaid shirt. She leaned over and searched the deck for her jeans, but found them instead tossed at the foot of her berth. Grabbing them up, she headed for the communal head then stopped mid-stride. Even in the dimly lit cabin, she could see something was terribly wrong. She leaned in closer and screamed.

“What! What is it!?” Kyle yelled out.

“What’s going on?” Tony yelled.

“It’s Cuddy. He’s… he’s transformed into… I don’t know what he is,” Jackie said, her hands covering her mouth in disbelief.

“No, I’m here, Jackie… that’s Brian,” Cuddy said, sounding groggy.

She spun around, finding Cuddy lying in Brian’s berth, and then swung back to check who was sleeping in Cuddy’s berth. This time as she leaned in closer, she noticed Brian’s long black ponytail. “What the hell happened to him? I don’t even recognize him. He’s all… bloated, or something.”

“Good morning, Jackie.”

“Brian? Are you… okay? Um… does it hurt?”

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know. It feels weird, though. Like I’m living in someone else’s body.”

“More like five people’s body,” Tony added, now standing next to Jackie.

Angry, Jackie fumed, “Tell me what happened to you. How could something like that happen?”

“It’s my fault. I messed with the wellness chamber,” Brian told her. “I wanted to improve on the effects that Cuddy acquired in there… so I foolishly double-upped on the sessions.”

Jackie stood still, staring down at him and shaking her head. “I have to pee… um… just stay there.” She heard him mutter, “Yeah… I’ll do that.”

AI orb Bob was telepathically reaching out to him. Captain Perkins… you are needed on the bridge.

Cuddy said, “I’m on my way.” Then, remembering, he spoke the words back telepathically.

“Huh?” Tony queried.

“Not you. I was talking to Bob… I’m needed on the bridge.”

“Okay, but who’s Bob?” Tony asked, though Cuddy was already running down the corridor. In less than two minutes he reached the bridge. The orb hovered there, at the forward console, and for the first time Cuddy noticed that this orb, Bob , was shaped slightly different than the first one. Perhaps more streamlined in its design.

“What’s going on, Bob? Why do you need me here?”

Bob gestured with one of its articulating arms— something else the first orb never did— toward the Viewscape display.

“What am I looking at here?”

“Five Howsh, Marauder-Class, star fighters.”

Cuddy sat down. “I thought there were ten of them? And that they were far off, not an imminent concern.”

The orb hovered back to the board and made a few adjustments to what Cuddy recognized was the ship’s cloaking. “Apparently, the fleet has split. These warships are now on an intersecting course with the Evermore .”

Cuddy, afraid something like that would happen, asked, “How close?”

“Close, Captain. Keep in mind the Evermore has been continuously outpacing FTL speeds by a factor of seven, ever since leaving Sol System. I suspect the Howsh vessels, albeit not nearly as fast as the Evermore , are now traveling at their maximum capabilities as well. Currently, keeping those same joint rates of speed, we will intersect in five days, seven hours, and forty-three minutes.”

“There has to be something we can do… get away from them… somehow?” Cuddy asked.

“The Evermore ’s cloaking capability is far superior to that of the Howsh vessels. But enabling the ship with cloaking earlier would have slowed our progress by a factor of 4.3 percent. I thought it prudent to reinitialize the cloaking program now instead, noticing their relative proximity.”

“Good! So we’ll just speed right past them. They won’t see us, right?”

“No, Captain. No cloaking system is perfect. Although an accurate lock on us would be nearly impossible, vessels as advanced as these Marauders will be able to track the spatial aberrations in our wake. Only when stationary will we become completely hidden from their sensor scans.”

“What about the five other Howsh ships? Let me guess, they’re still headed for Primara.”

“Correct. They will reach that planet within eight days.”

Over the next hour, Cuddy tried to come up with some semblance of a battle strategy. The orb was helpful—answered all his questions, then provided just enough technical details to pretty much squash anything he came up with. Cuddy was becoming more and more cognizant of the fact he was not a tactician. He knew nothing of preparing for war; how to formulate a battle plan—and nothing in the old orb’s info-dump-download pertained to the subject. He was reminded, for the umpteenth time, that the Pashier were pacifists. Had they come this far on their journey, only to be crushed by five Howsh warships ?

Cuddy leaned back in his seat and exhaled a heavy breath—aware the orb was moving out through the exit hatch. He closed his eyes for a moment and thought of Momma, and his life before he became the being he now was. What am I?

He opened his eyes, realizing the overhead lighting had significantly dimmed. And then he saw him… Tow was aglow, like he’d never seen him before. He moved onto the bridge, his footfalls imperceptible, then sat down in the seat next to Cuddy’s. His smiling face emanated forth both grace and humility.

Cuddy stared back at him. “How is this even possible?”

“You tell me, Cuddy. Tell me how you have come so very far?”

Suddenly, Cuddy felt ashamed—to the point he had to look away. “I have done nothing. I am lost here, Tow, and soon this space voyage will come to its sad, inevitable end.”

“Do you remember, Cuddy, the last time we spoke? On the sub-level deck where you guided me into the heritage pod? Do you remember what we spoke about…?”

The overriding feeling Cuddy was experiencing was immense pride. He felt so honored to be the one to guide his new friend Tow into this swirling mist of glittering lights—into his next stage of existence—or whatever this was all about . Walking side by side, he felt the light touch of Tow’s arm resting on his—light as a feather. He looked down, noting the smile on his friend’s face, his look of anticipation. Of what was— maybe amazing things —surely coming. Tow wondered if, when the time was right, he too would be allowed to participate in this beautiful, otherworldly, ritual. He hoped so.

“Cuddy… listen to me carefully.”

Tow slowed his pace—even as the swirling galaxy of lights glimmered brilliantly before him. More serious now, Tow looked up at him and said, “Cuddy, it will be easy to lose your way; easy to play by the rules of others—those driven by darker impulses. Those who only think short-term, willing to ignore what’s truly there… hidden deep within their hearts.”