Galaxy of Heroes

Genie stepped forward through the energetic crowd and moved toward them, watching them. Joe’s pale blue eyes were alight. He laughed and smiled broadly.

He never behaved this way when he spoke to her. Why was he smiling that way?

He spoke happily to the human female. Genie was focusing so intently on Joe’s facial expressions and body heat that it took her a moment to realize that her pattern recognition software was alerting her to the fact that she knew this woman conversing with Joe.

Genie stopped and stepped back into the throng. She observed through the crowd Joe’s interactions with the female.

The female had short, cropped black hair and dark eyes. She was wearing tightly fitting black coveralls and had an M-2 pistol strapped to her belt. Her name was Capt. Mina Casey. Genie had nearly killed Capt. Casey once or twice over the years during fits of programmed jealousy.

Genie kept her distance and circled around through the spirited crowd until she was able to catch a glimpse of Capt. Casey’s face.

Jealousy coursed through Genie’s nervous system. She did not understand how Joe could not be repulsed by Capt. Casey’s many flaws. Did he not notice the faint scar beneath her right eye? Or that her figure was not as perfectly proportioned as her own? What was she doing here talking to him, anyway?

Surely, Joe realized that Genie’s design was far superior to that of this organic wreck of a female.

Capt. Casey spoke with a wry smile and Joe laughed again.

Genie zeroed in on their voices and listened.

“Come, on Mina,” Grimes said.

“That’s Captain Casey to you, Sergeant,” the female said.

“Hey,” Grimes said. “I’ve been out of the Army for ages. And it’s not like I volunteered to join the Craaldan Fleet, either.”

Capt. Casey lifted her glass to her lips. Her eyes were locked on his as she sipped her drink.

“So how was it, Joe, being a prisoner of the Craaldans?” she asked. “Was it as bad as they say?”

“Worse,” Grimes answered. “But I learned a lot from them. No doubt about that.”

“What did you learn?” she asked.

Grimes sipped his drink and thought the question over for a moment. “I learned new skills for surviving interstellar voyages,” he replied. “I learned about space flight on technologically advanced battle cruisers. I learned the Craaldan style of warfare and leadership, and about the abuse of power. I learned that life can be terminated on a whim when others are in control... I learned more than I wanted to about hardship and tolerating pain.”

“You learned a lot.”

“I thought about you while I was with them,” Grimes said.

“Were you thinking about me when you abandoned me on the Drang asteroid for your cyborg inflate-a-mate?”

“Come on, Mina,” Grimes said.

“What do you see in that psycho robot, anyway?” Capt. Casey asked.

“She kicks ass,” Grimes replied.

Capt. Casey sipped her drink and looked deeply into his eyes. “I wish things could have worked out differently between us, Joe.”

“You wouldn’t give me the space-time after you met Spade,” Grimes said.

Genie watched as Capt. Casey stepped closer to Joe. She put a hand on Joe’s waist. With her other hand, she traced her fingers over his cheek.

“Jace was exciting,” she said, “but I made a big mistake falling for him.”

“I warned you about him,” Grimes said.

“He’s here, you know,” she said.

“What?” Grimes looked over his shoulder. “Where?”

“The casino would be my guess,” she answered.

She placed her palm on Joe’s chest.

“My goodness, Joe,” she said. “The last time I saw you, you were as slight and frail as a Paltran. But look at you. You’re bulging with muscles. You don’t look a day over ninety.”

“I’m only sixty-three Earth-years old,” Grimes said.

“I’m robbing the cradle,” she said.

“You never told me your age,” he said.

“I passed the century mark last week,” she said.

“Happy one-hundredth,” he said. “And as drop-dead gorgeous as ever.”

“I’m looking forward to my next century,” she said. “I’m wiser now.”

She moved in closer to him, her face close to his. “I learned a thing or two myself on long, lonely interstellar voyages,” she said. “Especially when it comes to men.”

She kissed Joe on the neck.

Joe moved his hand around onto her back.

“I’ve got a room up at the Excelsior,” she said.

“I do too,” Grimes said.

“My room or yours?” she asked.

Genie, observing in shadows, was jolted with an alarm that shot through her nervous system, compelling her to act. She strode through the crowd.

She withdrew her meta-rifle, took aim and fired.

A projectile exploded from the barrel. It popped loudly as it released a net that enveloped Joe.

He struggled against the net. Genie reeled him in toward her.

Capt. Casey unsheathed a blade from her belt. She sliced through the netting.

Genie darted forward and snatched the knife from Capt. Casey’s hand. She plunged the blade deep into the hard surface of the bar.

Capt. Casey took a swing, striking Genie in the face.

“Ow!” Capt. Casey said. She clutched her wrist in pain. “Stupid Genie.”

Megalan bouncers moved in through the parting crowd.

Genie yanked Grimes from the floor and slung him over her shoulder. She ignited her propulsion boots and rocketed upwards toward the domed ceiling, crashing through a glass panel. The propulsion boots jetted her upward along the sleek exterior of the Excelsior Hotel.

She landed on the veranda of a suite way up on one of the top floors.

Grimes was still slung over her shoulder, trapped inside the frayed net. Genie swung him through the air and released him, sending him hurtling through the balcony doors and across the room. He landed on the bed with bounce.

Genie strode over to the bed and ripped the netting off of him. She tore off his Craaldan officer attire. She pulled off her own flight suit.

She straddled him, looking down at him on the bed as a rush of neurotransmitters and hormones pulsed through her organic systems.

Her sensors indicated that his heart was racing. His nervous system was flooded with an elevated level of adrenaline.

“Why didn’t you return to the cruiser as requested?” Genie asked.

“Sorry, Genie-baby,” Grimes said.

He looked up at her with wide eyes. “It was a long voyage. I needed a night out on the town.”

“Joe,” she said.

“Yeah, babe?”

“I am in the mood.”