The Return

Declan found himself in the launch bay. Kristine was looking beaten and battered again and his newest Sarah acquisition looked a little queasy. She was pale, but then he supposed, that she was always pale. He hadn’t noticed her wan pallor under the dim light available at Bloody Starrs. He had to admit that there was a strange attraction to this Sarah. He pale skin was like freshly fallen snow, and her dark hair was like wisps of shadows on a dusky day. Her red eyes were magnetic, and pulled him in, although why he couldn’t say. Red eyes, and skin the tone of death should have not have made his heartbeat as much as it did. His own Sarah had been pale, but vampiric Sarah was nearly absent of color.

“Kristine, get thee to the motor pool.” He said it with such conviction that she didn’t even bother to argue. She knew exactly what he’d meant, and she was once again in need of repairs. He would have her filled up with nanites to help in moments like this, but nanites only worked on organic materials so when she was damaged she had to get repaired. She gave him a weak beep and floated off to see about repairs. Maybe they could reinforce her somehow. Give her a stronger frame and outer shell. There had to be some weird dimensional metal they hadn’t known of on his world. His concern for Kristine was genuine, but it was more of an excuse to get his mind off of the newest Sarah.

A medmech stepped forward. “I will take the lady to the medical bay, sir. She will be well taken care of, I can assure you,” his voice was not even remotely mechanical, and sounded slightly British to his ear. Declan nodded and assured her that everything would be fine. She seemed to be in a daze but was handling herself quite well. She went off with the mech-less reluctantly than he imagined she would. “Get her some new clothes, too,” he yelled to the medbot and it waved a hand back in acknowledgment. After they had vanished around the corner he realized that he might have been more specific on what kind of clothing he had been intending. He did not need another Rah bouncing around his home half naked. He was only human after all, and his ability to resist their allure might waver.

Then he chastised himself for worrying about how much skin might be showing while he had been operating under such a strict deadline. He may not have made it. He had been cutting it very close on that last world.

“Mother, did I succeed?

Her voice was strangely melodic and soothing to hear, “Yes, Declan. Would you like to get a breakdown of the Expy that you earned or possibly spend some Expy to upgrade yourself or Terra Sarah? You did very well, your Novapocalypse was a rousing success, and you just made the deadline with minutes to spare.”

He shook his head in negation, “I’ll worry about Expy and upgrades tomorrow. Right now I want a shower, some food, and a bed in that order.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Mother chimed an acknowledgment, “It shall be provided. Query, would you like me to install Headnet systems in all the girls you have retrieved? It will make things easier for them,” and then she added, “and you I would imagine.”

He wiped his goopy hand on his dress shirt. “Yes, but only do the Sarah’s. I don’t want any of the centaurs or other people cluttering up our comms. Did you find space for them?”

“Yes, we have more than enough accommodations to serve the people that you bring.”

Declan wavered where he stood. The knowledge of his success had not fully sunken in, and he took a moment to just breathe. “Mother, in my inventory I have some lifeforms known as Geneers. Retrieve them and then study them and learn everything that you can. They might be something we can use later on.”

“Understood, and undertaken.”

He didn’t bother to check his inventory. If she was on it then he trusted that they’d be already gone. “Another thing, Declan. I will be taking genetic samples from each of the girls as well. You have brought home some breeding stock with you, already, so that we can begin to populate the planet with the various species that you save. Do you want me to begin using the genetic materials from the various Sarahs to create a strain of DNA that has no encoded defects, and rebuild their races? We have some Centaurs, but more would be better. Also, we completely lack any breeding stock for the vampire race that you just brought in. We could save their people from extinction by doing so. Will that be amenable to you?”

Declan considered the implications of what she was asking. He was wholly against it, he’d saved who he could, and did not regret the ones he couldn’t. He wasn’t interested in becoming an intergalactic Noah’s Ark saving every species that he destroyed. He knew that Mother took samples of all life forms on the planets that he visited so that he could replicate them here is he chose to do so. Doing that to sapient beings, however, did not sit right with him.

“No, I don’t like that . . . ,” his words were cut off as a stabbing pain shot through the back of his head. He grew dizzy and almost tipped over before his head stopped spinning. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself.

“I am sorry, Declan. What were you saying?”

“Apologies Mother, I guess I’m more tired than I’d thought. I got a little wobbly for a second, there.” He licked his lips, they were dry and his mouth tasted of ozone. “I was saying that I don’t like that the girls are alone, and I think that we need to do what we can to rebuild their people as much as we can. Get started on it right away.”

“As you wish, Declan. Will that be all?”

“Hmmm. Make up another gun for that second Sarah I brought in, she goes by Crowe, and I think I left her weapon on the last Earth I was on. Get her plenty of ammo, too. I may start taking her with me on missions if she is half as tough as I think she is. Then print me out a top of the line shotgun. I need something that I can use to defend myself when I’m on an away mission.” He almost shuddered at the thought of going on an away mission. It thrilled him to his core to be able to do something like that. He started to leave the bay and then realized that he had no idea of where he was going, “Hate to ask, but where is my room?”

The floor lit up in small squares leading him out of the bay. “Just follow the path I’ve made for you. Tonight I will upload the floorplans into your cortex so you will know where everything is.”

He nodded and strolled to his room. Ready to crash and burn like a shooting star falling into the Big Dipper.