Space Trippers Book 1: Trippin' (8 page)

Tim, always eager to help a lady, and especially such a cute sounding one, moved forward as if to go to her aid.

Valesque noticed his movement out of the corner of her eye and put her hand out for him to stop. "It's okay." Valesque said, speaking to all in the room but mostly to Lieutenant Baine. "She is just not used to space travel. This is her first time on a Space Ship."

"Space travel?" Lola squeaked, "You mean we are not in the airlock anymore? I was not told the ship had been completed and we were launching. How long have I been in here?"

"We launched three days ago, although the ship is still not complete." Valesque replied a little bitterly.

"Oh," Lola sighed with a very disappointed look on her face, "I had so wanted to watch the launch too."

"Well, it was a bit sudden. I am afraid you are not the only one who missed seeing her maiden launch." Valesque explained, rubbing her head as she remembered how she had missed it by being unconscious in a life pod.

"But, you are okay, Lola. You are not sick. You just have to adjust to the movement of the ship and then you will be just fine."

"Oh, is that all it is?" Lola asked brightening at the thought. "I had never felt so strange before in all my life, I thought something was seriously wrong with me." Lola said happily, as she released her hold on the doorframe and stepped boldly into the main room.

She stumbled a bit as she walked and Tim rushed to catch her.

Lola felt the Lieutenant's strong arm encircle her and help her regain her balance. She turned her head back towards him and gave him a sweet smile after she regained her footing.

Tim had been surprised at Valesque who usually seemed so prickly being so patient and kind to Lola, but now that he saw her, he could not wonder at anyone being kind to such a beautiful creature.

The young woman was perfectly formed and gorgeous. She was small and slender with a perfect, healthy pink complexion; round, bright green eyes and soft, lustrous hair that was candy pink on one side and sky blue on the other.

Her hair was cut short to her chin on the pink side, with the blue side being slightly longer and ending in a downward slant.

"What’s a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place like this?" Tim asked in his usual flirty way as he gave her his patented smile.

Lola giggled girlishly, her green eyes twinkling with delight. She was still very young and naive and loved to be admired.

"Was it you that pressed the medical call button?" Lola asked him with a cute, tempting smile and flirtatious flutter of lashes.

"No, that was me." Valesque interrupted, quickly tiring of the nauseous scene. I have an electrical charge I need to get rid of. He just has a little scratch on his hand."

Lola breathed, wide eyed at the thought as she turned her attention from the Lieutenant to the medical task at hand. "And how did you get this electrical charge?" Lola asked professionally, as she suddenly turned from young flirtatious girl to serious medical worker.

"She was hit by a taser." Sanic replied before Valesque.

"A taser?" Tim asked, confused as he remembered the bright jolt he had seen from Valesque earlier.

"Set to kill." Sanic added eagerly.

"Kill? How could she have possibly survived an electrical shock of that magnitude?" Tim returned unbelievingly.

"She's a Virrilian." Sanic replied simply and almost proudly. "They had to use the top setting to knock her out. She was out for three days!"

Tim looked to Lola for help. "He is kidding right?" he asked her.

Lola just shrugged. "I haven't gotten up to the 'V's' yet in the intergalactic encyclopedia. But it is possible."

Tim glanced from Lola to Valesque, who's naturally pale complexion looked deathly white beside Lola's healthy pink tone. "You do look awfully pale." Tim observed in concern.

Valesque sighed irritably as she got up on an exam table to prepare for her treatment. "I am a Virrilian." she said, suppressing the urge to call him an idiot. "I'm always this pale."

Lola came forward and slid small metallic cuffs on each of Valesque's fingers. Each cuff had a different colored wire, and all the wires combined to form a cable that was plugged into the exam table.

She then reached up, lowered the exam table’s arm over Valesque’s body, and set the arm to perform the various treatments she deemed necessary for the taser blast. "This will discharge the electrical build up and rebalance all your system functions." Lola explained with a comforting smile.

"Now, let's see about your hand." Lola said turning towards the Lieutenant and taking his hand as she led him to another exam table across the aisle. "My goodness, how ever did you get such a nasty, deep cut?" Lola exclaimed, reverting to being flirtatious as she cared for her handsome patient.

"This ship is just full of untold dangers." Tim replied with a knowing backward glance at the reclining Valesque.

Sanic watched for a while as the Lieutenant and Lola flirted across the way.

"It is amazing.” the Ensign began leaning in close to Valesque, so as not to be overheard by the other two. "Absolutely amazing. Is that your work?" he asked, his dark, spiky, blonde-tipped hair almost touching hers.

Valesque who had been resting comfortably as she underwent her procedures opened her eyes slightly and looked at the Ensign who was still staring across the aisle at the flirtatious two.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, utterly confused.

"Lola." Sanic said excitedly as he turned to look at Valesque. "She is amazing, did you design her too?"

Valesque looked a bit uncomfortable as she glanced quickly over to where Lola and the Lieutenant were talking and giggling as Lola fixed the cut in the Pilot's hand.

"How did you know about Lola?" Valesque finally whispered, obviously upset about the subject.

"Well," Sanic began nervously, noting her intent and a bit unfriendly stare. "I...uhh. I am a scientist too, you see. I like to build things and to make electronic gadgets. Like these.." he said as he reached down and took two small discs off the bottom of his shoes. "I made these. " he continued, showing her the small, metallic circles. "They are anti-gravity discs. You can put them on your shoes and you can move without having to walk or climb."

"Hmm...very interesting. I was wondering what you were using. Don't let the Captain see you with those though. I doubt she would approve, she would probably find something in her rule book about requiring movement that involved exercise."

"Oh, I get plenty of exercise with these, believe me!" Sanic laughed, "They are extremely sensitive, it takes a lot of concentration and effort to get them to move the way you want. They are controlled by body balance and just a little too much pressure in one direction and you can go flying off out of control. I should know, it took me a while to get used to them."

"Mmmm..." the Engineer muttered trying to see what this had to do with anything, "but that still doesn't explain why you were asking about Lola."

"Well, being used to making mechanical things, I guess I just have an eye, or actually an ear for them. I have slightly more sensitive hearing than most people do when it comes to electronics, and when I got near Lola I heard that distinct high-pitched sound all electronic things put out. Not that it is very noticeable." he added quickly afraid of offending her. "She seems to be very well insulated."

Valesque sighed as she laid her head back on the exam table and stared up at the ceiling as she thought of an appropriate response.

Sanic watched her in nervous concern, he got the feeling she did not appreciate him finding out that Lola was an android.

"She isn't mine." Valesque finally said softly, so only Sanic could hear. She looked back over to where Lola was still flirting with the Lieutenant to be sure they wouldn’t be overheard. "She was created by a couple. Doctors Larea and Neegal Triumdic. They are both scientists. She is in biomechanics and he is in microbiology. She doesn't know... I mean Lola knows she is mechanical, that she is an electronic being, but she does not know that is something different.

That she is any different from a so-called "normal" life form. So, just don't...don't treat her like she isn't a real person, just because she is mechanical, okay. She really wouldn't understand and it would upset and confuse her."

"Okay. I mean, no, of course I wouldn't. She is just amazing." Sanic stumbled out as reassuringly as he could. "So... real and lifelike."

Valesque scowled at him as if he just insulted her child. "She is real, she is a person and she is alive." she said sternly. "Just be sure you remember that in your admiration of her.”

"I understand." the Ensign assured her hurriedly, hating the idea he might loose Valesque's trust and good opinion. "I wont treat her any differently than I would anyone else of another species that fascinates me." he smiled.

Valesque looked back over to where Lola was giggling and sighed again. "She is very young and naive still. She has been in creation for over a decade but she has only been active in that body for about a month. Although, she does not know that.

She has implanted memories of an entire childhood growing up, just as any other being would have. She has memories of a past and a home and of her parents; Larea and Neegal. They knew it would be easier for her to interact with others if she could reflect back on 'past experiences' and relate to others more intimately by having childhood memories to share with them. That way she will never feel any real difference in herself compared to anyone else." Valesque explained.

"Oh, no!" Lola suddenly exclaimed, putting a hand to her face in alarm.

Valesque and Sanic looked quickly over to her to see what the problem was, hoping she had not been upset by something she had overheard.

Lola turned to Valesque with wide, worried eyes. "Oh, no." she repeated, this time addressing Valesque as she walked quickly back over to the side of her exam table. "The Lieutenant and I were just discussing our home worlds and our families when I suddenly remembered. My parents!" Lola exclaimed. "I haven't seen or heard from them in over three days. They may not even know where I am. They will be so worried!" she cried in her cute innocent way.

Valesque sat up, pushing the medical exam arm out of the way. It had stopped humming and showed all green lights on the front panel so she assumed it was done with its programmed treatments and she could get up. Lola helped her remove the metal cuffs from her fingers as she looked intently at the Engineer for guidance.

"It's alright, Lola." Valesque said calmly and with a slight reassuring smile. "Your parents probably weren't informed of your departure and they are probably wondering where you are, but we can contact them from the ship. The main off-ship communications aren't working, but I think I can rig up a relay that will get a message to them for you."

"Really?" Lola squeaked excited. "I can send my parents a message that I am okay, and about my new friends?" she asked, glancing back coyly at the Lieutenant.

"Sure." Valesque replied obligingly. "You can tell them whatever you like. We just need to go to the main medical console and set up the signal. Do they know about your latest look?" she asked.

Lola had the ability to alter her appearance by changing, among other things, her hair, eye and skin color.

Lola patted her candy-pink hair satisfactorily. "No, not yet. I think I have decided I like this appearance best, I am going to keep it. Don't you just love it?" she asked Valesque, her eyes sparkling with glee.

"Yeah, it's...uhhhmm…" Valesque looked her over as she searched for the right word, taking in her bright pink and blue hair, green eyes, fresh pink complexion and silvery blue uniform, "it is very...colorful."

As Valesque and Lola left the patient treatment area of the Med-room to access the main computer terminal on the lab side, Sanic went over to chat with Tim who was still sitting idly on the edge of his exam table flexing his treated hand.

The Med-room was a very large rectangular area that was used for initial exams and minor injury treatment. More severe injuries or long-term care was provided in other rooms on the medical deck.

The Med-room had a large open doorway onto the corridor; just inside the doorway was a medical call button to summon medical help if no one was in the room at the time. From the doorway, looking to your left you could see three aisles, each aisle having a row of three exam tables.

The tables were spaced wide apart allowing plenty of room for medical personnel to get around them and access each bed's medical controls. The medical controls were located in the large arm that hung over the head of the bed and could be pulled down and positioned over the patient, as well as in a standing tower console that housed all kinds of medical devices, including the finger cuffs Lola had used earlier on Valesque.

Behind the rows of beds was a giant window that showed a panoramic view of space.

Tim and Sanic were sitting on the first exam table in the last aisle, just in front of the large window.

Across the room on the right side was a large table console for the medical teams to use for research and patient records.

The door Lola had entered from earlier was beside this console. The door led into a smaller room that was meant to be used as a Doctor's break-room, it contained a desk with a computer terminal, a bed and a food duplicator. The main access panels to the medical computer core were also located in this room.