Galaxy of Heroes

Genie’s sensors detected that the temperature outside the containment tube was rapidly rising to alarming levels. The heat inside the cruiser was now hot enough to instantly bake a human into charcoal and ash.

Genie’s hands were pressed against Joe’s chest. Here, in the black darkness of the containment tube, he was shielded from the searing heat.

His heartbeat thumped slowly beneath his sternum. She monitored his vital functions with her sensors.

Joe’s body was heavily muscled now. It wasn’t that way when she had first encountered him.

The Craaldans allowed the muscle and bone of their human captives to wither and atrophy in the zero gravity of interstellar space travel. Atrophied muscles and weakened bones discouraged humans from attempting to escape to the nearest Earth-like planet.

Joe’s body had been frail and emaciated when he won her from Capt. Spade in a card game. Four aces was what it took, and Genie had changed hands and become the property of Sgt. Joe Grimes.

Soon after being bonded to him, she had put him on electro-muscular stimulation and bone factor boosters and he had regained his strength.

Then, in the high gravity of Meglos, he gained additional bone and muscle mass. Six months on a high gravity planet serving Governor Zegra had further transformed him into a strapping, rock-solid stud.

Now, Joe’s muscles were hard and ripped—his bones were as strong as steel. Genie traced her hands over his chest and around to his back.

She marveled at how malleable the human body could be. These organic tissues adapted themselves to the prevailing environment, and accommodated the stresses they were under.

Yet, at the same time, the human form was exceptionally fragile. Without sufficient stimulation, it decayed. With too much stimulation, it broke down. With excessive stress, it died.

Compared to her own sleek form, Joe was frail and imperfect, tenuously adhering to life with each breath and heartbeat. If she were to open the hatch of the containment tube—even for a moment—life would instantly be seared from his body. Joe would then become nothing more than a mass of inert, lifeless carbon.

“Tell me about Governor Zegra,” Genie said.

“Governor Zegra?”

“Yes,” she said.

“What do you want to know about her?” he asked.

“Tell me what kind of woman she is,” Genie said.

“Well. She is one of a kind. No doubt,” he said.

“Why?” Genie asked.

Grimes thought for a moment.

“She’s ruthless, for one,” he said. “And calculating. She knows how to get what she wants. She’s large, imposing and physically powerful. Her strength is matched by her beauty. She is all woman with an insatiable appetite for men.”

“Do you love her?” Genie asked.

“Do I love her?”

“Do you love Governor Zegra?”

Genie monitored him with her sensors. She closely watched as his body temperature elevated and his heartbeat quickened.

“Any man would feel physically attracted to her,” Grimes said, “once he got over the fear.”

“So, you are in love with her,” Genie said.

“Come on, Genie. The woman is six feet, seven inches tall and made of muscle. I was one of seventeen of her lovers. It’s not like me and the Governor were going to settle down, have children and live happily ever after.”

“Do you love her or not?” Genie asked.

“No,” he said. “Genie-baby, you know I only have eyes for you.”

Genie’s internal computer ran a simulation of Joe performing his duties for the Governor. Jealousy burned white hot inside her.

She remembered the humiliation she had felt when Governor Zegra had taken Joe from her, and then sentenced her to eternal hard labor in the caverns of that awful moon.

She ran another simulation through her computer—a simulation of what she would do if she ever got her hands on Zegra again. Governor Zegra might rue the day she stole Joe from her and banished her to Vanaria.

Somehow, the visualization of vengeance brought satisfaction.

Her sensors were detecting tremendous gravitational forces acting on the hull of the cruiser. She sensed the minuscule changes in the temperature inside the containment tube, which meant the temperature changes outside were extreme. The cruiser was undergoing crippling damage.

These Craaldan Five Cruisers were robustly engineered and capable of enduring massive punishment. But she and Joe might soon know what the limits of that punishment would be. The likelihood of the hydrogen sail remaining operative seemed increasingly remote.

“What will you do, Joe, if we make it out of here alive?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was thinking maybe we could voyage to the Calli Sector.”

“The Calli Sector is uncharted,” she said. “And it is a great distance to travel for a human.”

“I know. But I heard a rumor that it might be full of Earth-like planets.”

“And what will you do if we were to get there?” she asked.

“I was thinking maybe we could find a world with mountains and oceans and places to explore,” he said. “We could build ourselves a home and raise a few children. We could start our own civilization where people could live in freedom and happiness, without fear of war.”

“I don’t think the Craaldans will forget about you and me and their missing cruiser,” she said. “They will come after us.”

“I spent eighteen Earth-years with the Craaldans,” Grimes said. “They’ve got their hands full defending their frontiers and suppressing planetary insurgencies. The Calli Sector is too far away for them to waste their time coming after a human sergeant and a beat up class five cruiser. The Calli Sector might as well be in another galaxy, for all they care.”

“If we are voyaging to the Calli Sector, we should stop at Portogallos for supplies and repairs.”

“Portogallos?” Grimes said. “Yeah. We’ll have to do that.”

Genie’s sensors detected the ongoing destruction of the cruiser’s hull. Searing heat and crushing gravitational forces ripped at the cruiser as it traversed between the two blazing stars.