Technically it was a replica of her uniform created by her alien benefactor, a member of an octopedal race called the Heshe. Sometime over the last nine months she had taken to calling the alien "Cal" (short for Calamari) because it resembled a large 'land-walking' octopus.
When Cat had first woken up in the alien's medical bay she had no idea who she was. Over the intervening months, she had fully recovered her memories and so much more.
Cal was a nanite enhanced clone of a Heshe that the original Catherine Kimbridge had saved from certain death. That Heshe, along with the rest of its entire race, had fled this galaxy for reasons not fully shared with Cat.
In her effort to save the alien Cat had lost her own life. Fortunately, for the highly advanced technology of the Heshe, the definition of death had become a somewhat nebulous term. In saving the life of a Heshe, at the cost of her own, the Heshe in question had become honor bound to repay the "Life debt" whatever the cost.
Cat's body had been recreated and her memories fully transferred to her new shell. Every appreciable nuance of her intellect, including how her mind would evolve over time, had been painstakingly duplicated by her benefactor. In order to accommodate unknown variables and because the Heshe had never fully examined a fully functional human being, the decision was made to augment Cat's organic systems with a fully functional set of Heshe repair and construction nanites. These would allow her body to adapt to virtually any environment she found herself in.
Because the Heshe had never attempted a human project of this magnitude the process took well in excess of fifty years. For the essentially immortal Heshe this timescale was a trivial matter. For Catherine Kimbridge, it was a real concern and a significant factor in her current unease.
She had spent the last three quarters of a year in a hidden Heshe facility on Mars learning from her Heshe instructor how to fully control her nanite systems. In addition, she had spent as much of her time as possible reviewing the major events of the last fifty four years of human history. Today was the day she would reemerge into human society and she had no idea how that society would welcome her.
She had been startled when Cal had said that the Heshe would be leaving soon and that it was time for her to return to her people. She had assumed that the alien would be with her when she returned to humanity. Absent Cal , and the instant creditably the Heshe's presence would represent, she was not altogether sure how believable her incredible tale would be.
***
Ricky Valen rubbed the stubble of his three day beard. He looked at the calm and seemingly sincere woman sitting in the rear compartment of his quarry shuttle. The last thing he had expected when he started drilling for rare earth metals today was to hit a buried chamber with a human occupant.
"Mars II, this is Prospector 49. Request permission to dock at first available gate. Over"
"49, you are cleared for gate 3. Do you have any cargo to declare?"
"You might say that. We have one passenger"
"Roger that, 49, one passenger. What nationality?"
"Deimos base, your guess is as good as mine. She claims she's Catherine Kimbridge, THE Catherine Kimbridge... As in the 'Lt. Commander' variety"
"49, you know the penalty for drinking when flying"
"Trust me Deimos base... You're going to want to share that drink when you see who this is."
***
Rigel Kentaurus, a ternary star system roughly four light-years from Sol was the host to over a dozen large planetary masses. Only three of these masses contained the right conditions for life. The D'lralu named Third of Nine scanned each of the three for signs of intelligent competing life forms.
Two had proto-viruses and primitive single-celled microbes. One was totally barren. None were the source of the radio transmissions detected by the
When Cat had first woken up in the alien's medical bay she had no idea who she was. Over the intervening months, she had fully recovered her memories and so much more.
Cal was a nanite enhanced clone of a Heshe that the original Catherine Kimbridge had saved from certain death. That Heshe, along with the rest of its entire race, had fled this galaxy for reasons not fully shared with Cat.
In her effort to save the alien Cat had lost her own life. Fortunately, for the highly advanced technology of the Heshe, the definition of death had become a somewhat nebulous term. In saving the life of a Heshe, at the cost of her own, the Heshe in question had become honor bound to repay the "Life debt" whatever the cost.
Cat's body had been recreated and her memories fully transferred to her new shell. Every appreciable nuance of her intellect, including how her mind would evolve over time, had been painstakingly duplicated by her benefactor. In order to accommodate unknown variables and because the Heshe had never fully examined a fully functional human being, the decision was made to augment Cat's organic systems with a fully functional set of Heshe repair and construction nanites. These would allow her body to adapt to virtually any environment she found herself in.
Because the Heshe had never attempted a human project of this magnitude the process took well in excess of fifty years. For the essentially immortal Heshe this timescale was a trivial matter. For Catherine Kimbridge, it was a real concern and a significant factor in her current unease.
She had spent the last three quarters of a year in a hidden Heshe facility on Mars learning from her Heshe instructor how to fully control her nanite systems. In addition, she had spent as much of her time as possible reviewing the major events of the last fifty four years of human history. Today was the day she would reemerge into human society and she had no idea how that society would welcome her.
She had been startled when Cal had said that the Heshe would be leaving soon and that it was time for her to return to her people. She had assumed that the alien would be with her when she returned to humanity. Absent Cal , and the instant creditably the Heshe's presence would represent, she was not altogether sure how believable her incredible tale would be.
***
Ricky Valen rubbed the stubble of his three day beard. He looked at the calm and seemingly sincere woman sitting in the rear compartment of his quarry shuttle. The last thing he had expected when he started drilling for rare earth metals today was to hit a buried chamber with a human occupant.
"Mars II, this is Prospector 49. Request permission to dock at first available gate. Over"
"49, you are cleared for gate 3. Do you have any cargo to declare?"
"You might say that. We have one passenger"
"Roger that, 49, one passenger. What nationality?"
"Deimos base, your guess is as good as mine. She claims she's Catherine Kimbridge, THE Catherine Kimbridge... As in the 'Lt. Commander' variety"
"49, you know the penalty for drinking when flying"
"Trust me Deimos base... You're going to want to share that drink when you see who this is."
***
Rigel Kentaurus, a ternary star system roughly four light-years from Sol was the host to over a dozen large planetary masses. Only three of these masses contained the right conditions for life. The D'lralu named Third of Nine scanned each of the three for signs of intelligent competing life forms.
Two had proto-viruses and primitive single-celled microbes. One was totally barren. None were the source of the radio transmissions detected by the
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