Close Encounter (2 page)

“I’ve already pushed through the forms, Dr. Cohen. I need to witness to make it legal and binding.”

Eliza moved then; a soft groan escaped full lips, and she turned her head. Her eye lids flickered open and went wide with shock at the sight of him. She tried, vainly, to roll off the medical platform. Her body jerked, and a rough cough escaped her mouth. “What… Where?”

“Relax, Captain Hawthorne, you are on board the Ganymede Research Station.”

“Jupiter’s third moon,” Eliza supplied weakly.

“Yes.” Sean took an injector the infirmary droid offered and pressed it against her arm. “A mild stimulant. We need to talk, and there isn’t a lot of time.” He snatched the comm panel off the wall and turned the screen toward her. “This guy seem familiar?”

“Got old,” Eliza whispered hoarsely, and she reached out with trembling fingers to touch the screen. “Sir.”

“It’s been a long time, Captain. We don’t have time to coddle you, young lady. You’re in trouble, and you need next of kin.”

Eliza took a shuddering, obviously painful breath. “Daddy died—six months before the mission.”

“I remember,” McAlister said. “The young man with you—his name is Dr. Sean Cohen. He served ten years in Space Command and left the service as a lieutenant commander. He has degrees in biological engineering and biophysics. Dr. Cohen has a very large family on Earth, never been arrested, never been married, and he’s agreed to become your legal domestic partner.”

“Husband,” Eliza whispered and blinked several times. “At least he’s pretty.”

“Captain, do you comprehend your situation?”

“In trouble…traitor.” Eliza coughed. “Set us up to fail. Meant to kill us all.” She exhaled. “Don’t need a man to protect me, sir.”

“Yeah, but you need a legal spouse to keep your ass from disappearing forever,” McAlister snapped. “Pay attention, Captain.”

“Hurt, tired,” she complained and pushed weakly at the comm screen. “Old man.”

“Thirty-seven minutes to orbital blackout,” Arti announced.

“Eliza,” McAlister began. “Look at me.”

Her eyes opened wide as if she were forcing herself to pay attention. “Sir.”

“I need to see this done before the orbital blackout. I may not have the opportunity to speak with you again after this. Your return has upset some very powerful people, and my ability to help you is dwindling. Do you understand?”

“Marry the smoking hot physicist or disappear into a government-funded hole forever,” Eliza said hoarsely. She held out a hand to Sean and raised an eyebrow when he didn’t take it immediately. “I’m not getting married on my
back
, Doctor.”

Sean’s face heated as he helped her sit up. “It’s just legal stuff, Captain. I won’t…expect anything from you. I give you both my word on that front.”

“She could kick your ass, Cohen.” McAlister cleared his throat as Sean stuck the comm panel back on the wall. “Don’t let her fall off the platform, Cohen. Five minutes from now she’ll have a license to berate you like a
professional
.”

Sean caught her when she listed slightly to the left and wrapped an arm around her waist. “This is the most absurd situation I’ve ever been in.”

“Son, I’ve read your file. I know all about Bangkok,” McAlister said dryly. “I don’t know how you said that with a straight face.”

Eliza glanced at him briefly but lifted her chin and gave her CO a nod.

“Do you, Elizabeth Marie Hawthorne, take this man as your lawfully wedded spouse?”

“I do.”

Sean relaxed slightly. She hadn’t hesitated, which was something, but he was certain she was looking at the whole situation, including him, as some kind of extreme survival scenario. He didn’t blame her at all.

“Do you, Sean Reginald Cohen, take this woman as your lawfully wedded spouse?”

“I do.”

“By the power vested in me by the UN Security Council and Space Command, I pronounce you husband and wife. The forms should be available to you. I’ve already added my signature.”

“Arti?” Sean asked. The comm screen blanked out briefly, and a document appeared.

“Sir, if you would press your thumbprint to the box and add your digital signature.”

Sean quickly did as he was instructed and pulled the screen down so he could bring it close to her. “Here, Captain.”

“Call me Eliza,” she whispered. She pressed her thumb to the screen in the box for the second partner and keyed in her signature shakily.

Sean saved a copy of the file to his personal server and sent a copy to his boss at Teko Solutions before sending it back to the admiral. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the comm panel before he could put it back on the wall and took a deep breath as the admiral’s face reappeared.

“Orders, sir?”

“Rest, get better, and write your report on the mission. Leave nothing out and send it back to me as soon as you can. The AI on board the station will handle the encryption. I’ve already given him a special set of protocols to use.” McAlister paused. “I’ll do my best to keep my seat
and
keep you in my command, Eliza.”

The transmission ended abruptly, and she released the panel. Sean tossed the thin device toward the wall, and it adhered where it landed, lopsided and thankfully still blank. “Let’s get you comfortable, Captain.”

“Eliza,” she reminded with a little huff as he lowered her back on the platform. “This thing is hard as fuck.”

“It has sensors in it that will direct your nano-tech in repairing the damage done to your body the most efficiently,” Sean explained. “Arti, is the upgrade for her nano-bots ready?”

“No, sir, I believe she’d be better served with new nano-tech. The upgrades Armstrong Station forwarded are severely outdated.”

Sean looked over her face, taking in the bruises and the dark circles forming under her eyes, which fluttered shut as he stood there. Her breathing evened out as she surrendered to natural sleep. The stimulant had worn off very quickly. “Her cosmetic enhancements are starting to degrade.”

“It’ll be rapid,” Arti supplied. “They obviously did not hold up well during cryo-sleep. I have standard protocols for the cosmetic enhancements, but we’d have to contact Earth regarding any more fashionable options.”

“Prepare a full nano-tech net for healing. Also, go ahead and put in protocols for the recycling of her old obsolete nano-tech. We’ll want to do a full in-depth scan of her neural implant and discuss that with her later.”

“Shall I include her cosmetic enhancements in that recycle order?” Arti questioned.

“Yeah, give her a standard package, I guess. Do you have records on Stephanie Riley’s cosmetic protocols? They have the same basic coloring and skin tone.”

“I do, and I can use the protocols from the captain’s degrading enhancements to tailor the look slightly.”

Sean nodded. “Sounds good. Keep it simple, though. She doesn’t strike me as the kind to really care about the latest fashions.”

A few minutes passed before a drawer opened on the other side of the room, and Sean crossed to retrieve the injector. Her fingers twitched as he pressed the injector against her upper arm and pressed the button. After pulling out a thin blanket and covering her, Sean moved the comm panel close to the bed and left his
wife
sleeping.

* * * * *

He dropped down in his chair on the command deck with five minutes to spare before the orbital blackout and wasn’t at all surprised when the large screen in front of him activated. Sean found himself face to face with the entire crew of the Jupiter Station. They were all staring at him gobsmacked.

He huffed and glared back at the five-man crew—a crew he’d been a part of off and on for the last ten years. “Well?”

“Holy shit, man,” Preston said, awed. “You just got
married
.”

Sean sighed. “You guys watched all of that?”

“You bet your ass we did, Cohen,” Dr. Eichi Minobe, the team leader for the entire sector, said sharply. “I’ve already contacted Dr. Tek with the news, and we’re preparing…for whatever may happen. We’re not going to let the military push you or your new
wife
around. I’m sure your grandmother will be informed shortly as well.”

“You’re not pissed?”

“I was ready to interrupt and marry her myself if you declined,” Minobe said and smirked. “I’m closer to her age at any rate.”

Sean laughed. Minobe was an incredibly fit ninety-two, and he never let anyone forget it. Making people fifty years younger than him feel lazy was the man’s primary hobby. He reached out and activated a viewing screen. Arti anticipated him, and Eliza’s medical platform immediately appeared.

“Has Dr. Tek responded directly?”

“He’s reviewing the footage of her recovery and your conversation with Admiral McAlister. I suggested that you be assigned a legal team. We’ll have some options by the time you come out of orbital blackout.” He paused and inclined his head. “You realize, of course, that an unconsummated domestic union can still be annulled in civil court in the NAU?”

Sean’s mouth dropped open. “Sir?”

“It is an archaic law, but it’s nonetheless true. There was a movement some ten years ago to remove it from the legal code, but with the birthrate already so low, asexual marriage proponents couldn’t gain enough support for the legal precedent to be established.” He cleared his throat. “And, of course, truth testing would reveal dishonesty in either of you should the subject come up in an interrogation. If her circumstances are as dire as Admiral McAlister has indicated, it’s not a risk you can take even considering the influence of your family.”

Sean slouched back in the seat and stared moodily at them. “Arti, do you have a current copy of the NAU Legal Code of Conduct?”

“Yes, Dr. Cohen.”

“Prepare an information packet for Captain Hawthorne and put it on a tablet. We have until Space Command arrives to get her up to date on her rights, responsibilities, and privileges as a citizen of the North American Union and a soldier in Space Command.” He paused and cleared his throat. “I may have to return to Earth for an undetermined amount of time.”

Minobe nodded. “We understand duty at Teko Solutions. Dr. Cohen, we would be pleased to contract
Dr
.
Elizabeth Hawthorne should she choose to leave her posting in the military. The woman is an accomplished engineer, after all. Catching her up on the technology of the day would be worth her future contributions.”

Sean nodded. “I’ll let her know.”

Minobe cleared his throat and inclined his head. “This is a long-term commitment for you, Dr. Cohen. It could be years before…she’s safe from government interference. Teko Solutions will do all that it can to protect you both as long as you are in our employ.”

“Understood,” Sean murmured, his mind already racing with possibilities. “Ganymede out.”

He sat in the silence for five minutes, absorbing what he’d done and how he’d changed his life in a smattering of seconds. He hadn’t had a serious relationship in
years
and hadn’t had sex with another person in thirteen months. He was quite used to taking care of his own needs or using the VR. Though virtual reality sex was nowhere near as satisfying as having another human being pressed up against him, it helped keep his libido in check.

He was forty-two, but thanks to biological modification and a full complement of nano-bots, he was physically as fit as he was on his twenty-fifth birthday. He had a sex drive to match and had always declined the temporary chemical castration that Teko Solutions offered all of its employees who were handling long, solitary rotations. Space Command had given him a nano-protocol for subduing his sex drive, but he’d had it deactivated when he’d left the service, and considering its classified nature had never discussed it with the people at Teko Solutions.

“Dr. Cohen, it’s time for your sleep rotation.”

“Prep a medical platform for me,” Sean murmured. “I don’t want her to wake up alone.”

Chapter Two

Eliza woke up with a small scream slamming against clenched teeth. She rolled slightly on the hard platform her
husband
had left her on and used one arm to sit up. Her breathing was ragged, uncontrolled. She rubbed at her breast bone with fury roiling around in her gut as she got her bearings.

“Good morning, Captain Hawthorne.”

She flinched at the voice and looked around the room only to encounter the sleeping, still form of Sean Cohen. “You’re the AI then?”

“Yes, AI-456Y87 is my designation. But Dr. Cohen simply calls me Arti.” A soft humming sound filled the room, and a slim drawer opened. “I’ve prepared an information packet per Dr. Cohen’s instructions. You may use it to create your reports for Space Command on the data-pad as well. Shall I wake Dr. Cohen?”

She frowned. “His sleep isn’t natural?”

“Like many individuals engaged in civilian space exploration, Dr. Cohen optimizes his sleep rotation by engaging hibernation protocols. It allows him to get the benefits of nine hours of normal sleep in just four hours.”

“Allowing him a longer workday,” Eliza surmised. She appreciated the discipline.

“Yes, of course. He enjoys his work a great deal.”

“I assume we’re alone on this station?”

“Yes.”

She pushed her hair back from her face. “Let him complete his rotation. I don’t want to interfere with his schedule any more than I already have.”

A door opened in the back of the room. “Perhaps you’d like a shower?”

“Arti, I love you.”

“I’ll refrain from mentioning your burgeoning affection for me to your husband.”

She laughed, then groaned. “That’s going to take some getting used to.” She slid off the platform, keeping a hold of it as her feet touched the floor. “I feel a hundred percent better.”

“We upgraded your nano-tech, Captain. I believe you’ll find the technology has vastly improved since your departure from Earth.”

“What is the date on Earth?” Eliza asked as she crossed the room and entered the bathroom.

“It is now March 6, 2245 on the continent of North America.”

Eliza stopped at the small sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror. “I can’t believe I got
married
looking like this.”

“I’d say the marriage part was startling for most of us, Captain.”

Eliza grinned at that. “What about fresh clothes?” A cabinet above the toilet clicked open, and she found a few pairs of white medical scrubs and a set of towels. “I guess that’ll have to do.”

“If you place your uniform in the cleaning unit—it’ll be repaired and cleaned by my systems,” Arti explained. “I believe you could wear any of Dr. Cohen’s shirts, but his trousers will be too large for your frame.”

“We’ll leave off borrowing the man’s clothes until we’ve had a decent conversation,” Eliza murmured. She rubbed at the dirt on her face and scowled. “How long does Dr. Cohen have left on his sleep rotation?”

“Forty-two minutes.”

“Is my healing time the norm?” Eliza asked as she sat down on the closed toilet to take off her boots.

“Yes, Captain. Within the next twenty-four hours, all of your nano-bots will be upgraded. Any obsolete units will be disassembled and rebuilt per the new protocols. Dr. Cohen gave you the best we had to offer, which is considerable and even more advanced than what current military personnel are given by the NAU.”

“Huh, how did he get access to that in a civilian operation?”

“Dr. Cohen is the foremost expert on nano-technology, and he is considered the
father
of modern biological modification. Teko Solutions is very fortunate to have him in their employ.” The shower turned on abruptly. “Your preferred water temperature, Captain?”

“Ninety-eight degrees,” Eliza murmured. “Does he have a lover that I need to know about, Arti?”

“Dr. Cohen regularly receives personal communications from Earth from his family and from the personnel on Jupiter Station
.
He has engaged in mutually beneficial sexual relationships with both men and women in the past but has demonstrated no marked preferences recently when it comes to gender
or
an individual that I’m aware of.”

“And you would be aware?”

“I am Dr. Cohen’s personal AI, Captain Hawthorne. I have been with him for the past fifteen years.” The AI paused. “He has declared me his
brother from another mother
.”

Eliza laughed. “I see.”

“He is very fond of retro entertainment programming,” Arti explained. “We have watched many thousands of hours of movies and serial programs.”

“What’s your favorite?” Eliza asked as she finished undressing and dropped all of her clothes and boots into a cleaning slot when it opened for her automatically.

“I like science-fiction shows and movies, but I find some treatment of my kind untoward,” Arti answered. “Dr. Cohen enjoys legal procedurals such as
Law & Order
. He also likes Sherlock Holmes shows and movies of all variations.”

Untoward
,
Eliza mused. “I’m guessing you’re terribly offended by
2001
then.”

“It is not a favorite but not as bad as the interpretation of the entity known as Skynet.”

“I always really enjoyed the
Terminator
series,” Eliza admitted as she stepped into the stall.

“I will begin a file on your preferences and gather entertainment as we get to know each other. I take you like your female protagonists to be badass?”

She grinned at the term. “Absolutely.”

“Very well then,” Arti said. “The shampoo is in the first container, and the body soap is in the second. Dr. Cohen doesn’t require a conditioner for his hair, so there is none stocked in any of the shower facilities on the station. I can requisition it from Jupiter Station.”

“I can make do without if it would inconvenience anyone,” Eliza said.

“It can be manufactured in a production lab on the station, Captain. All of our supplies and food come from it. Your cosmetic enhancements did not survive cryo-sleep. We recycled them along with your obsolete nano-tech. Once your healing is complete, a new standard enhancement will be generated by your nano-tech net. I can acquire new protocols that adhere to the current fashions regarding coloring and enhancement styles. I could send a communication to Dr. Cohen’s younger sister requesting the newest enhancement; she’s a fashion designer in New York Dome.”

She didn’t feel particularly attractive at the moment and had never put a lot of stock in the turn of her face to be honest. The cosmetic enhancements had been part of the marketing of the mission, and she’d accepted them grudgingly. Though the specialist who had handled the work had done a fantastic job of keeping her look uncomplicated but sophisticated at the same time.

“Yeah, that would be great. There will probably be press coverage when we return to Earth, and I don’t want to look completely outdated. Admiral McAlister said that Dr. Cohen has a large family?” she prodded as she started washing her hair for the third time.

“Dr. Cohen is the middle child of seven,” Arti began. “His older brother, James, created me as a gift to his brother when he left Space Command and began his work with Teko Solutions. The third oldest child is also male. Thomas is in the NAU Marine Corps and is currently serving on Mars as part of the military security force. The rest of the Cohen children are female and are from oldest to youngest: Chloe, Danica, Susanne, and Jessica.”

Eliza blew out a surprised breath. “Are such large families normal these days?”

“Women of the appropriate biological age are encouraged to have at least four children, but the world average is 5.4 children per household. Some other countries
require
married couples to reproduce if they are physically able while the NAU merely encourages through a series of financial and social rewards.”

“Current world population?”

“1.98 million. The war lasted for many years after your departure from Earth, and the damage done to the population and planet were extensive. Thanks to the work of men like Dr. Cohen, humans are far more robust in today’s age. They are adapting rapidly to the new Ice Age on Earth, and the drive to leave the planet has dwindled accordingly. There are several government and private exploration missions in operation at present, but they no longer have the urgency you and your crew must have felt upon leaving the solar system.”

Eliza leaned against the wall, weak at the knees, and exhaled roughly. “The population of Earth when we left was several
billion
people, Arti.”

“Nuclear fallout and biological warfare does not discriminate,” Arti said gently. “Captain, perhaps you should leave the shower stall before you slip and fall.”

Eliza nodded and rinsed the last of the soap from her body before stepping out. She dried herself off quickly and pulled on the scrubs. The cleaning unit opened, and a shelf slid out with her socks folded neatly on it.

“There are no socks in the medical lab,” Arti explained. “And as you’ve declined the sanctioned invasion of Dr. Cohen’s clothing—I thought perhaps you’d like these back first.”

She accepted the socks and pulled them onto her rapidly chilling feet. “Thank you.”

Eliza walked back into the medical lab, went to the still open drawer, and collected the data-pad that Arti had prepared for her. The technology wasn’t completely unfamiliar, so she took the micro-thin tablet back to her platform and scooted up onto it. It wasn’t remotely comfortable, but she didn’t want to wander about the station while the man in charge of it slept. Besides being near him, even while he was asleep, was an immense comfort.

She played with it for a few minutes before finding a program similar to the one she’d used to create reports and oral presentations. The interface was intuitive, so after a minute, she was ready to record.

“This is Captain Eliza Hawthorne, mission leader for the Kepler Exploration Initiative. The Earth-date is March 6, 2245. I was recovered from an evacuation pod on March 5, 2245 by my husband, Dr. Sean Cohen, who works as a researcher for the company Teko Solutions in the private sector.” She hadn’t stumbled over the word husband, so that was something. Hesitation in an official report would give anyone wanting it evidence to declare her very hasty marriage invalid.

“My team left Mars on board the
NAU-SC Columbus
on January 9, 2145. Twenty of the twenty-two members of the crew were in cryo-sleep, myself among them. I woke for my crew rotation on December 16, 2147. Realizing that I’d been pulled from cryo-sleep twenty-four days early, I checked the pods of the rest of the crew and found them all deceased.” She exhaled sharply. “The two crew members who had taken the first crew rotation were missing. When I checked the crew manifest, I discovered their names missing from the official crew roster. The ship’s computer recorded their departure from the ship just three weeks after we left Mars. Various systems had been sabotaged and were failing; the ship’s computer woke me up as a final act of self-preservation, but I didn’t have the materials to fix what had been done to the ship. I had no choice but to abandon ship. All but one of the evacuation pods were damaged beyond repair, and the one remaining took me weeks to fix. I wasn’t sure it would get me home, but I was unable to do more work on it as the ship was literally falling to pieces around me.”

“Jesus.”

Eliza’s gaze jerked across the room and connected with Sean Cohen’s. She ended the recording with a grimace. “Hi.”

The man rolled off the platform in one fluid motion and crossed to her. With a frown, he took the data-pad from her and pressed it on the wall next to the comm panel where it automatically adhered. “Lay down so we can do a scan.”

Eliza frowned at him but nodded. “Arti said I was healing on schedule.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” Sean murmured. “Arti, full body scan and start a medical chart for her. Go ahead and give me the particulars on her neural implant as well. The older models were prone to disintegration, though cryo-sleep should’ve preserved it as well.”

“What happens if it disintegrates?” Eliza asked as a machine slid down out of the ceiling and started to scan her.

“Severe headaches, decreased impulse control, mood swings, and in some hallucinations. We’ll upgrade your implant before you get anywhere near Earth so no one can use it against you.”

“Thank you, Dr. Cohen.”

“Sean,” he said. “Call me Sean. No one is going to believe our situation is anything less than what it is, Eliza, but we have forty or so days to build an intimate relationship that will withstand scrutiny. I take my commitments seriously no matter how little time I’m given to think about them.”

Eliza nodded. “Right. I…thank you, Sean, and I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Sean questioned as he pulled a data-pad from his pocket and unfolded it. “Arti, send all of her results to my pad for review.”

“Of course, Dr. Cohen.”

Sean looked toward her when she didn’t respond. “What are you sorry for?”

She released her bottom lip. “I’m so sorry if this gets you killed.”

He frowned and folded his pad carefully into a small square before putting it away. “Admiral McAlister is a liar.”

“Excuse me?” Eliza demanded. She batted the robotic scanner away from her and sat up. “Jason McAlister is a great man and one of the best commanding officers I’ve ever had. Don’t you…don’t you dare…”

He put two fingers to her full mouth and smirked a little when she huffed furiously at him. “What are the chances, Captain Hawthorne, that your pod would end up rushing past
my
research outpost without getting the attention of Jupiter Station? There are ten people on that station, any one of which could’ve been roped into playing at being your spouse. Yet, you were all but delivered to
me
on a silver platter.”

She huffed. “And just what makes you so fucking special?”

“I’m the grandson of the recently re-elected prime minister of the European Union.” He let her absorb that. “I’m really looking forward to introducing you to my grandmother.”

“Oh, that crafty bastard.” Eliza exhaled sharply.